_Wednesday_.--_Lohengrin_. MELBA as _Elsa_. WAGGSTAFF tried to make
his usual pun on the name of _Ortruda_, but was "countered" by Young
JUMPER who protested that he had heard it before and never wanted to
hear it again. "I know what you're going to say," he exclaimed; "it's
something about '_aught ruder_!' I know!" "I've no doubt you do,"
returned the defrauded WAGGY, sarcastically, "for you're uncommonly
like _Othello_, 'Rude am I in speech'--only," added WAGGSTAFF, "_he_
apologised for it." Young JUMPER sniggered, his friends laughed, and
the incident terminated. The Chorus seemed to have become Wandering
Minstrels, so very uncertain were they.

Altogether, Sir DRURIOLANUS OPERATICUS, with his successful Drury Lane
Race-course, his Provincial Theatre, his Italian Opera, his Paper (not
_in_ the House, but his weekly one out of it), his Music-of-the-Future
Hall, for which a temporary and limited licence has been granted,
will--in a general-dealer kind of way--be having a good time of it
till Pantomime Season slaps him on the back with a cheery "Here we are
again!" and then he will have another and a better time. No doubt of
Sir Gus's success, or in abbreviated proverbial Latin, "_De Gus. non
disputandum_."

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE HEIGHT OF EXCLUSIVENESS.

_Miss Prunes._ "AH, DOCTOR, THESE HIGH SCHOOLS ARE SADLY MIXED! BUT,
UNDER _MY_ CARE, I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT YOUR LITTLE WARD WILL ASSOCIATE
WITH DAUGHTERS OF _GENTLEMEN ONLY_!"