Clerk. Quite so. Our Mayor's our leading jeweller, you know. So, as you've put "Examined and Approved," shall we go in to lunch? For a "cold collation on the occasion of the audit" our Council always allows £10. It'll be rather a good feed.
[Exeunt into banqueting apartment.
II.—The New Way.
Auditor. Oh, what larks!
[Subsides into a chair, and takes two minutes to recover from his fit of merriment.
Clerk (surprised). I really fail to see where the joke comes in.
Auditor. Oh, don't you know? I'm one of the new class of comic auditors—"made in Manchester." What tickles me is this item of £17 for gold match-boxes for lighting the cigars of the Mayor and Aldermen on the occasion of the visit to the Sewage Farm. There's persiflage, if you like!
Clerk (smiling). I'm glad you take so humorous a view of the matter. Of course you allow that expenditure?
Auditor. Allow it! Not for worlds. Then—(with difficulty restraining another outburst of mirth)—how about "£27 for oysters and Chablis" after the visit?
Clerk. The Council naturally required some refreshment at the end of the journey—quite a quarter of a mile, in their own carriages—and oysters were rather dear just then—a little out of season.