Page:Fashions for Men And The Swan Two Plays (NY 1922).pdf/248

 fifteenth lamb chop. [The lackeys, at the serving table, are preparing to serve the soup.]

—[Sweetly.] I hope you like cold bouillon, Albert.

—My favorite summer beverage.

—I am so glad.

—[Sweetly.] What a fortunate coincidence!

—How long they are taking to serve it.

—Here it comes now, dear. [, the two and  serve the soup.] You can't keep it on the table, for it gets warm. [''Each is served, and tastes the soup. Ceremonial silence.'']

—[Unexpectedly, though not loudly, breaks the silence.] And the head of the eagle—I really must finish that sentence—is a star called Altair or Alpha Aquilæ, the star whose brilliant green radiance illuminates the sky to-night. That is what I wanted to say.

—You had quite a difficult time reaching the end of that sentence.

—Doubtless the professor speaks so beautifully because Xara likes to listen to him.

—It was beautiful, but I didn't understand a word of it.

—I don't know how to speak beautifully. Her highness reproached me with it just a while ago.

—[To .] Did you?