REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_despairingly_).
Oh, great Jupiter! This is too much! Can't you contain your emotion? I
know it is very praiseworthy, but can't you bottle it up? How on earth
am I to paint you while you keep going on like this.
(_The street-door bell rings_).
ROSALINE (_joyously_).
He! (_She clasps her hands and listens_.) My heart tells me so!
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_disagreeably_).
It _ain't_ he--because he never rings. So your heart's told you a lie.
MRS. SYLVESTER (_off_).
Mr. Sylvester--is he in? Not in? What do you mean?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Snakes!--it's his Missus.
ROSALINE (_passionately_).
_Another_ wife?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
No, it is the same one--do you think he is the Grand Mogul?--but she
will be enough for _you_ if she finds you here, and for _me_ too!
ROSALINE.
I do not fear her. I am doing no harm--I am your Model, brought here by
you.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_in terror_).
Now look here, you know, don't say that; I won't be mixed up in it! I
tell you I'll have nothing to do with the matter! I didn't know who you
were, or I wouldn't have brought you within a hundred miles of the
place. Hark.
MRS. SYLVESTER (_off_).
I will wait in his studio till he comes. He ought to have been here
long ago.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY (_in terror_).
_Ought_ he! I won't be seen here--I can't. She is a friend of my
wife's. I won't be found in your company. I'm a moral man, and she
knows you.
ROSALINE (_indignantly_).
What?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Here, hi, I will be a lay-figure. By George, I've got it--I will be the
Mandarin, see!
(_He disguises himself with Rosaline's assistance as a Mandarin, and
sits cross-legged at back, wagging his head_.)
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
How is that?
ROSALINE.
Beautiful. Hush!
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Am I sufficiently impregnated with the Chinese sentiment?
ROSALINE.
I don't know what you mean. Sh! Here she is.
(_Enter_ MRS. SYLVESTER _L_.)
MRS. SYLVESTER (_aside_).
A young woman--who is this?
ROSALINE.
Good morning, madam. Who do you wish to see?
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