REX
[_with the intoxication of such moments_]
I don"t care who comes--I love you.
JEAN
No ... let me go.
REX
Not till you kiss me, Jean. [_JEAN hesitates, brushes his cheek lightly with her lips, and in pretty confusion tries to escape._] Not till you say you love me, Jean. [_Eyes hidden in his coat, she bobs her head. He laughs and loves it._] Say it!
JEAN
I--er--do.
REX
Do _what_?... _Say_ it!...
[_She cannot. He swings her about, bringing her face close to his._
JEAN
I love you, Rex. Are you sure you love me?
REX
Am I sure! You irresistible little--
[_Begins to kiss her. Masculine triumph._
JEAN
And want to marry me, Rex?
REX
[_stops--startled--had not thought of that_]
Why--er--of course. What did you suppose!
[_Drops his eyes, sobered._
JEAN
[_feminine triumph_]
And me "a penniless orphing"?
REX
[_fascinated by the way she says it, he laughs. Then, his honor touched_]
Why, what kind of a man do you take me for!
[_And wants her lips again._
JEAN
[_giving herself to him, head sinks upon his shoulder_]
Then, oh, Rex, love me and be nice to me and--and take me away from all this!
[_She covers her face with her hands and sobs. He pats her tenderly, with a manly look on his face._
_LUCY comes up from the garden. She is dressed in white with a garden hat, a garden basket filled with flowers in one hand, long scissors in the other. She is JOHN"S wife, the mistress of the house, sister-in-law to JEAN; conspicuously a "sweet" woman, affectedly so, a contrast with JEAN"S more modern, less delicate charm. JEAN is frank and brave, LUCY indirect and timid, pretty but fading, forty but fighting it._
JEAN
[_laughing_]
It"s all right, Lucy--we"re engaged!
LUCY
Well, I should hope so!
[_Shoots a look at JEAN, "So?"_
REX
[_recovering himself_]