(_Exit, with a backward look at the audience expressive of the fact that she has been wearing the mask._) ~Bootle.~ Alice, then you are mine, after all! ~Alice.~ James! (_They k---- No, perhaps better not. There has been quite enough for one evening._) And to think that she knew all the time. Now I am quite, quite happy. And James--you _will_ remember in future that I am Miss _Alice_ Prendergast? ~Bootle~ (_gaily_). My dear, I shall only be able to remember that you are The Future Mrs. Bootle! CURTAIN. XLIII. "AT DEAD OF NIGHT" _The stage is in semi-darkness as_ Dick Trayle _throws open the window from outside, puts his knee on the sill, and falls carefully into the drawing-room of Beeste Hall. He is dressed in a knickerbocker suit with arrows on it (such as can always be borrowed from a friend), and, to judge from the noises which he emits, is not in the best of training. The lights go on suddenly; and he should seize this moment to stagger to the door and turn on the switch. This done he sinks into the nearest chair and closes his eyes._ _If he has been dancing very late the night before, he may drop into a peaceful sleep; in which case the play ends here. Otherwise, no sooner are his eyes closed than he opens them with a sudden start and looks round in terror._ ~Dick~ (_striking the keynote at once_). No, no! Let me out--I am innocent! (_He gives a gasp of relief as he realises the situation._) Free! It is true, then! I have escaped! I dreamed that I was back in prison again! (_He shudders and helps himself to a large whisky-and-soda, which he swallows at a gulp._) That's better! Now I feel a new man--the man I was three years ago. Three years! It has been a lifetime! (_Pathetically to the audience._) Where is Millicent now? (_The audience guesses that she is in the making-up room, but musn't say so._) Alas! (_He falls into a reverie, from which he is suddenly wakened by a noise outside. He starts, and then creeps rapidly to the switch, arriving there at the moment when the lights go out. Then he goes swiftly behind the window curtain. The lights go up again as_ Jasper Beeste _comes in with a revolver in one hand and a bull's-eye lantern of apparently enormous candle power in the other._) ~Jasper~ (_in immaculate evening dress_). I thought I heard a noise, so I slipped on some old things hurriedly and came down. (_Fingering his perfectly-tied tie._) But there seems to be nobody here. (_Turns round suddenly to the window._) Ha, who's there? Hands up, blow you (_he ought to swear rather badly here, really_) hands up or I fire! (_The stage is suddenly plunged into darkness, there is the noise of a struggle, and the lights go on to reveal_ Jasper _by the door covering_ Dick _with his revolver._)