MRS. WESTERN. Most mysterious! Incomprehensible!
JUDGE. [_Looking at his watch._] Past nine! We shall plunge into the play--like body-s.n.a.t.c.hers, looking for the corpse of the plot--and we shall never know what it was that the heroine did.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Ignoring him, to_ MARTIN.] Smithers I"ll answer for.
MARTIN. Oh yes, madam. If I _might_ make a suggestion--
MRS. WESTERN. Well?
MARTIN. It couldn"t have fallen anywhere into your dress, madam?
MRS. WESTERN. Nonsense, how could it? [_She gets up and shakes herself._]
Absurd. [_She sits again._
MARTIN. Into your cloak?
MRS. WESTERN. Silk! No. That"ll do, Martin. You might help the others outside. [MARTIN _goes._
JUDGE. [_With a step forward._] Now, admirable sister--
MRS. WESTERN. Didn"t it strike you that Martin"s manner was rather strange?
HARVEY. [_Fretfully._] Really you _must_ not suspect the servants!
MRS. WESTERN. [_Turning to him._] _Must_ not--must! That"s scarcely the way to speak to me, Harvey.
HARVEY. [_Deprecatingly._] My dear--
MRS. WESTERN. And I wasn"t suspecting--I was merely asking a question of my brother.
JUDGE. Come, Alice, let"s go.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Shaking her head._] You three go. You"ll excuse me.
JUDGE. [_Cheerfully._] If you insist--
MRS. BANKET. [_Coming forward._] No, no. _Do_ come, Alice!
MRS. WESTERN. I can"t--I"m so puzzled. [_With a sudden idea._] Oh!
HARVEY. [_Who is behind her to the left, between her and the_ JUDGE.]
What? Have you found it?
MRS. WESTERN. No, no--of course not. But ring, please, will you?
HARVEY. Why?
MRS. WESTERN, I want you to ring. [_He presses the bell by the fireplace._] I just remember Miss Farren came in while we were having coffee.
HARVEY. [_Indignantly._] Alice!
MRS. WESTERN. I asked her to write a card to Harrod"s--she"ll have written it in here.
HARVEY. [_Angrily._] I say--really!
MRS. WESTERN. [_Coldly._] No need to snub me again--before our guests! I need scarcely say I am not _suspecting_ Miss Farren--but in justice to her--
MRS. BANKET. But, Alice, she"ll have gone out--you told her she might--
MRS. WESTERN. Only to her sister"s close by--and she may not have gone yet. Why don"t they answer the bell? Ring again, Harvey.
JUDGE. The poor things are still searching.
HARVEY. [_Firmly._] Alice, I protest, I do indeed--
MRS. WESTERN. Don"t be so foolishly sentimental--it"s ridiculous at your age. The young woman is in my employ, as governess to my children. [MARTIN _comes in._] Has Miss Farren gone out yet?
MARTIN. No, madam. I believe she"s in her room, dressing.
MRS. WESTERN. Ask her to come.
MARTIN. Yes, madam. [_He goes._
JUDGE. [_Shaking his head._] No sense of proportion, that"s the truth--they"ve no sense of proportion.
MRS. BANKET. Tom!
JUDGE. A fact, my dear--but you can"t help it. You"ve every quality in the world but just that--you _will_ always look through the wrong end of the telescope.
MRS. BANKET. Really, Tom, this isn"t the moment for your nonsense--and if you only knew how stupid you are when you try to be funny!
HARVEY. [_Going nervously to_ MRS. WESTERN.] I say, I really do think--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Roughly._] I don"t care _what_ you think. Leave me alone!
[_There is silence. The_ JUDGE, _sitting by the fire, whistles loudly "Waltz me around again, Willie!"_ HARVEY _has gone moodily across the room and stands by the sideboard._ MRS. BANKET _is sitting behind the table. After a moment the door opens, and_ MISS FARREN _comes in, with hat and cloak on, and goes straight to_ MRS. WESTERN. _She is an extremely pretty girl of twenty._
MISS FARREN. You want me, Mrs. Western?
MRS. WESTERN. Oh, Miss Farren, I"ve lost my bracelet.
MISS FARREN. Really! I"m so sorry! Where?
MRS. WESTERN. I don"t know. You didn"t see it, of course, after we"d gone?
MISS FARREN. [_Shaking her head._] No--and no one came in. I was writing the letter to Harrod"s.
MRS. WESTERN. No one at all?