_I. but B. R. (aside)._ Hah! Whom have we here? Merciless Master D-CK-NS-N, as I'm a living woman! Was't not enough that Vestries should vex me, Boards o'erburden me, Pedagogues oppress, and Precepts perplex, but _he_ too must turn against me? (_Aloud._) Give you good den, Master D.! Hast news of comfort for me? _Steward (harshly)._ Woman, I know not what _thou_ wilt deem news of comfort. But if a superb site and a splendid structure (_pointing to Plan_) have charms for thy something straitened and sordid soul, then, verily---- _I. but B. R. (shrieking as she catches sight of the Plan, and the fair round Figures attached thereto)._ Alas, Mr. Steward! 'tis, as thou sayst, superb--splendid--and, what is more, prodigiously _expensive_ withal! It is _magnifique_, but it is _not_--Economy! _Steward (scornfully)._ Expensive? Pooh! What matters a Million or twain so London's Guardians be well housed? _I. but B. R._ But, in the words of the old game, where's the money to come from? Moreover, is it not understood that _all_ Metropolitan Improvements be postponed till such time as those ghouls of ground-renters, those ogres of property-owners, are compelled proportionally to disgorge? _Steward._ Ahem! Truly so! But verily _this_ matter is exceptional and urgent. "Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat;" and they who superintend the People's housing should surely themselves be adequately, not to say magnificently, housed. As to the money--why, fear not for thy pockets Dame, which are not yet utterly depleted by that Briarean blood-sucker, BUMBLE. Why, we shall right soon save the money in cab-fares, and--ahem!--other comforts and conveniences for our committees, not to mention the purchasing of supplementary tenements "at the rate of two houses a year." Oh, be content, Dame; pay up, and look pleasant! (_Imperatively._) _I. but B. R. (frantically)._ Alas! Is there, then, no hope? Will _no_ one bring a rescue or two? "Oh, where is County (Council) Guy?" _Enter the_ Young Squire, _hastily_. _Young Squire (hurriedly arrived from heavy business and urgent elsewhere, but impelled by a sense of public duty to intervene on this occasion)._ HERE!! (_Chord._) Be consoled, Dame--_I_ will protect thee! And for thee, Sir Steward, what the mischief art up to, with thy Aladdin Palaces, and thine Odd Millions? _Steward (confused, and displaying Plan)._ Why, my lord--deeming it befitting--that so illustrious and important and ubiquitously influential a Body--as--Ourselves--should have a Local Habitation--as well as a Name--I have prepared--this little Plan--which, with the aid--of "a little cheque"--say for a trifle of Two Millions----