Undoubtedly it was a tribute to his perfection in the
Parmalee manner. But he was glad that now there would come acting at
which no one could laugh. There was the delicatessen shop, the
earnest young cashier and his poor old mother who mopped. He saw
himself embrace her and murmur words of encouragement, but
incredibly there were giggles from the audience, doubtless from base
souls who were impervious to pathos. The giggles coalesced to a
general laugh when the poor old mother, again mopping on the floor,
was seen to say, "I hate these mopping mothers. You get took with
house-maid's knee in the first reel."
Again he was seized with a fear that one of Baird's staff had been
clumsy with subtitles. His eyes flew to his own serious face when
the silly words had gone.
The drama moved. Indeed the action of the shadows was swifter than
he supposed it would be. The dissolute son of the proprietor came on
to dust the wares and to elicit a laugh when he performed a bit of
business that had escaped Merton at the time. Against the wire
screen that covered the largest cheese on the counter he placed a
placard, "Dangerous.
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