What Every Woman Knows
WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS JAMES M. BARRIE ACT I (James Wylie is about to make a move on the dambrod, and in the little Scotch room there is an awful silence befitting the occasion. James with his hand poised--for if he touches a piece he has to play it, Alick will see to that--raises his red head suddenly to read Alick's face. His father, who is Alick, is pretending to be in a panic lest James should make this move. James grins heartlessly, and his fingers are about to close on the 'man' when some instinct of self-preservation makes him peep once more. This time Alick is caught: the unholy ecstasy on his face tells as plain as porridge that he has been luring James to destruction. James glares; and, too late, his opponent is a simple old father again. James mops his head, sprawls in the manner most conducive to thought in the Wylie family, and, protruding his underlip, settles down to a reconsideration of
London."
Gilligren thought deeply for a moment, and conceived what he thought
to be a very good idea. If the sixpence was to make his fortune, then
this was his great opportunity.
"You can have the blackbirds on two conditions," he said.
"What are they?" asked the cook.
"One is that you will not kill the birds. The other condition is that
you secure me a position in the King's household."
"How can I put live birds in a pie?" enquired the cook.
"Very easily, if you make the pie big enough to hold them. You can
serve the pie after the King has satisfied his hunger with other
dishes, and it will amuse the company to find live birds in the pie
when they expected cooked ones."
"It is a risky experiment," exclaimed the cook, "for I do not know the
new King's temper. But the idea may please His Majesty, and since you
will not allow me to kill the birds, it is the best thing I can do. As
for your other condition, you seem to be a very bright boy, and so I
will have the butler take you as his page, and you shall stand back of
the King's chair and keep the flies away while he eats."
WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS JAMES M. BARRIE ACT I (James Wylie is about to make a move on the dambrod, and in the little Scotch room there is an awful silence befitting the occasion. James with his hand poised--for if he touches a piece he has to play it, Alick will see to that--raises his red head suddenly to read Alick's face. His father, who is Alick, is pretending to be in a panic lest James should make this move. James grins heartlessly, and his fingers are about to close on the 'man' when some instinct of self-preservation makes him peep once more. This time Alick is caught: the unholy ecstasy on his face tells as plain as porridge that he has been luring James to destruction. James glares; and, too late, his opponent is a simple old father again. James mops his head, sprawls in the manner most conducive to thought in the Wylie family, and, protruding his underlip, settles down to a reconsideration of