REDPENNY. I tell you he cant see anybody. Do go away, Emmy. How
can I work with you dusting all over me like this?

EMMY. I'm not hindering you working--if you call writing letters
working. There goes the bell. [She looks out of the window]. A
doctor's carriage. Thats more congratulations. [She is going out
when Sir Colenso Ridgeon enters]. Have you finished your two
eggs, sonny?

RIDGEON. Yes.

EMMY. Have you put on your clean vest?

RIDGEON. Yes.

EMMY. Thats my ducky diamond! Now keep yourself tidy and dont go
messing about and dirtying your hands: the people are coming to
congratulate you. [She goes out].

Sir Colenso Ridgeon is a man of fifty who has never shaken off
his youth. He has the off-handed manner and the little audacities
of address which a shy and sensitive man acquires in breaking
himself in to intercourse with all sorts and conditions of men.
His face is a good deal lined; his movements are slower than, for
instance, Redpenny's; and his flaxen hair has lost its lustre;
but in figure and manner he is more the young man than the titled
physician. Even the lines in his face are those of overwork and
restless scepticism, perhaps partly of curiosity and appetite,
rather than of age. Just at present the announcement of his
knighthood in the morning papers makes him specially self-