A lamp being turned up
very slowly is wonderfully effective. It produces a perfect illusion.
Could you manage that with one hand and play the music of the awakening
with the other, Georgino?"
"I'm quite sure I couldn't," said he.
"Well then Peppino must do it before he comes on. We will have movement
in this tableau; I think that will be quite a new idea. Peppino shall
come in--just two steps--when he has turned the lamp up, and he will
take off my shield and armour----"
"But the music will never last out," cried Georgie. "I shall have to
start earlier."
"Yes, perhaps that would be better," said Lucia calmly. "That real
piece of chain-armour too, I am glad I remembered Peppino had that.
Marshall is cleaning it now, and it will give a far finer effect than
the tawdry stuff they use in opera. Then I sit up very slowly, and wave
first my right arm and then my left, and then both. I should like to
practise that now on the sofa!"
Lucia had just lain down, when the telephone sounded again and Georgie
got up.
"That's to announce a dividend," he said, and tripped into the hall.
"Is that Mrs Lucas'?" said a voice he knew.
"Yes, Miss Olga," he said, "and this is me."
"Oh, Mr Georgie, how fortunate," she said. "You can give my message now
to Mrs Lucas, can't you? I'm a perfect fool, you know, and horribly
forgetful."
"What's the matter?" asked Georgie faintly.
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