But here the battle-call of Mr. Lancaster was heard in the stalls; and
our strategists turned reluctantly from the prosecution of the military
campaign to the maintenance of civilian morale.
*V*
The Second Edition was produced in due course, with the success
inevitable in that enthusiastic, unsophisticated, _carpe diem_ period.
Marjorie appeared successively, and with distinction, as a Lady Guest at
the reception of a most unconvincing Duchess, where she flourished an
empty champagne glass painted yellow inside; as a Bird of Paradise in
the chorus of an ornithological ditty entitled, "If my Girl was a Bird,
I would Build Her a Nest," contributed by the well-preserved light
baritone aforementioned; as a damsel of the South Sea Islands,
participating, with somewhat improbable ritual, in the Annual Festival
of the Sun; and in other less exacting roles. Her most distinguished
appearance was in the Finale (in a tableau of the Allied Nations), as
The Spirit of France. In this she was entrusted with a separate
entrance, a solitary walk down stage, and the deliverance of a rhymed
couplet of a patriotic nature, in which General Joffre suffered the
indignity of rhyming with "Our hats we doff," "nasty cough." She was
quite composed, and offered her outrageous contribution with such
_aplomb_ as to arouse frantic applause. Liss was a dancer, and her
activities were mostly linked with those of seven other little creatures
like herself. She was whole-heartedly delighted with her friend’s
successful graduation.
Next morning the company were called at eleven, to be photographed. The
morning after, Marjorie reported for duty at the canteen, and was
received with open arms by the Mouldy Old Copper. With renewed
enthusiasm she settled down to the old drudgery. She was supporting
herself; her long and dreary evenings were over; and, best of all, she
was really Doing Something to Help.
*VI*
One morning a few weeks later Mrs. Clegg was deposited by the
Rolls-Royce at the front door of Buckholm, and was ushered by Mr. Bates
into the amber drawing-room. She entered with the uneasy
self-consciousness of the visitor to a great house who has come, not to
pay an intimate call, but to attend a committee meeting.
"The other ladies have not yet arrived, madam," announced Bates; and
added, in stately reproof: "It is not quite eleven o’clock. Her
ladyship will be down presently. Will you please to be seated?" He
deposited the flustered and untimely caller upon a sofa, handed her a
magazine, and left her alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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