The flower girl [to Pickering, as he
passes her] Buy a flower, kind gentleman. I’m
short for my lodging.
Pickering. I really haven’t any change.
I’m sorry [he goes away].
Higgins [shocked at girl’s mendacity] Liar.
You said you could change half-a-crown.
The flower girl [rising in desperation]
You ought to be stuffed with nails, you ought. [Flinging
the basket at his feet] Take the whole blooming basket
for sixpence.
The church clock strikes the second quarter.
Higgins [hearing in it the voice of God, rebuking
him for his Pharisaic want of charity to the poor
girl] A reminder. [He raises his hat solemnly; then
throws a handful of money into the basket and follows
Pickering].
The flower girl [picking up a half-crown]
Ah—ow—ooh! [Picking up a couple
of florins] Aaah—ow—ooh! [Picking
up several coins] Aaaaaah—ow—ooh!
[Picking up a half-sovereign] Aasaaaaaaaaah—
ow—ooh!!!
Freddy [springing out of a taxicab] Got one at
last. Hallo! [To the girl] Where are the two
ladies that were here?
The flower girl. They walked to
the bus when the rain stopped.
Freddy. And left me with a cab on my hands.
Damnation!
The flower girl [with grandeur] Never
you mind, young man. I’m going home in
a taxi. [She sails off to the cab. The driver
puts his hand behind him and holds the door firmly
shut against her. Quite understanding his mistrust,
she shows him her handful of money]. Eightpence
ain’t no object to me, Charlie. [He grins and
opens the door]. Angel Court, Drury Lane, round
the corner of Micklejohn’s oil shop. Let’s
see how fast you can make her hop it. [She gets in
and pulls the door to with a slam as the taxicab starts].
Freddy. Well, I’m dashed!
Next day at 11 a.m. Higgins’s laboratory
in Wimpole Street. It is a room on the first
floor, looking on the street, and was meant for the
drawing-room. The double doors are in the middle
of the back hall; and persons entering find in the
corner to their right two tall file cabinets at right
angles to one another against the walls. In this
corner stands a flat writing-table, on which are a
phonograph, a laryngoscope, a row of tiny organ pipes
with a bellows, a set of lamp chimneys for singing
flames with burners attached to a gas plug in the
wall by an indiarubber tube, several tuning-forks
of different sizes, a life-size image of half a human
head, showing in section the vocal organs, and a box
containing a supply of wax cylinders for the phonograph.
Further down the room, on the same side, is a fireplace,
with a comfortable leather-covered easy-chair at the
side of the hearth nearest the door, and a coal-scuttle.
There is a clock on the mantelpiece. Between
the fireplace and the phonograph table is a stand
for newspapers.
