[_A Male Artiste appears, bowing and kicking up his left leg behind: the_ FIRST BRITON _bends forward with an anxious frown, determined to let nothing escape him this time. Fortunately, as_ M. CHARLEMAGNE, _the Comic Singer, possesses a powerful voice, the_ FIRST BRITON _is able to follow most of the words, from which, although they reach his ear in a somewhat perverted form, he contrives to extract intense amusement. This is how the Chanson reaches him_:-- Seul boulevard silent vous arrête: Quand monde a tout départ n'amas, [_He can't quite make out this last word._ Repondez vitement-- [_Something he doesn't catch._ Le fou l'eau sitôt vous crie "un rat!" [_Here he whispers to his friend that "That last line was rather neat."_ _Refrain_ (_to which_ M. CHARLEMAGNE _dances a gavotte with his hat thrust into the small of his back_). Il n'a pas départ Dinard. [_This makes the_ FIRST BRITON--_who once spent a week at Dinard--laugh immoderately_. Ne Pa, ne Ma! (_bis_) C'était pas tant, mais sais comme ça-- Il n'a pas départ Dinard, Il non a pas certain-y-mal là! FIRST BRITON (_to Second Ditto_). _Very_ funny, isn't he? SECOND B. (_who--less fortunate than his friend--has not caught a single word_). Um--can't say I see much in it myself. FIRST B. (_compassionately_). Can't you? Oh, you'll get into the way of it presently. SECOND B. But what's the joke of all that about "Pa"? FIRST B. (_who has been honestly under the impression that he did see a point somewhere_). Why, he says he's an orphan--hasn't any Pa nor Ma. SECOND B. (_captiously_). Well, there's nothing so very funny in _that_! FIRST B. (_giving up the point on consideration, as_ M. CHARLEMAGNE _skips off_). Oh, it's all nonsense, of course; these fellows only come on to fill up the time till Pôlusse sings (_feels rather proud of having caught the right pronunciation_). Pôlusse is the only one really worth listening to. SECOND B. (_watching two Niggers in a Knockabout Entertainment_). I can follow _these_ chaps better. [_Complacently._ _One of the Niggers_ [_to the other_]. Ha, George Washington, Sar. I'll warm you fur dat ar conduck! FIRST B. (_in a superior manner_). Oh, yes; you soon get into the accent. [_Later_--M. CHARLEMAGNE _has re-appeared, and sung a song about changing his apartments, with spoken passages of a pronouncedly Parisian character_. FIRST B. (_who little suspects what he has been roaring with laughter at_). That fellow really _is_ amusing. I must take Nellie to hear him some night before we go back. SECOND B. (_dubiously_). But aren't some of the songs--for a girl of her age--eh? FIRST B. My dear fellow, not a bit! I give you my word I haven't heard a single line yet that was in the least offensive--not a single line! _Any_body might go! Look here--it's Pôlusse next; now you listen--_he'll_ make you laugh!