PHILIP. But I'm _not!_ I never saw the man in my life!

SIR G. No, but the other man?

PHILIP. What other man?

SIR G. The husband.

PHILIP. I didn't say he was my friend!

SIR G. Oh, yes, you did.

PHILIP. When did I say so?

SIR G. When you ran away. (_puts gla.s.ses up_)

PHILIP. Spare me, Sir George. You make me feel like a witness under cross-examination. I didn't mean to breathe a word of this, and somehow I have told you everything.

SIR G. Well, you have told me a good deal. (_drops gla.s.ses_) Now, will you let me give you my advice?

PHILIP. By all means.

SIR G. Keep those women apart.

PHILIP. Which women?

SIR G. (_smiling_) The charming girl and the neglected wife.

PHILIP. I never said she was neglected.

SIR G. But she is, isn't she? (_putting up his eye-gla.s.ses_)

PHILIP. Those gla.s.ses worry me.

SIR G. (_dropping the eye-gla.s.ses_) I beg your pardon; it's the force of habit. Off with the old love--friend--or what you will--and never let the new one see her. Off with her entirely! That's my advice; and many a hundred guineas have been paid for worse.

PHILIP. Oh, they will never meet. I mean to live abroad. The girl I am engaged to is a South Australian. (_SIR GEORGE lifts his head quickly_) And she has only come to England on a visit. Her parents are both dead, and she came over with a maiden aunt with whom she is now stopping.

SIR G. Where?

PHILIP. At Bayswater. In a few weeks she will go back to Melbourne; and then all danger, if there be any, is over.

SIR G. So you have come from Melbourne in the "Kangaroo"? (_rises_)

PHILIP. Who told you what boat I came over in?

SIR G. I gathered it from what you said yourself.

PHILIP. I won't say a word more, or in two minutes you will guess the lady's name.

SIR G. I have already guessed it.

PHILIP. What!

SIR G. Rose Dalrymple.

PHILIP. (_springs up_) This is inexplicable!

SIR G. Not at all.

PHILIP. I have told n.o.body!

SIR G. You have told _me_.

PHILIP. You know Miss Dalrymple?

SIR G. She is my niece. (_PHILIP steps back_) She is a South Australian. She came to England in the "Kangaroo," and has been stopping with a maiden aunt at Bayswater.

PHILIP. Your niece!

SIR G. I am her guardian, since my sister died.

PHILIP. Then, she is your wife's----

SIR G. Niece by marriage. (_crosses, L._) They have just come back from the theatre.

PHILIP. Oh! (_drops into chair, C._)

SIR G. I hear them.

_Enter ROSE DALRYMPLE, in evening dress, as if returning from the theatre._

ROSE. Ah, Uncle George! (_about to embrace_)

PHILIP. (_springs up again_) Rose!

ROSE. Philip! (_rushes to his arms_)

SIR G. Humph. Exit Uncle George.

(_arranges papers on desk_)

ROSE. How late you are! We've been expecting you all the afternoon.

PHILIP. (_taking her aside, R._) You didn't say that you were coming here!

ROSE. No! didn't I tell you I would give you a surprise?

PHILIP. When?