_Before Supper the proceedings are rather decorous than
lively; the dancers in fancy dress forming a very decided
minority, and appearing uncomfortably conscious of their
costume. A Masker got up as a highly realistic Hatstand,
hobbles painfully towards a friend who is disguised as a
huge Cannon._
_The Hatstand_ (_huskily, through a fox's mask in the centre of his
case, to the Cannon_). Just a trifle slow up to the present, eh?
_The Cannon_ (_shifting the carriage and wheels to a less
uncomfortable position._) Yes, it don't seem to me as lively as
usual--_drags_, don't you know.
_The Hatstand_ (_heroically_). Well, we must wake 'em up, that's
all--put a little _go_ into the thing!
[_They endeavour to promote gaiety by crawling through the
crowd, which regards them with compassionate wonder._
_A Black Domino_ (_to a Clown, who is tapping the barometer on the
Hatstand's back_). Here, mind how you damage the furniture, SAMMY, it
may be here on the hire system.
[_The Hatstand executes a cumbrous caper by way of repartee,
and stumbles on._
_A Folly_ (_to a highly respectable Bedouin in a burnous and gold
spectacles_). Well, all I can say is, you don't seem to me to behave
much _like_ an Arab!
_The Bedouin_ (_uneasily, as he waltzes with conscientious
regularity_).
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