chin: the other hangs down with a volume of the
Temple Shakespeare in it, and her finger stuck in the page she has been
reading.

A clock strikes six.

The young lady turns and looks at her watch. She rises with an air of
one who waits, and is almost at the end of her patience. She is a pretty
girl, slender, fair, and intelligent looking, nicely but not expensively
dressed, evidently not a smart idler.

With a sigh of weary resignation she comes to the draughtsman's chair;
sits down; and begins to read Shakespeare. Presently the book sinks to
her lap; her eyes close; and she dozes into a slumber.

An elderly womanservant comes in from the hall with three unopened
bottles of rum on a tray. She passes through and disappears in the
pantry without noticing the young lady. She places the bottles on the
shelf and fills her tray with empty bottles. As she returns with these,
the young lady lets her book drop, awakening herself, and startling the
womanservant so that she all but lets the tray fall.

THE WOMANSERVANT. God bless us! [The young lady picks up the book and
places it on the table]. Sorry to wake you, miss, I'm sure; but you are
a stranger to me. What might you be waiting here for now?

THE YOUNG LADY. Waiting for somebody to show some signs of knowing that
I have been invited here.

THE WOMANSERVANT. Oh, you're invited, are you? And has nobody come?
Dear! dear!

THE YOUNG LADY. A wild-looking old gentleman came and looked in at
the window; and I heard him calling out, "Nurse, there is a young and
attractive female waiting in the poop. Go and see what she wants." Are
you the nurse?

THE WOMANSERVANT. Yes, miss: I'm Nurse Guinness. That was old Captain
Shotover, Mrs Hushabye's father. I heard him roaring; but I thought it
was for something else. I suppose it was Mrs Hushabye that invited you,
ducky?

THE YOUNG LADY. I understood her to do so. But really I think I'd better
go.

NURSE GUINNESS. Oh, don't think of such a thing, miss. If Mrs Hushabye
has forgotten all about it, it will be a pleasant surprise for her to
see you, won't it?

THE YOUNG LADY. It has been a very unpleasant surprise to me to find
that nobody expects me.

NURSE GUINNESS. You'll get used to it, miss: this house is full of
surprises for them that don't know our ways.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [looking in from the hall suddenly: an ancient but
still hardy man with an immense white beard, in a reefer jacket with a
whistle hanging from his