[_He appears and comes into the room._
LADY FREDERICK.
Did you know that Captain Montgomerie was going to propose to me?
GERALD.
Yes.
LADY FREDERICK.
Is there any reason why I should marry him?
GERALD.
Only that I owe him nine hundred pounds.
LADY FREDERICK.
[_Aghast._] Oh, why didn"t you tell me?
GERALD.
You were so worried, I couldn"t. Oh, I"ve been such a fool. I tried to make a _coup_ for Rose"s sake.
LADY FREDERICK.
Is it a gambling debt?
GERALD.
Yes.
LADY FREDERICK.
[_Ironically._] What they call a debt of honour?
GERALD.
I must pay it the day after to-morrow without fail.
LADY FREDERICK.
But that"s the day my two bills fall due. And if you don"t?
GERALD.
I shall have to send in my papers, and I shall lose Rosie. And then I shall blow out my silly brains.
LADY FREDERICK.
But who is the man?
GERALD.
He"s the son of Aaron Levitzki, the money-lender.
LADY FREDERICK.
[_Half-comic, half-aghast._] Oh lord!
END OF THE FIRST ACT
THE SECOND ACT
_The scene is the same as in_ ACT I. ADMIRAL CARLISLE _is sleeping in an armchair with a handkerchief over his face_. ROSE _is sitting on a grandfather"s chair, and_ GERALD _is leaning over the back_.
ROSE.
Isn"t papa a perfectly adorable chaperon?
[_The_ ADMIRAL _snores_.
GERALD.
Perfectly.
[_A pause._
ROSE.
I"ve started fifteen topics of conversation in the last quarter of an hour, Gerald.
GERALD.
[_Smiling._] Have you?
ROSE.
You always agree with me, and there"s an end of it. So I have to rack my brains again.
GERALD.