AGNES. At any rate, I"ll make this brighter tomorrow with some tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs willingly. [Pointing to the dressmaker"s box.] Then you won"t insist on my decking myself out in rags of that kind--eh! There"s something in the idea--I needn"t explain.
LUCAS. [Fretfully.] Insist! I"ll not urge you again. [Pointing to the box.] Get rid of it somehow. Are you copying that ma.n.u.script of mine?
AGNES. I had just finished it.
LUCAS. Already! [Taking up her copy.] How beautifully you write! [Going to her eagerly.] What do you think of my Essay?
AGNES. It bristles with truth; it is vital.
LUCAS. My method of treating it?
AGNES. Hardly a word out of place.
LUCAS [Chilled.] Hardly a word?
AGNES. Not a word, in fact.
LUCAS. No, dear, I daresay your "hardly" is nearer the mark.
AGNES. I a.s.sure you it is brilliant, Lucas.
LUCAS. What a wretch I am ever to find the smallest fault in you! Shall we dine out tonight?
AGNES. As you wish, dear.
LUCAS. At the Grunwald? [He goes to the table to pick up his ma.n.u.script; when his back is turned she looks at her watch quickly.]
We"ll solemnly toast this, shall we, in Montefiascone?
AGNES. [Eyeing him askance.] You are going out for your chocolate this afternoon as usual, I suppose?
LUCAS. Yes, but I"ll look through your copy first, so that I can slip it into the post at once. You are not coming out?
AGNES. Not till dinner-time.
LUCAS. [Kissing her on the forehead.] I talked over the points of this --[tapping the ma.n.u.script]--with a man this morning; he praised some of the phrases warmly.
AGNES. A man? [In an altered tone.] The Duke?
LUCAS. Er--yes.
AGNES. [With a.s.sumed indifference, replacing the lid on the dressmaker"s box.] You have seen him again today, then?
LUCAS. We strolled about together for half an hour on the Piazza.
AGNES. [Replacing the cord round the box.] You--you don"t dislike him as much as you did?
LUCAS. He"s someone to chat to. I suppose one gets accustomed even to a man one dislikes.
AGNES. [Almost inaudibly.] I suppose so.
LUCAS. As a matter of fact, he has the reputation of being rather a pleasant companion; though I--I confess--I--I don"t find him very entertaining. [He goes out. She stands staring at the door through which he has disappeared. There is a knock at the opposite door.]
AGNES. [Rousing herself.] Fortune! [Raising her voice.] Fortune! [The door opens, and GERTRUDE enters hurriedly.]
GERTRUDE. Fortune is complacently smoking a cigarette in the Campo.
AGNES. Mrs. Thorpe!
GERTRUDE. [Breathlessly.] Mr Cleeve is out, I conclude?
AGNES. No. He is later than usual going out this afternoon.
GERTRUDE. [Irresolutely.] I don"t think I"ll wait, then.
AGNES. But do tell me: you have been crossing the streets to avoid me during the past week; what has made you come to see me now?
GERTRUDE. I would come. I"ve given poor Amos the slip; he believes I am buying beads for the Ketherick school-children.
AGNES. [Shaking her head.] Ah, Mrs. Thorpe!--
GERTRUDE. Of course, it"s perfectly brutal to be underhanded. But we"re leaving for home tomorrow; I couldn"t resist it.
AGNES. [Coldly.] Perhaps I"m very ungracious--
GERTRUDE. [Taking AGNES" hand.] The fact is, Mrs. Cleeve--oh, what do you wish me to call you?
AGNES. [Withdrawing her hand.] Well--you"re off tomorrow. Agnes will do.
GETRUDE. Thank you. The fact is, it"s been a bad week with me-- restless, fanciful. And I haven"t been able to get you out of my head.
AGNES. I"m sorry.
GERTRUDE. Your story, your present life; you, yourself--such a contradiction to what you profess! Well, it all has a sort of fascination for me.
AGNES. My dear, you"re simply not sleeping again. [Turning away.] You"d better go back to the ammonia Kirke prescribed for you.
GERTRUDE. [Taking a card from her purse, with a little, light laugh.]
You want to physic me, do you, after worrying my poor brain as you"ve done? [Going to her.] "The Rectory, Daleham, Ketherick Moor."
Yorkshire, you know. There can be no great harm in your writing to me sometimes.
AGNES [Refusing the card.] No; under the circ.u.mstances I can"t promise that.
GERTRUDE. [Wistfully.] Very well.
AGNES. [Facing her.] Oh, can"t you understand that it can only be-- disturbing to both of us for an impulsive, emotional creature like yourself to keep up acquaintanceship with a woman who takes life as I do? We"ll drop each other, leave each other alone. [She walks away, and stands leaning upon the stove, her back towards GERTRUDE.]
GERTRUDE. [Replacing the card in her purse.] As you please. Picture me, sometimes, in that big, hollow sh.e.l.l of a rectory at Ketherick, strolling about my poor dead little chap"s empty room.
AGNES. [Under her breath.] Oh!