ALMERIC. Quite a family pow-wow you"re havin".
HAWCASTLE. Is there anything unusual in the village?
ALMERIC. Ra-ther! Carabiniere all over the shop--still huntin" that bandit feller.
LADY CREECH. Don"t mumble your words!
ALMERIC [shouting]. Lookin" for a bally bandit.
[She screams faintly.]
HAWCASTLE. Be quiet!
ALMERIC. He"s still in this neighborhood, they think.
LADY CREECH [to HAWCASTLE]. What did I tell you? Now, how long--
HAWCASTLE. You shall not repeat one word of what you saw. Almeric, find your betrothed and ask her to come here.
ALMERIC. Rumbo! I don"t mind, pater!
[Exit into the hotel.]
HORACE. What"s the row?
HAWCASTLE. My dear young man, I congratulate you that you and your sister need no longer submit to an odious dictation.
[Enter PIKE briskly from the hotel.]
PIKE [as he enters, genially]. Looks to me like it was going to clear up cold.
[LADY CREECH haughtily stalks off into the garden.]
HAWCASTLE [pleasantly]. Good-afternoon, Mr. Pike.
PIKE [going to the motor]. Howdy!
[Begins touching different parts of the engine.]
[MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY and HORACE haughtily follow LADY CREECH.]
HAWCASTLE [suavely, to PIKE]. Mr. Pike, it is an immense pity that there should have been any misunderstanding in the matter of your ward"s betrothal.
PIKE [looking up for a moment, mildly]. Oh, I wouldn"t call it a misunderstanding.
HAWCASTLE. It would ill become a father to press upon the subject of his son"s merits--
PIKE [plaintively]. I don"t want to talk about _him_ with you--I don"t want to hurt your feelings.
HAWCASTLE. Perhaps I might better put it on the ground of your ward"s wishes--of certain advantages of position which it is her ambition to attain.
PIKE [troubled]. I can"t talk about it with anybody but her.
[Enter MARIANO from the hotel with a letter on a tray. Goes to PIKE.]
HAWCASTLE. There is another matter--
[PIKE stands examining envelope of the letter in profound thought.]
I fear I do not have your attention.
[MARIANO goes into the hotel.]
PIKE [looking up]. Go ahead!
HAWCASTLE. There is _another_ matter to which I may wish to call your attention.
PIKE [genially]. Oh, I"ll talk about anything _else_ with you.
HAWCASTLE [suavely]. This is a question distinctly different [with a glance at the hotel, his voice growing somewhat threatening]--distinctly!
[ETHEL enters from the hotel.]
ETHEL [to HAWCASTLE, in a troubled voice]. You wished me to come here.
HAWCASTLE [going to her and taking her hand]. My child, I wish you to have another chat with our strangely prejudiced friend on the subject so near to all our hearts. And I wish to tell you that I see light breaking through our clouds. Even if he prove obdurate, do not be downcast--all will be well.
[Turns and goes out into the garden, his voice coming back in benign, fatherly tones.]
All will be well!
[PIKE stands regarding ETHEL, who does not look up at him.]
PIKE [gently]. I"m glad you"ve come, Miss Ethel. I"ve got something here I want to read to you.
ETHEL [coldly]. I did not come to hear you read.
PIKE. When I got your letter at home I wrote to Jim Cooley, our vice-consul at London, to look up the records of these Hawcastle folks and write to me here about how they stand in their own community.
ETHEL [astounded]. What!
PIKE. What"s thought of them by the best citizens, and so on.
ETHEL [enraged]. You had the audacity--_you_--to pry into the affairs of the Earl of Hawcastle!
PIKE. Why, I"d "a" done that--I wouldn"t "a" stopped at anything--I"d"
"a" done that if it had been the Governor of Indiana himself!