_Mrs. Toov._ (_to herself, in a fever_). Why doesn't he come back?
What are those two plotting together? Oh, if Mr. WILDFIRE imagines he
will get a hold over me, so as to obtain my consent to---- I'd sooner
tell Pa everything! (_To_ CURPHEW, _who reenters, smiling_.) W--where
is--the other?
_Curph._ The other? Oh, _he_'s gone. I made myself known to him; and
you would have been surprised, my dear Mrs. TOOVEY, at the immense
effect my professional name had upon him. When he realised I was
WALTER WILDFIRE he was willing to do anything for me, and so I easily
got him to entrust his find to me.
_Mr. Toov._ (_inquisitively_). And what is it--a fan, or a glove?
There would be no harm in showing it to _us_, eh?
_Curph._ Well, really, it's so very unlikely to compromise anybody
that I almost think I _might_. Yes, there can't be any objection.
[_He takes something out of his pocket, and presents it to_
Mr. T.
_Mr. Toov._ (_mystified_). Why, it's only a hairpin! What a
scrupulously honest young man that is, to be sure!
_Mrs. Toov._ (_relieved_). Only a hairpin? (_Then, uneasily, to_
CURPH., _in an undertone_.) Where is--you know what? Have you kept it
to use for your own advantage?
_Curph._ (_in the same tone_). I am a very bad man, I know; but I
don't blackmail. You will find it behind the card-basket in the hall.
[Mrs. T. _goes out_; ALTH. _draws_ CURPH. _aside_.
_Alth._ CLARENCE, I--I _must_ know; how did you come to have a--a
hairpin? where did it come _from_? (_As he softly touches the back of
her head._) Oh! it was _mine_, then? _What_ a goose I am?
_Mr. Toov._ (_as_ Mrs. T. _returns_). Why, CORNELIA, my love, so
you've _found_ your spectacles! Now where did you leave them _this_
time, my dear, eh?
_Mrs. Toov._ Where I shall not leave them _again_ in a hurry,
THEOPHILUS!
_Mr. Toov._ Don't you be too sure of that, my love. By the way, Mr.
CURPHEW, that lady of your acquaintance--_you_ know, the one who
made all this disturbance at the Eldorado--is she at all _like_ Mrs.
TOOVEY, now?
_Curph._ (_after reflection_). Well, really, there _is_ a
resemblance--at a distance!
_Mr. Toov._ (_peevishly_). Then it's annoying--very annoying; because
it might compromise my poor dear wife, you know. I--I wish you could
give her a quiet hint to--to avoid such places in future!
_Curph._ Do you know, Sir, I really think it will be _quite_
unnecessary.
[PH[OE]BE _enters to announce dinner_.
_Mr. Toov._ Dinner, eh? Yes, yes, dinner, to be sure. Mr. CURPHEW,
will you take in my dau----(_correcting himself_)--oh, but, dear me, I
was quite forgetting that--h'm!----
_Curph._ ----that Mrs. TOOVEY has been expressing an ardent impatience
to close your doors on me for ever?
_Mrs. Toov._ (_not over graciously_). That was before---- I mean
that--considering the manner in which we all of us seem to have been
more or less mixed up with the music-hall of late--we can't afford to
be too particular. If Mr. WILDFIRE chooses to stay, he will find as
warm a welcome as--(_with a gulp_)--he can _expect_!
_Curph._ Many thanks, but I'm sure you see that I can't stay here on
sufferance. If I do stay it must be as----
_Mrs. T._ As one of the family! (_She chokes._) That--that's
understood, of course. (_To herself._) They know too much!
_Mr. T._ (_to_ Mrs. T., _chirpily, as the others precede them in
to dinner_). Do you know, my love, I'd no more idea you would ever
have---- Well, well, it might have been worse, I daresay. But we must
never let it get out about the _music-hall_, eh?
_Mrs. T._ Well, Pa, _I_'m not very likely to allude to it!