PAULA.
Ah!
ELLEAN.
That is, if--if----
PAULA.
If--if what?
ELLEAN.
_[Looking towards_ AUBREY, _appealingly._] Papa!
PAULA.
[_In a hard voice._] Oh, of course--I forgot. [_To_ AUBREY.] My dear Aubrey, it rests with you, naturally, whether I am--to lose--Ellean.
AUBREY.
Lose Ellean! [_Advancing to_ PAULA.] There is no question of losing Ellean. You would see Ellean in town constantly when she returned from Paris; isn"t that so, Mrs. Cortelyon?
MRS. CORTELYON.
Certainly.
PAULA.
[_Laughing softly._] Oh, I didn"t know I should be allowed that privilege.
MRS. CORTELYON.
Privilege, my dear Mrs. Tanqueray!
PAULA.
Ha, ha! that makes all the difference, doesn"t it?
AUBREY.
[_With a.s.sumed gaiety._] All the difference? I should think so!
[_To_ ELLEAN, _laying his hand upon her head, tenderly._] And you are quite certain you wish to see what the world is like on the other side of Black Moor?
ELLEAN.
If you are willing, papa, I am quite certain.
AUBREY.
[_Looking at_ PAULA _irresolutely, then speaking with an effort._]
Then I--I am willing.
PAULA.
[_Rising and striking the table lightly with her clenched hand._]
That decides it! [_There is a general movement. Excitedly to_ MRS.
CORTELYON, _who advances towards her._] When do you want her?
MRS. CORTELYON.
We go to town this afternoon at five o"clock, and sleep to-night at Bayliss"s. There is barely time for her to make her preparations.
PAULA.
I will undertake that she is ready.
MRS. CORTELYON.
I"ve a great deal to scramble through at home too, as you may guess.
Good-bye!
PAULA.
[_Turning away._] Mrs. Cortelyon is going.
[PAULA _stands looking out of the window, with her back to those in the room._
MRS. CORTELYON.
[_To_ DRUMMLE.] Cayley----
DRUMMLE.
[_To her._] Eh?
MRS. CORTELYON.
I"ve gone through it, for the sake of Aubrey and his child, but I--I feel a hundred. Is that a mad-woman?
DRUMMLE.
Of course; all jealous women are mad.
[_He goes out with_ AUBREY.
MRS. CORTELYON.