“Axin yer pardon, yez might give it to the pigs, Miss Cicely,” said Bridget, “it’s mesilf can’t say no ither use for it.”
“Pigs! Oh, Biddie!!! You don’t mean to say that you have some dear cunning little white pigs! Oh, do bring the little darlings in and let me feed them! I’m just dying to have one for a pet. I think they are too awfully sweet for anything.”
Just then the bell rang and Mr. Henry was announced. Cicely told Bridget she would take another lesson the next day, and she went into the parlor with her chintz apron on, with a little dab of flour on her nose, and told Henry she was learning to cook[[6]]--and he told her she must not get worried nor overheated, and that he didn’t care whether she could cook or not--he didn’t want to eat when he could have her to talk to----and poor Bridget was just slamming things in the kitchen and talking to herself (in that sweet idiom) about “idgits ternin things upsid down for her convanience.”
TABLEAUX.
[1]. Kitchen scene. Bridget working at table, Miss Cicely entering half-opened door from rear; mother in foreground.
[2]. Bridget faces audience, eying Miss Cicely in center of foreground; mother at right.
[3]. Miss Cicely pointing and Bridget looking at ceiling. They are alone.
[4]. Miss Cicely points to a pan of milk on the table at the left, Bridget standing at right side, face to audience.
[5]. Miss Cicely, tablets in hand, in front of table contemplates her ingredients, and Bridget looks on contemptuously.
[6]. Parlor. Henry and Cicely discussing matters on a sofa.