George. Did you get it by inheritance, or out of a bottle?
Steven. Look here; his ludship does not arrive, probably, till Friday. My friend, Frank Parker, is to come up here Tuesday. Let’s make him personate the “Lord high everything else.”
George} together {Well?
Dennis} {What for?
[Both rise and come down stage to Steven.
Steven. Why, in the first place, we shall fool the girls. That’s one for us! In the second place, they’ll carry out their tender programme on him, and so be tired of it when the “only genuine has our name blown in the bottle” puts in his appearance. That’s two for us! Thirdly and lastly, we will tell him to be a snob, so that the girls will find it impossible to carry out their plans on him. That’s three for us!
Dennis. But will Parker dare to play such a trick in his first visit? Wouldn’t he be like those would-be tragedians whose first and last appearances are identical?
Steven. Oh, Mrs. Wycherly would forgive him anything, for he is the son of an old sweetheart of hers. As for Frank, he’s up to anything, and has lived so long in the West that his highest form of amusement is a practical joke.
Dennis. But how are you going to fool our hostess?
George. Why, she has never seen Frank, and only heard of his existence when Steven and I brought word of the jolly fellow we had met in Colorado.