MRS. SYLVESTER (_gloomily_).
Clothes sometimes cover a mult.i.tude of sins. They are no guarantee.
Rosaline wore them!
MRS. TEMPENNY.
Rosaline?
MRS. SYLVESTER.
You have not heard of Rosaline?
MRS. TEMPENNY.
No. A model?
MRS. SYLVESTER.
A serpent!
MRS. TEMPENNY.
The wretch. Pretty of course?
MRS. SYLVESTER.
Serpents are always pretty. One day, not long after we were married, I came across her photograph--I was tidying up an old desk of Charles", a photo, my dear, with an inscription that left no doubt what their relations had been. I tore it up before his face; and for a time, excepting for the girlish illusions he had shattered, that was an end of the matter.
MRS. TEMPENNY.
But only for a time?
MRS. SYLVESTER (_impressively_).
Two years ago I went into his studio, and found her there.
MRS. TEMPENNY.
Horrible.
MRS. SYLVESTER.
You may well say so. She was sitting on a table drinking brandy and soda as bold as bra.s.s. Of course he swore that he needed her for a picture he was going to work on--and, I don"t know, perhaps it was true. Still considering what had been, her presence there was an outrage, and I shall never forget the quarrel there was between Charles and me. That was the last I have seen of Rosaline--she went flying.
MRS. TEMPENNY.
And was it the last that Mr. Sylvester has seen of her?
MRS. SYLVESTER.
So far as I know. But there is always the lurking, horrid doubt. You know now why I am not the light-hearted girl you remember, and why I distrust artists as a cla.s.s.
_Pause_.
MRS. TEMPENNY (_meditatively_).
I don"t see why you should distrust Mr. Tempenny because Mr. Sylvester is not steady.
MRS. SYLVESTER.
Are you quite contented?
MRS. TEMPENNY.
No--we are too hard up, but I believe Rembrandt loves me, and I love him.
MRS. SYLVESTER (_heavily_).
Poor child.
(_Enter_ REMBRANDT TEMPENNY _door in flat. He wears long hair, and a brown velveteen jacket, and is smoking a short pipe_.)
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Eugenia? And Mrs. Sylvester? Why, bless my soul, how nice, what a surprise! Don"t move--don"t. (_Stands peering at them with his hands over his eyes._) What a charming effect of light on your profile, Mrs.
Sylvester--how rich--how transcendental! Glorious! (_Comes down._) Well, well, well, and so you ladies have come to pay me a visit. Can I offer you anything?
MRS. TEMPENNY.
I called on Mrs. Tempenny to inquire whether you would dine with us to-night, and she said she could not answer without consulting you.
MRS. TEMPENNY.
You have no engagement, Rembrandt?
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
I am quite at liberty, Eugenia, quite. I shall be most pleased and delighted. (_Aside._) Another confoundedly dull evening, I know!
(_Aloud._) Sylvester is well?
MRS. SYLVESTER.
Sylvester is always well.
REMBRANDT TEMPENNY.
Happy Sylvester! Myself, I am a wreck.
MRS. TEMPENNY.