How very rude! [Laying her hand on his arm.] And am I--altered, Val?
VALENTINE WHITE.
Altered! The change is heart-breaking!
IMOGEN.
Oh, how cruel!
VALENTINE WHITE.
Altered! Where are the tiny tea-things with which you once played at making tea in your old school-room? Where is the hoop you used to trundle in Portman Square--the skipping-rope Brooke and I turned for you till our arms nearly dropped from our shoulders? Where are the marbles I gave you--the top I taught you to spin? I say, where are these things and the jolly little girl who delighted in them?
IMOGEN.
[With much dignity.] I think you"re so violent that it isn"t safe to speak to you. But I"ll ask you one question.
VALENTINE WHITE.
Pray do.
IMOGEN.
Where is the good-tempered, curly-headed boy for whom I used to make the tea; the boy who taught me, very patiently, how to play the marbles and to spin the top?
VALENTINE WHITE.
You see him.
IMOGEN.
Oh, no. No, Val, no.
VALENTINE WHITE.
Imogen! You don"t mean, at any rate, that I"m stuck-up?
IMOGEN.
No, indeed, I think you"re shockingly stuck-down. [He turns away, hanging his head. She comes to him.] There, now I"ve made you ashamed of yourself.
VALENTINE WHITE.
No, you haven"t!
IMOGEN.
Then I will do so. Remain here. I will return in a moment. Don"t stir!
[She runs out.]
VALENTINE WHITE.
Shall I run away? Ah, if she only knew how ardently I wish that she had changed still more--how I wish that she had grown quite unlovable or I had forgotten how to love her! It"s hopeless; I _will_ run away.
[He opens the door and the DOWAGER peeps in.]
DOWAGER.
May I come in?
VALENTINE WHITE.
Eh? Oh, certainly.
[The DOWAGER enters.]
DOWAGER.
[To herself.] What has become of them? [To VALENTINE.] Pardon me, have you seen my niece, Imogen?
VALENTINE WHITE.
She has just left this room.
DOWAGER.
With Sir Colin Macphail?
VALENTINE WHITE.
Oh, no.
[A cab whistle is heard. VALENTINE looks out of the window.]
DOWAGER.
[To herself.] Where is he? I shan"t sleep till I know it is settled.
VALENTINE WHITE.
Here"s Sir Colin--hailing a cab.
DOWAGER.
Ah! Something must have happened! [She goes hastily towards the door; VALENTINE is in her way.] Let me pa.s.s, please! I have a motive!
[She goes out as IMOGEN enters by another door carrying a large old-fashioned box.]
IMOGEN.