The Gay Lord Quex Part 22

[LADY OWBRIDGE _and_ MRS. EDEN _disappear._

MURIEL.

[_Crossing to_ SOPHY.] Wouldn't you like to walk to the gates to meet Mr. Valma?

SOPHY.

Thanks, dear, I think I would.

MURIEL.

I can show you a nearer way than by going back to the house. [_Pointing into the distance._] Follow this hedge and take the second alley--not the first--on your left. When you reach the big fountain--

[QUEX, _still dipping into the sermons, has come down to the back of the table. He now throws the book upon the table and picks up a newspaper._

QUEX.

I beg your pardon, d.u.c.h.ess--I didn't see you.

d.u.c.h.eSS.

[_In a whisper._] Harry--

QUEX.

[_Startled._] Eh?

d.u.c.h.eSS.

I will hurry into my gown and return. Be here in a quarter of an hour.

QUEX.

May I ask--the reason?

d.u.c.h.eSS.

[_A newspaper in her hand--talking to him, in undertones, over the top of it._] For a week, only the merest commonplaces have pa.s.sed between us. I must relieve my heart; it is bursting!

QUEX.

I entreat you to consider my position.

d.u.c.h.eSS.

Yours! have _I_ no reputation to endanger? [_Rising--laying the paper aside._] What a pitiably small request! you will grant it?

QUEX.

If you could see your way to excuse me--

d.u.c.h.eSS.

In memory of the past--! I demand it!

QUEX.

[_With a stiff bow._] Oh--oh, certainly.

d.u.c.h.eSS.

[_Leaving him._] Thank you.

QUEX.

[_To himself._] d.a.m.n!

[_He turns on his heel and walks away._

d.u.c.h.eSS.

[_Joining_ MURIEL.] You are coming to dress?

MURIEL.

[_After smiling a.s.sent, presenting_ SOPHY.] Miss Fullgarney was my first playmate, d.u.c.h.ess.

d.u.c.h.eSS.

[_Looking upon_ SOPHY _graciously._] Ah? [_To_ MURIEL.] The souvenirs of childhood are sweet, are they not?

[_She slips her arm through_ MURIEL'S, _and they ascend the steps and go away together._ SOPHY _comes to the stone bench on the left, upon which she deposits her bag. She opens the bag, produces a little mirror and a comb, and puts her "fringe" in order--humming as she does so an air from the latest comic opera. Then she returns the comb and mirror to the bag and--bag in hand--prepares to depart. While this is going on_ QUEX _returns, above the low hedge. He ascends the steps and looks off into the distance, watching the retreating figure of the_ d.u.c.h.eSS. _After a moment or two he shrugs his shoulders in a perplexed, troubled way, and, coming down the steps, encounters_ SOPHY.

SOPHY.

[_Innocently._] Lovely evening, my lord.

QUEX.

[_Pa.s.sing her, with a nod and a smile._] Very--very.

[_At the table, he exchanges the newspaper he carries for another. She is going in the direction indicated by_ MURIEL. _Suddenly she pauses, above the dwarf cypress-hedge, and stands looking at_ QUEX _with an expression in which fear and determination are mingled. Having selected his newspaper,_ QUEX _crosses to the left and sits, reading._

SOPHY.

[_Coming to him._] I don't think I shall go, after all.

QUEX.