[_Mrs. Mossop's voice is heard calling "Ablett!" Ablett releases Arthur
and goes out. Arthur joins Colpoys and Tom._]
_Rose._
[_To Imogen._] The carriage will be here in half an hour. I've so much
to say to you. Imogen, the brilliant hits you've made! how lucky you
have been!
_Imogen._
_My_ luck! what about _yours?_
_Rose._
Yes, isn't this a wonderful stroke of fortune for me! Fate, Jenny!
that's what it is--Fate! Fate ordains that I shall be a well-to-do
fashionable lady, instead of a popular but toiling actress. Mother often
used to stare into my face, when I was little, and whisper, "Rosie, I
wonder what is to be your--fate." Poor mother! I hope she sees.
_Imogen._
Your Arthur seems nice.
_Rose._
Oh, he's a dear. Very young, of course--not much more than a year older
than me--than I. But he'll grow manly in time, and have mustaches, and
whiskers out to here, he says.
_Imogen._
How did you----?
_Rose._
He saw me act Blanche in the _The Peddler of Marseilles,_ and fell in
love.
_Imogen._
Do you prefer Blanche----?
_Rose._
To Celestine? Oh, yes. You see, I got leave to introduce a song--where
Blanche is waiting for Raphael on the bridge. [_Singing, dramatically
but in low tones._] "Ever of thee I'm fondly dreaming----"
_Imogen._