[_Rushes off stage with wooden doll._ _Bl._ (_making a feeble attempt to follow_). Come back, BRUNETTE; don't leave me thus, in charity! _F._ (_with contempt_). Well, I'll be off--since you seem to prefer vulgarity. _Bl._ No, stay--but--ah, she said--what if she _meant_ it? _F._ Not she! And, if she did, _we_ can't prevent it. _Bl._ (_relieved_). That's true--we'll play, and think no more about her. _F._ (_sarcastically_). We may _just_ manage to get on without her! So come--(_perceives doll lying face upwards on path_)--you odious girl, what have you done? Left LADY MINNIE lying in the blazing sun! 'Twas done on purpose--oh, you _thing_ perfidious! [_Stamps._ You _knew_ she'd melt, and get completely hideous! Don't answer _me_, Miss--I wish we'd never met. You're only fit for persons like BRUNETTE! [_Picks up doll, and exit in passion._ _Grand Sensation Descriptive Soliloquy, by_ BLANCHIDINE, _to Melodramatic Music._ _Bl._ Gone! Ah, I am rightly punished! What would I not give now to have homely little BRUNETTE, and dear old wooden-headed TIMBURINA back again! _She_ wouldn't melt in the sun.... Where are they now? Great Heavens! that threat--that rash resolve ... I remember all! 'Twas in the direction of the Pond they vanished. (_Peeping anxiously between trees._) Are they still in sight?... Yes, I see them! BRUNETTE has reached the water's edge.... What is she purposing! Now she kneels on the rough gravel; she is making TIMBURINA kneel too! How calm and resolute they both appear! (_Shuddering._) I dare not look further--but, ah, I must--_I must!_... Horror! I saw her boots flash for an instant in the bright sunlight; and now the ripples have closed, smiling over her little black stockings!... Help!--save her, somebody!--help!... Joy! a gentleman has appeared on the scene--how handsome, how brave he looks! He has taken in the situation at a glance! With quiet composure he removes his coat--oh, _don't_ trouble about folding it up!--and why, _why_ remove your gloves, when there is not a moment to be lost? Now, with many injunctions, he entrusts his watch to a bystander, who retires, overcome by emotion. And now--oh, gallant, heroic soul!--now he is sending his toy terrier into the seething water! (_Straining eagerly forward._) Ah, the dog paddles bravely out--he has reached the spot ... oh, he has passed it!--he is trying to catch a duck! Dog, dog, _is_ this a time for pursuing ducks? At last he understands--he dives ... he brings up--agony! a small tin cup! Again ... _this_ time, surely--what, only an old pot-hat!... Oh, this dog is a fool! And still the Round Pond holds its dread secret! Once more ... yes--no, yes, it _is_ TIMBURINA! Thank Heaven, she yet breathes! But BRUNETTE? Can she have stuck in the mud at the bottom?