Ho! ho! ho! Ha! ha! Oh, say good-bye for me to the Dean! [_She gives him a push and he goes out._ _SHEBA and SALOME immediately re-enter from the Library._ SHEBA. Aunt--dear Aunt---- GEORGIANA. Well, girls? SHEBA. Aunt--Salome has something to say to you. SALOME. No, it's Sheba. GEORGIANA. Why, you're shivering all over. [_Catching hold of SHEBA._] Hallo, little 'un! SHEBA. Aunt--dear Aunt Georgiana--we heard you say something about a thousand pounds. GEORGIANA. You've been listening? SHEBA. No--we only merely heard. And, oh, Aunt, a thousand pounds is such a lot, and we poor girls want such a little. GEORGIANA. Money? SHEBA. Yes. Salome has rather got into debt. GEORGIANA. My gracious! SALOME. I haven't, any more than you have, Sheba. SHEBA. Well, I'm in debt too, but I only meant to beg for Salome; but now I ask for both of us. Oh, Aunt Tidman, papa has told us that you have known troubles. GEORGIANA. So I have--heaps of them. SHEBA. Oh, I'm so glad. Because Salome and I are weary fragments too--we're everything awful but chastened widows. We owe forty pounds unknown to Pa! SALOME. Forty pounds, nineteen. GEORGIANA. Why, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves, you girls! SHEBA. We are! SALOME. We are! GEORGIANA. To cry and go on like this about forty pounds! SHEBA. But we've only got fifteen and threepence of our own in the world! And, oh, Aunt, you know something about the Races, don't you? GEORGIANA. Eh? SHEBA. If you do, help two poor creatures to win forty pounds, nineteen. Aunt Georgiana, what's "Dandy Dick" you were talking to that gentleman about? GEORGIANA. Child! Dandy Dick's a horse. SHEBA. We thought so. Then let Dandy Dick win _us_ some money. GEORGIANA. No, no! I won't hear of it! SHEBA. Oh, do, do! SALOME. Oh, do, do, do! GEORGIANA. Go away--I won't. I say decidedly, I will not! SHEBA. Oh, do, do! SALOME. Do! Do, and we'll love you for ever and ever, Aunt Georgiana. GEORGIANA. You will! [_She embraces them heartily._] Bless your little innocent faces! Do you want to win forty pounds? SALOME _and_ SHEBA. Yes, yes! GEORGIANA. Do you want to win _fifty_ pounds? SHEBA and SALOME. Oh, yes, yes! GEORGIANA. [_Taking her betting book from her pocket._] Very well, then, put your very petticoats on Dandy Dick! [_The girls stand clutching their skirts, frightened._ SALOME. Oh! SHEBA. Oh! END OF THE FIRST ACT. THE SECOND ACT. The morning-room at the Deanery, with the fire and the lamps lighted. It is after dinner. SHEBA is playing the piano, SALOME lolling upon the settee, and GEORGIANA pouring out tea. They are in evening dress. GEORGIANA. Sugar, Sally? I call you Sally, Salome--the evening's too short for your name. SALOME. All right, Aunt George--two lumps, please. GEORGIANA. [_To SHEBA._] Little 'un? SHEBA. Two lumps and one in the saucer, to eat. GEORGIANA. Quite a relief to shake off the gentlemen, isn't it? SALOME. Do you think so, Aunt?