The Second Mrs. Tanqueray Part 12

Why have you come here?

PAULA.

Angry?

AUBREY.

Yes--no. But it's eleven o'clock.

PAULA.

[_Laughing._] I know.

AUBREY.

What on earth will Morse think?

PAULA.

Do you trouble yourself about what servants _think_?

AUBREY.

Of course.

PAULA.

Goose! They're only machines made to wait upon people--and to give evidence in the Divorce Court. [_Looking round._] Oh, indeed! A snug little dinner!

AUBREY.

Three men.

PAULA.

[_Suspiciously._] Men?

AUBREY.

Men.

PAULA.

[_Penitently._] Ah! [_Sitting at the table._] I'm so hungry.

AUBREY.

Let me get you some game pie, or some----

PAULA.

No, no, hungry for this. What beautiful fruit! I love fruit when it's expensive. [_He clears a s.p.a.ce on the table, places a plate before her, and helps her to fruit._] I haven't dined, Aubrey dear.

AUBREY.

My poor girl! Why?

PAULA.

In the first place, I forgot to order any dinner, and my cook, who has always loathed me, thought he'd pay me out before he departed.

AUBREY.

The beast!

PAULA.

That's precisely what I----

AUBREY.

No, Paula!

PAULA.

What I told my maid to call him. What next will you think of me?

AUBREY.

Forgive me. You must be starved.

PAULA.

[_Eating fruit._] _I_ didn't care. As there was nothing to eat, I sat in my best frock, with my toes on the dining-room fender, and dreamt, oh, such a lovely dinner-party.

AUBREY.

Dear lonely little woman!

PAULA.

It was perfect. I saw you at the end of a very long table, opposite me, and we exchanged sly glances now and again over the flowers. We were host and hostess, Aubrey, and had been married about five years.

AUBREY.

[_Kissing her hand._] Five years.

PAULA.