"You should wear one of mine."
"Good dear, 'twould not reach my ankles!"
"I grant there's overmuch of you. Little David called you the Anakim Venus when he caught sight of you at the side scenes. 'Who's that magnificent giantess?' he asked."
"The people of Lilliput took Captain Gulliver for a giant, and the Brobdignagians thought him a dwarf. 'Tis a question of comparison," replied Tonia, huffed at the manager's criticism.
"Nay, don't be vexed, child. 'Tis a feather in your cap for Garrick to give you a second thought. Well, if Ranelagh won't suit, there is Mrs. Mandalay's dancing-room. She has a ball twice a week in the season, and a masquerade once a fortnight. You can borrow a domino from the costumier in the Piazza for the outlay of half a dozen shillings."
"Do the women of fashion go to Mrs. Mandalay's?"
"All the town goes there."
"Then I'll beg my father to take me. I am helping him with his new comedy, and I want to see what modish people are like—off the stage."
"Not half so witty as they are on it. Is there a part for me in the new play?"
Patty would have asked that question of Shakespeare's ghost had he returned to earth to write a new Hamlet. It was her only idea in association with the drama.