Why have you come here?
PAULA.
Angry?
AUBREY.
Yes--no. But it"s eleven o"clock.
PAULA.
[_Laughing._] I know.
AUBREY.
What on earth will Morse think?
PAULA.
Do you trouble yourself about what servants _think_?
AUBREY.
Of course.
PAULA.
Goose! They"re only machines made to wait upon people--and to give evidence in the Divorce Court. [_Looking round._] Oh, indeed! A snug little dinner!
AUBREY.
Three men.
PAULA.
[_Suspiciously._] Men?
AUBREY.
Men.
PAULA.
[_Penitently._] Ah! [_Sitting at the table._] I"m so hungry.
AUBREY.
Let me get you some game pie, or some----
PAULA.
No, no, hungry for this. What beautiful fruit! I love fruit when it"s expensive. [_He clears a s.p.a.ce on the table, places a plate before her, and helps her to fruit._] I haven"t dined, Aubrey dear.
AUBREY.
My poor girl! Why?
PAULA.
In the first place, I forgot to order any dinner, and my cook, who has always loathed me, thought he"d pay me out before he departed.
AUBREY.
The beast!
PAULA.
That"s precisely what I----
AUBREY.
No, Paula!
PAULA.
What I told my maid to call him. What next will you think of me?
AUBREY.
Forgive me. You must be starved.
PAULA.
[_Eating fruit._] _I_ didn"t care. As there was nothing to eat, I sat in my best frock, with my toes on the dining-room fender, and dreamt, oh, such a lovely dinner-party.
AUBREY.
Dear lonely little woman!
PAULA.
It was perfect. I saw you at the end of a very long table, opposite me, and we exchanged sly glances now and again over the flowers. We were host and hostess, Aubrey, and had been married about five years.
AUBREY.
[_Kissing her hand._] Five years.
PAULA.