You see there"s lemon for you--as in Russia.
[_Exit to kitchen--a moment afterwards the merry music stops in the middle of a bar._]
VERA Thank you.
[_Taking a cup._]
Do _you_ like lemon, Mr. Davenport?
QUINCY [_Flirtatiously_]
That depends. The last I had was in Russia itself--from the fair hands of your mother, the Baroness.
VERA [_Pained_]
Please don"t say my mother, my mother is dead.
QUINCY [_Fatuously misunderstanding_]
Oh, you have no call to be ashamed of your step-mother--she"s a stunning creature; all the points of a tip-top Russian aristocrat, or Quincy Davenport"s no judge of breed! Doesn"t speak English like your father--but then the Baron is a wonder.
VERA [_Takes up teapot_]
Father once hoped to be British Amba.s.sador--that"s why _I_ had an English governess. But you never told me you met him in _Russia_.
QUINCY Surely! When I gave you all those love messages----
VERA [_Pouring tea quickly_]
You said you met him at Wiesbaden.
QUINCY Yes, but we grew such pals I motored him and the Baroness back to St.
Petersburg. Jolly country, Russia--they know how to live.
VERA [_Coldly_]
I saw more of those who know how to die.... Milk and sugar?
QUINCY [_Sentimentally_]
Oh, Miss Revendal! Have you forgotten?
VERA [_Politely snubbing_]
How should I remember?
QUINCY You don"t remember our first meeting? At the Settlement Bazaar? When I paid you a hundred dollars for every piece of sugar you put in?
VERA Did you? Then I hope you drank syrup.
QUINCY Ugh! I hate sugar--I sacrificed myself.
VERA To the Settlement? How heroic of you!
QUINCY No, not to the Settlement. To you!
VERA Then I"ll only put milk in.
QUINCY I hate milk. But from you----
VERA Then we _must_ fall back on the lemon.
QUINCY I loathe lemon. But from----
VERA Then you shall have your tea neat.
QUINCY I detest tea, and here it would be particularly cheap and nasty. But----
VERA Then you shall have a cake!
[_She offers plate._]
QUINCY [_Taking one_]
Would they be eatable?
[_Tasting it._]
Humph! Not bad.
[_Sentimentally_]
A little cake was all you would eat the only time you came to one of my private concerts. Don"t you remember? We went down to supper together.
VERA [_Taking his tea for herself and putting in lemon_]
I shall always remember the delicious music Herr Pappelmeister gave us.
QUINCY How unkind of you!
VERA Unkind?
[_She sips the tea and puts down the cup._]
To be grateful for the music?
QUINCY You know what I mean--to forget _me_!
[_He tries to take her hand._]
VERA [_Rising_]
Aren"t you forgetting yourself?
QUINCY You mean because I"m married to that patched-and-painted creature? She"s hankering for the stage again, the old witch.
VERA Hush! Marriages with comic opera stars are not usually domestic idylls.
QUINCY I fell a victim to my love of music.
VERA [_Murmurs, smiling_]
Music!
QUINCY And I hadn"t yet met the right breed--the true blue blood of Europe.
I"ll get a divorce.
[_Approaching her_]
Vera!
VERA [_Retreating_]
You will make me sorry I came to you.