floor. They all stoop or go on their
knees to listen, and when they are in this position the_ RECRUITING
SERGEANT _enters unobserved. He chuckles aloud. In a moment_ PHOEBE
_is alone with him._)

SERGEANT (_with an Irish accent_). Your servant, ma'am.

PHOEBE (_advancing sternly on him_). Sir-- (_She is perplexed, as he
seems undismayed._) Sergeant-- (_She sees mud from his boots on the
carpet._) Oh! oh! (_Brushes carpet._) Sergeant, I am wishful to scold
you, but would you be so obliging as to stand on this paper while I do
it?

SERGEANT. With all the pleasure in life, ma'am.

PHOEBE (_forgetting to be angry_). Sergeant, have you killed people?

SERGEANT. Dozens, ma'am, dozens.

PHOEBE. How terrible. Oh, sir, I pray every night that the Lord in
His loving-kindness will root the enemy up. Is it true that the
Corsican Ogre eats babies?

SERGEANT. I have spoken with them as have seen him do it, ma'am.

PHOEBE. The Man of Sin. Have you ever seen a vivandiere, sir?
(_Wistfully_) I have sometimes wished there were vivandieres in the
British Army. (_For a moment she sees herself as one._) Oh, Sergeant,
a shudder goes through me when I see you in the streets enticing those
poor young men.

SERGEANT. If you were one of them, ma'am, and death or glory was the
call, you would take the shilling, ma'am.

PHOEBE. Oh, not for that.

SERGEANT. For King and Country, ma'am?

PHOEBE (_grandly_). Yes, yes, for that.

SERGEANT (_candidly_). Not that it is all fighting. The sack of
captured towns--the loot.

PHOEBE (_proudly_). An English soldier never sacks nor loots.

SERGEANT. No, ma'am. And then--the girls.

PHOEBE. What girls?

SERGEANT. In the towns that--that we don't sack.

PHOEBE. How they must hate the haughty conqueror.

SERGEANT. We are not so haughty as all that.

PHOEBE (_sadly_). I think I understand. I am afraid, Sergeant, you do
not tell those poor young men the noble things I thought you told them.

SERGEANT. Ma'am, I must e'en tell them what they are wishful to hear.
There ha' been five, ma'am, all this week, listening to me and then
showing me their heels, but by a grand stroke of luck I have them at
last.

PHOEBE. Luck?

(MISS SUSAN _opens door slightly and listens._)

SERGEANT. The luck, ma'am, is that a gentleman of the town has
enlisted. That gave them the push forward.

(MISS SUSAN _is excited._)

PHOEBE. A gentleman of this town enlisted?