_Mr. G. (aside)._ Aha! there she is, looking smart as fresh paint! (_Aloud._) Good morning, Miss JOSEY! How are you, my dear? _Miss Joe._ Ah, tha-anks. _I_'m all right. _Mr. G._ Which you look it indeed! Just a glass of the usual, my dear, _if_ you please. _Miss Joe (drawing it)._ Oh, I thought you'd turned total abstainer or something. _Mr. G._ Dear no! That's your chaff; you were always a tease. _Miss Joe (bristling)._ A tease, Mr. G.? Why, I wouldn't demean myself. What can it matter to _me_ what you take? _Mr. G._ Come now, Miss JOE, don't be raspy this morning. _Miss Joe. Me_ raspy, indeed! Well, you _do_ take the cake! You've been awfully down on the Bungs for a long time, have you and your friends, that Miss HARCOURT and such. _Mr. G._ Don't call her my friend, if you please, dear Miss JOSEY. _Miss Joe._ Oh, come!--I say!--this is a trifle _too_ much! Were not you and that LAWSON, and others, fair pals; Local Optioners down to the ground, and all that? _Mr. G. (airily)._ Oh, now I am "freer" and much less "responsible." Makes _such_ a difference! _Miss Joe._ What _are_ you at? _Mr. G._ Why, my dear girl, this new Gothenburg system always has struck me as quite the sole chance Of escape from predicament truly contemptible--only fair promise of real advance. _So_ glad to see you so active in aid of it! _Miss Joe (coquettishly). Oh_, Mr. G.! if Miss H. could but hear----! _Mr. G. (pettishly)._ Bother Miss H.! Local Option's her fad, and I'm friendly, of course, to it, only, my dear, The mere limitation of numbers--her idol and Parliament's also for twenty years past-- Is all tommy-rot _as a remedy_! _Miss Joe._ Really, my _dear_ Mr. G., you are getting on fast. Don't mean to say you mean "chucking" Miss H. and the rest of the Vetoers, WILFRID and all? What will _he_ say? He'll be giving you beans; and that blessed Alliance will raise a big squall. _Mr. G._ "Charge, CHESTER, charge!" is my Marmion-motto. LAWSON and DAWSON may kick up a row, But I back you and the Gothenburg system, Miss JOE, and of course I can own to it--_now_! _Miss Joe._ Well, I feel flattered! But oh, _poor_ Miss H. _Mr. G. Entre nous_, my dear JOE, Local Option, _per se_, Is just an Imposture!!! _Miss H. (who has entered unperceived)._ Oh, _is_ it? My favourite measure, too! Oh, Mister G.! Mister G.! Call you this backing your friends? And to _her too_, that minx who was false to you when _I_ was true! Really it's not safe to leave you a moment! You naughty old mischief you--_come along, do_! * * * * * [Illustration: A LITTLE FLIRTATION. _Mr. G._ "YES, MISS, I ENTIRELY AGREE WITH YOU. 'LOCAL OPTION' IS--IS--UM--MORE OR LESS OF AN IMPOSTURE." _Miss Harcourt (horrified, appearing in the doorway)._ "OH! MR. G.! MR. G.!!"