THEODORE
[_following her_]
All the same, deep down under it all, she has a true woman"s yearning for a home to care for and a mate to love. [_She is silently crying._]
Why, Helen, dear, what"s the matter?
HELEN
[_hiding her emotion_]
Oh, why can"t they let me _alone_! They make what ought to be the holiest and most beautiful thing in life the most horrible and dishonest. They make me hate marriage--hate it!
[_Unseen by HELEN, the BUTLER steps out._
THEODORE
[_patting her shoulder_]
Just you wait till the right one comes along.
BUTLER
[_to LUCY_]
Doctor Hamilton has come, ma"am.
HELEN
[_with an old-fashioned gasp_]
Good heavens!
[_And runs to the family._
LUCY
Show Doctor Hamilton out.
[_The BUTLER goes._
HELEN
A plot to entrap him! [_Running to and fro wildly._] But it"s no use!
I"m going ... until he"s gone!
[_HELEN runs into the garden._
JUDGE
Fighting hard, poor child.
THEODORE
But what"ll we do?
JUDGE
Don"t worry--she can"t stay away--the sweet thing!
JOHN
Now listen, we must all jolly him up--he"ll be shy in these surroundings.
JUDGE
Going to surrender, John?
JOHN
What I am going to do requires finesse.
LUCY
[_in a flutter, seeing HAMILTON approach_]
Oh, dear! how does one talk to highbrows?
JUDGE
Talk to him about himself! Highbrows, lowbrows, all men love it.
[_ERNEST HAMILTON, discoverer of the Hamilton ant.i.toxin, is a fine-looking fellow of about thirty-five, without the spectacles or absent-mindedness somehow expected of scientific genius. He talks little but very rapidly and sees everything. It does not occur to him to be shy or embarra.s.sed "in these surroundings"--not because he is habituated to so much luxury, on three thousand a year, nor because he despises it; he likes it; but he likes other things even more. That is why he works for two thousand a year, instead of working for fat, fashionable fees in private practice._
_JOHN meets his distinguished guest at the door--effusively, yet with that smiling condescension which wealthy trustees sometimes show to "scientists, college professors, and that sort of thing."_