"Of course I could!" he said scornfully. "My good girl, have you seen the worthy New Englanders in this village? There are some of the most beautiful characters, hereabouts, I was told when I went seeking for chorus-ladies, that ever existed. But they are far from being worn on the outside." "Laura Ward is coming down over that week, to stay with me," Gail offered. "Yes, and Laura Ward has played _Celia_, and is going to have to do it again," stated Clarence. "We can't waste a good dancer like that on the chorus." John, who was _Lord Mountararat_, one of _Phyllis'_ two suitors from the House of Lords, was looking out of the window absently, humming under his breath one of his songs: _"It seems that she's a fairy From Andersen's lib_rary _And we took her for The proprietor Of a Ladies' Semi_nary!" One of the unaccountable silences which sometimes fall made every absently-sung word quite audible. As he ended Clarence sprang at him in what would have been a wild embrace if he had not ducked in time. "Here, don't let your troubles drive you crazy, Rutherford," John protested, holding him off with a strong hand. "They haven't!" proclaimed Clarence. "But 'them beautiful words!' See here, you dwellers in this happy vale, isn't there a girls' school somewhere adjacent? Why don't we bribe the teachers by making it a benefit for whatever they want--a stained glass window to their founder, or a new laboratory or something--and lift those girls bodily, as a chorus?" They had been seeking painfully for some worthy object to give the opera for, and so far hadn't been able to find a thing. So his project was greeted joyfully. "John, as usual, will have to go ask," suggested Allan. "Johnny, old boy, what _would_ we do without your reputation? You physish at that school, and I hear they kiss your very shadow." "It's probably all they get a chance at," Gail kindly helped John out. John, who was wildly adored, as a matter of fact, by most of the fifteen-year-olds of the school, said "Nonsense!" sternly. "Oh, do!" begged Tiddy. Tiddy was _Strephon_, the leading juvenile, "a fairy down to his waist," and was passionately anxious to have the whole thing go through. "If you will _I'll_ go and see what I can yank out of my old prep school. There ought to be enough boys with changed voices and long legs----" "Harold Gray, you are inspired!" said Gail, for once shaken out of her indolence. _She_ had taken unto herself the part of _Phyllis_ and was also anxious for the success of "Iolanthe." "And I myself will go with you. I'll go work my rabbit's foot on the masters. There's one over there who has already known my fatal charm." "You mean the rabbit's foot, or----" "I mean that one of the masters is in love with me. The classical master. We'll work him," stated Gail brutally. "If you can make him sell you sixteen boys into slavery your fatal charm has been some use for once," said Clarence, unruffled.