A beautiful young girl in a print dress and her thick hair in a braid came bringing Ms dinner in a tin pail to the handsomest of the actors.

He laid down his pike-pole and took both the girl's hands in his as he received the pail.

One of the other workmen, a hulking brute with an evil face, scowled darkly at this encounter and a moment later had insulted the beautiful young girl.
But the first actor felled him with a blow.

He came up from this, crouchingly, and the fight was on.

Merton was excited by this fight, even though he was in no doubt as to which actor would win it.