Part 17 (2/2)
muttered Carlo Trent
”_Aren't_ you?” protested Rose Euclid, shocked
”Of course I'm not,” said Carlo ”I told you before, and I tell you now, that there's only one name for the theatre--'The Muses'
Theatre!'”
”Perhaps you're right!” Rose agreed, as if a swift revelation had coht”
(”She'll ht Edward Henry, ”if she's in the habit of changing her one He could only drink)
”Naturally, I' to open with ree with me, Mr Machin, that there is no real drama except the poetical drama”
Edward Henry was entirely at a loss Indeed, he was drowning in his dressing-gown, so favourable to the couely breathed
”Yes, sir,” said Carlo Trent ”Poetry”
”I've never read any poetry in my life,” said Edward Henry, like a desperate criminal ”Not a line”
Whereupon Carlo Trent rose up froled in front of him
”Mr Machin,” said he with the ut I've ever come across Do you know, you're precisely the in mind The clean slate Do you know, you're precisely the man that it's my ambition to write for?”
”It's very kind of you,” said Edward Henry, feebly; beaten, and consciously beaten
(He thought miserably:
”What would Nellie think if she sawto Rose Euclid:
”Rose, will you recite those lines of Nashe?”
Rose Euclid began to blush
”That bit you taught me the day before yesterday?”
”Only the three lines! No more! They are the very essence of poetry--poetry at its purest We'll see the effect of them on Mr
Machin We'll just see It's the ideal opportunity to test irl!”
”Oh! I can't I'm too nervous,” sta at her in hoe ”nobody in the world can say them as well as you can Now!”
Rose Euclid stood up
”One ht We can't do with all this light Mr Machin--do you uished, save a laly darkened room Rose Euclid turned her face towards the ray frolobe