_Miss Ramsey_: "And I _don"t_ like Mr. Ashley at all. Of course I respect him--and I admire his intellect; there"s no question about his being handsome; but I have never thought of him for a moment in any other way; and now I can"t even respect him."

_Miss Garnett_: "n.o.body could. I"m sure Emily would be welcome to him as far as _I_ was concerned. But he has never been about with me so much as he has with you, and I don"t wonder you feel indignant."

_Miss Ramsey_, coldly: "I don"t feel indignant. I wish to be just."

_Miss Garnett_: "Yes, that is what I mean. And poor Emily is so uninteresting! In the play that Kentucky Summers does, she is perfectly fascinating at first, and you can see why the poor girl"s fiance should be so taken with her. But I"m sure no one could say you had ever given Mr. Ashley the least encouragement. It would be pure justice on your part. I think you are grand! I shall always be proud of knowing what you were going to do."

_Miss Ramsey_, after some moments of snubbing intention: "I don"t know what I am going to do myself, yet. Or how. What _was_ that play? I never heard of it."

_Miss Garnett_: "I don"t remember distinctly, but it was about a young man who falls in love with her, when he"s engaged to another girl, and she determines, as soon as she finds it out, to disgust him, so that he will go back to the other girl, don"t you know."

_Miss Ramsey_: "That sounds rather more practical than the Peg Woffington plan. What does she do?"

_Miss Garnett_: "Nothing you"d like to do."

_Miss Ramsey_: "I"d like to do something in such a cause. What does she do?"

_Miss Garnett_: "Oh, when he is calling on her, Kentucky Summers pretends to fly into a rage with her sister, and she pulls her hair down, and slams everything round the room, and scolds, and drinks champagne, and wants him to drink with her, and I don"t know what all.

The upshot is that he is only too glad to get away."

_Miss Ramsey_: "It"s rather loathsome, isn"t it?"

_Miss Garnett_: "It _is_ rather loathsome. But it was in a good cause, and I suppose it was what an actress would think of."

_Miss Ramsey_: "An actress?"

_Miss Garnett_: "I forgot. The heroine is a distinguished actress, you know, and Kentucky could play that sort of part to perfection. But I don"t think a lady would like to cut up, much, in the _best_ cause."

_Miss Ramsey_: "Cut up?"

_Miss Garnett_: "She certainly frisks about the room a good deal. How delicious these mallows are! Have you ever tried toasting them?"

_Miss Ramsey_: "At school. There seems an idea in it. And the hero isn"t married. I don"t like the notion of a married man."

_Miss Garnett_: "Oh, I"m quite sure he isn"t married. He"s merely engaged. That makes the whole difference from the Peg Woffington story. And there"s no portrait, I"m confident, so that you wouldn"t have to do that part."

_Miss Ramsey_, haughtily: "I don"t propose to do _any_ part, if the affair can"t be arranged without some such mountebank business!"

_Miss Garnett_: "You can manage it, if anybody can. You have so much dignity that you could awe him into doing his duty by a single glance.

I wouldn"t be in his place!"

_Miss Ramsey_: "I shall not give him a glance. I shall not see him when he comes. That will be simpler still." To Nora, at the door: "What is it, Nora?"

II

NORA, MISS RAMSEY, MISS GARNETT

_Nora_: "Mr. Ashley, Miss Ramsey."

_Miss Ramsey_, with a severity not meant for Nora: "Ask him to sit down in the reception-room a moment."

_Nora_: "Yes, Miss Ramsey."

III

MISS RAMSEY, MISS GARNETT

_Miss Garnett_, rising and seizing Miss Ramsey"s hands: "Oh, Isobel!

But you will be equal to it! Oh! Oh!"

_Miss Ramsey_, with state: "Why are you going, Esther? Sit down."

_Miss Garnett_: "If I only _could_ stay! If I could hide under the sofa, or behind the screen! Isn"t it wonderful--providential--his coming at the very instant? Oh, Isobel!" She clasps her friend convulsively, and after a moment"s resistance Miss Ramsey yields to her emotion, and they hide their faces in each other"s neck, and strangle their hysteric laughter. They try to regain their composure, and then abandon the effort with a shuddering delight in the perfection of the incident. "What shall you do? Shall you trust to inspiration? Shall you make him show his hand first, and then act? Or shall you tell him at once that you know all, and-- Or no, of course you can"t do that. He"s not supposed to know that you know. Oh, I can imagine the freezing hauteur that you"ll receive him with, and the icy indifference you"ll let him understand that he isn"t a _persona grata_ with! If I were only as tall as you! He isn"t as tall himself, and you can tower over him. Don"t sit down, or bend, or anything; just stand with your head up, and glance carelessly at him under your lashes as if n.o.body was there! Then it will gradually dawn upon him that you know everything, and he"ll simply go through the floor." They take some ecstatic turns about the room, Miss Ramsey waltzing as gentleman.

She abruptly frees herself.

_Miss Ramsey_: "No. It can"t be as tacit as all that. There must be something explicit. As you say, I must _do_ something to cure him of his fancy--his perfidy--and make him glad to go back to her."

_Miss Garnett_: "Yes! Do you think he deserves it?"

_Miss Ramsey_: "I"ve no wish to punish him."

_Miss Garnett_: "How n.o.ble you are! I don"t wonder he adores you. _I_ should. But you won"t find it so easy. You must do something drastic.

It _is_ drastic, isn"t it? or do I mean static? One of those things when you simply crush a person. But now I must go. How I should like to listen at the door! We must kiss each other very quietly, and I must slip out-- Oh, you dear! How I long to know what you"ll do! But it will be perfect, whatever it is. You always _did_ do perfect things."

They knit their fingers together in parting. "On second thoughts I won"t kiss you. It might unman you, and you need all your strength.

Unman isn"t the word, exactly, but you can"t say ungirl, can you? It would be ridiculous. Though girls are as brave as men when it comes to duty. Good-by, dear!" She catches Miss Ramsey about the neck, and pressing her lips silently to her cheek, runs out. Miss Ramsey rings and the maid appears.

IV

NORA, MISS RAMSEY

_Miss Ramsey_, starting: "Oh! Is that you, Nora? Of course! Nora!"

_Nora_: "Yes, Miss Ramsey."

_Miss Ramsey_: "Do you know where my brother keeps his cigarettes?"

_Nora_: "Why, in his room, Miss Ramsey; you told him you didn"t like the smell here."

_Miss Ramsey_: "Yes, yes. I forgot. And has he got any c.o.c.ktails?"

_Nora_: "He"s got the whole bottle full of them yet."

_Miss Ramsey_: "Full yet?"

_Nora_: "You wouldn"t let him offer them to the gentlemen he had to lunch, last week, because you said--"