back cupboard_. TEMPENNY _discovered painting_, ROSALINE _posed_.
ROSALINE.
I'm getting tired.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Sh! (_goes on working frenziedly_).
ROSALINE.
I say I'm getting tired.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Wait a minute, and you shall rest. There! now you can move if you like.
ROSALINE (_stretching herself_).
Thank goodness. Let us look! (_Looks at canvas_.) Oh!
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
What do you think of it?
ROSALINE.
Not much.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Ah, that shows your profound ignorance of the School. It promises to be
a superb example. (_Contemplates it sideways_.) Exquisite!
ROSALINE.
I say, where is your friend?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Who?
ROSALINE.
Didn't you say this studio belonged to a friend of yours?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Oh yes; he hasn't come yet. I expect he will be here this afternoon.
ROSALINE.
What's this? (_picking up Mandarin's Wig_.) One of his props?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
That? That is a Mandarin's wig. Yes, of course it is one of his props.
He has just been engaged on a great work: "The Decapitation of a
Mandarin after a Chinese Reverse." The gentleman who sat for the
Mandarin wore that wig.
ROSALINE.
What a funny subject to choose.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Rather playful, isn't it? He likes 'em like that. That's his forte.
ROSALINE.
What is his name--do I know him?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Charlie Sylvester; and a rattling good chap he is, let me tell you.
ROSALINE (_with a shriek_).
Oh, my heart! This is fate!
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_alarmed_.)
I beg your pardon? Don't go off like that. What's the matter?
ROSALINE.
It is _He_--_He_ who--! Oh, I am going to faint.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
No,--no, for goodness' sake, don't do that. What do you mean by "he?"
Here, I say, compose yourself.
ROSALINE.
It is the man I love. The finger of Fate is in it. Where is he? Bring
him to me! Charlie, my own!
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_very flustered_).
Oh I say--look here, you know--? (_Aside_.) This is the devil and
all--Charlie will never forgive me! (_Aloud_.) My dear good girl, he
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