_Lady Maisie_ (_to herself, as she watches UNDERSHELL
approaching_). How badly he walks, and what _does_ he mean by smiling
at me like that? (_Aloud, coldly._) I am sorry, Mr. BLAIR, but
I must leave you to finish your stroll alone; my maid has just told
me----
_Undershell_ (_vehemently_). Lady MAISIE, I ask you, in common
fairness, not to judge me until you have heard _my_ version. You will
not allow the fact that I travelled down here in the same compartment
with your maid, PHILLIPSON----
_Lady Maisie_ (_wide-eyed_). The _same!_ But _we_ came by that train. I
thought you missed it?
_Und._ I--I was not so fortunate. It is rather a long and complicated
story, but----
_Lady Maisie._ I'm afraid I really can't listen to you _now_, Mr.
BLAIR, after what I have heard from PHILLIPSON----
_Und._ I implore you not to go without hearing both sides. Sit down
again--if only for a minute. I feel confident that I can explain
everything satisfactorily.
_Lady Maisie_ (_sitting down_). I can't imagine what there is to
explain--and really I ought, if PHILLIPSON----
_Und._ You know what maids _are_, Lady MAISIE. They embroider.
Unintentionally, I daresay, but still, they _do_ embroider.
_Lady Maisie_ (_puzzled_). She is very clever at mending lace, I know,
though what _that_ has to do with it----
_Und._ Listen to me, Lady MAISIE. I came to this house at your
bidding. Yes, but for your written appeal, I should have treated the
invitation I received from your Aunt with silent contempt. Had I obeyed
my first impulse and ignored it, I should have been spared humiliations
and indignities which ought rather to excite your pity than--than any
other sensation. Think--try to realise what my feelings must have been
when I found myself expected by the butler here to sit down to supper
with him and the upper servants in the Housekeeper's Room!
_Lady Maisie_ (_shocked_). Oh, Mr. BLAIR! Indeed, I had
no----You weren't _really!_ How _could_ they? What _did_ you say?
_Und._ (_haughtily_). I believe I let him know my opinion of the
snobbery of his employers in treating a guest of theirs so cavalierly.
[Illustration: "How very sweet of you, Mr. Blair. Are they really for
me?"]
_Lady Maisie_ (_distressed_). But surely--_surely_ you couldn't suppose
that my Uncle and Aunt were capable of----?
_Und._ What else _could_ I suppose under the circumstances? It is true
I have since learnt that I was mistaken in this particular instance;
but I am not ignorant of the ingrained contempt you Aristocrats have
for all who live by exercising their intellect--the bitter scorn of
Birth for Brains!
_Lady Maisie._ I am afraid the--the contempt is all on the other side;
but if _that_ is how you feel about it, I don't wonder that you were
indignant.
_Und._ Indignant! I was _furious_. In fact, nothing would have induced
me to sit down to supper at all, if it hadn't been for----
_Lady Maisie_ (_in a small voice_). Then, you _did_ sit down? With the
servants! Oh, Mr. BLAIR!
_Und._ I thought you were already aware of it. Yes, Lady
MAISIE, I endured even that. But (_with magnanimity_) you must
not distress yourself about it now. If _I_ can forget it, surely you
can do so!
_Lady Maisie._ Can I? That _you_ should have consented, for any
consideration whatever; how could you--how _could_ you?
_Und._ (_to himself_). She admires me all the more for it. But I _knew_
she would take the right view! (_Aloud, with pathos._) I was only
compelled by absolute starvation. I had had an unusually light lunch,
and I was so hungry!
_Lady Maisie_ (_after a pause_). That explains it, of course.... I hope
they gave you a good supper!
_Und._ Excellent, thank you. Indeed, I was astonished at the variety
and even luxury of the table. There was a pyramid of quails----
_Lady Maisie._ I am pleased to hear it. But I thought there was
something you were going to explain.
_Und._ I have been _endeavouring_ to explain to the best of my ability
that if I have undesignedly been the cause of--er--a temporary
diversion in the state of Miss PHILLIPSON'S affections, no one
could regret more deeply than I that the--er--ordinary amenities of the
supper-table should have been mistaken for----
_Lady Maisie_ (_horrified_). Oh, stop Mr. BLAIR, please stop!
I don't want to hear any more. I see now. It was _you_ who----
_Und._ Of course it was I. Surely the girl herself has been telling you
so just now!
_Lady Maisie._ You really thought _that_ possible, too? She simply came
with a message from my mother.
_Und._ (_slightly disconcerted_). Oh! If I had known it was merely
_that_. However, I am sure I need not ask you to treat my--my
communication in the strictest confidence, Lady MAISIE.
_Lady Maisie._ Indeed, that is _perfectly_ unnecessary, Mr.
BLAIR.
_Und._ Yes, I felt from the first that I could trust you--even with my
life. And I cannot regret having told you, if it has enabled you to
understand me more thoroughly. It is such a relief that you know all,
and that there are no more secrets between us. You _do_ feel that I
only acted as was natural and inevitable under the circumstances?
_Lady Maisie._ Oh, yes, yes. I--I daresay you could not help it. I mean
you did quite, _quite_ right!
_Und._ Ah, how you comfort me with your fresh girlish----You are not
_going_, Lady MAISIE?
_Lady Maisie_ (_rising_). I must. I ought to have gone before. My
mother wants me. No, you are not to come too; you can go on and gather
those snowdrops, you know.
[_She walks slowly back to the house._
_Und._ (_looking after her_). She took it wonderfully well. I've made
it all right, or she wouldn't have said that about the snowdrops. Yes,
she shall not be disappointed; she shall have her posy!