TREBELL. Will the afternoon do? Kent shall fix the hour.
CANTELUPE. [_With an effort._] Kent?
TREBELL. My secretary.
CANTELUPE. Friday. Any hour before five. I know my way.
_The three phrases having meant three separate efforts,_ CANTELUPE
_escapes._ WEDGECROFT _has walked to the table, his brows a little
puckered. Now_ TREBELL _notices that_ KENT'S _door is open; he goes
quickly into the room and finds it empty. Then he stands for a moment
irritable and undecided before returning._
TREBELL. Been here long?
WEDGECROFT. Five minutes ... more, I suppose.
TREBELL. Mrs. O'Connell gone?
WEDGECROFT. To her dressmaker's.
TREBELL. Frances forgot she was coming and went out.
WEDGECROFT. Pretty little fool of a woman! D'you know her husband?
TREBELL. No.
WEDGECROFT. Says she's been in Ireland with him since we met at Shapters. He
has trouble with his tenantry.
TREBELL. Won't he sell or won't they purchase?
WEDGECROFT. Curious chap. A Don at Balliol when I first knew him. Warped of
late years ... perhaps by his marriage.
TREBELL. [_Dismissing that subject._] Well ... how's Percival?
WEDGECROFT. Better this morning. I told him I'd seen you ... and in a little
calculated burst of confidence what I'd reason to think you were after. He
said you and he could get on though you differed on every point; but he
didn't see how you'd pull with such a blasted weak-kneed lot as the rest of
the Horsham's cabinet would be. He'll be up in a week or ten days.
TREBELL. Can I see him?
WEDGECROFT. You might. I admire the old man ... the way he sticks to his
party, though they misrepresent now most things he believes in!
TREBELL. What a damnable state to arrive at ... doubly damned by the fact
you admire it.
WEDGECROFT. And to think that at this time of day you should need
instructing in the ethics of party government. But I'll have to do it.
TREBELL. Not now. I've been at ethics with Cantelupe.
WEDGECROFT. Certainly not now. What about my man with the stomach-ache at
twelve o'clock sharp! Good-bye.
_He is gone,_ TREBELL _battles with uneasiness and at last mutters._
"Oh ... why didn't she wait?" _Then the telephone bell rings. He goes
quickly as if it were an answer to his anxiety._ "Yes?" _Of course, it
isn't.._ "Yes." _He paces the room, impatient, wondering what to do.
The Maid comes in to announce_ MISS DAVENPORT. LUCY _follows her. She
has gained lately perhaps a little of the joy which was lacking and at
least she brings now into this room a breath of very wholesome
womanhood._
LUCY. It's very good of you to let me come; I'm not going to keep you more
than three minutes.
TREBELL. Sit down.
_Only women unused to busy men would call him rude._
LUCY. What I want to say is ... don't mind my being engaged to Walter. It
shan't interfere with his work for you. If you want a proof that it shan't
... it was I got Aunt Julia to ask you to take him.... Though he didn't know
... so don't tell him that.
TREBELL. You weren't engaged then.
LUCY. I ... thought that we might be.
TREBELL. [_With cynical humour._] Which I'm not to tell him either?
LUCY. Oh, that wouldn't matter.
TREBELL. [_With decision._] I'll make sure you don't interfere.
LUCY. [_Deliberately ... not to be treated as a child._] You couldn't, you
know, if I wanted to.
TREBELL. Why, is Walter a fool?
LUCY. He's very fond of me, if that's what you mean?
TREBELL _looks at her for the first time and changes his tone a
little._
TREBELL. If it was what I meant ... I'm disposed to withdraw the suggestion.
LUCY. And, because I'm fond of his work as well, I shan't therefore ask him
to tell me things ... secrets.
TREBELL. [_Reverting to his humour._] It'll be when you're a year or two
married that danger may occur ... in his desperate effort to make
conversation.