Mrs. Tremaine! (_Exit Jane._)

Mrs. Denham.

My dear Blanche!

Mrs. Tremaine.

My dear Constance! (_They embrace._)

Mrs. Denham.

My husband, Mrs. Tremaine. Miss Macfarlane, Mr. Fitzgerald. (_She introduces them._)

Fitzgerald.

(_thrusting the book into his side pocket_) Well, I must run away.

(_Crosses_ C.)

Denham.

Must you go?

Fitzgerald.

Yes--I've--I've a lot of things to do. Good-bye. (_Shakes hands absently._)

Denham.

Oh, Fitz, I want to show you something. Will you excuse me for a moment, Mrs. Tremaine?

(_Exeunt Denham and Fitzgerald._)

Mrs. Denham.

Do sit down, and let us have a little quiet talk.

(_They sit down. Mrs. Denham crosses and sits on sofa_ R; _Mrs. Tremaine on sofa_ L, _and Miss Macfarlane in armchair by fire, quietly observe each other._)

You are looking splendidly, Blanche.

Mrs. Tremaine.

Yes, I'm in very good form. But you're not looking well--rather pale, you know.

Mrs. Denham.

I'm a little tired, that's all. I am so glad to see you again. Why have you quite given me up?

Mrs. Tremaine.

Well, you see, I have been rather making a mess of my life, and I have not been much in town. Besides, I was a little shy about coming, after--all my escapades.

Mrs. Denham.

You know I'm not a censorious person, Blanche. I don't think our conventional morality very admirable, and I never adored the patient Griselda.

Mrs. Tremaine.

You don't know how I feel your kindness, Constance. I have had a hard time of it, so far; but now I have taken my life into my own hands, and I mean to live it out.

Mrs. Denham.

But your husband? You married again, did you not?

Mrs. Tremaine.

Yes. Fancy a woman making that mistake twice! But, you see, I was in an equivocal position. I had left my first husband, Miss Macfarlane; I don't want to conceal my misdeeds.

Miss Macfarlane.

Oh, don't expect paving stones from an old woman like me! I judge every case on its own merits. I know what men are, though I've been content to gain my experience at my friends' expense. I tell ye I know more about the ins and outs of marriages than most married women, just as the curler on the bank sees most of the game. You mayn't have been anything worse than a fool, and ye mayn't have been even that.

Mrs. Tremaine.

Thank you. I was a fool, of course. You see, my first marriage was a mistake altogether. It was my mother's doing. I knew nothing of marriage, or love either, for that matter. That came afterwards, and--all the scandal.

Miss Macfarlane.

And may I ask, young woman, have you run away from your second husband? You say that marriage was a mistake too.

Mrs. Tremaine.

No; he is dead now.

Miss Macfarlane.

But you don't--(_Looks at her dress._)

Mrs. Tremaine.

No, I don't _afficher_ eternal bereavement. We were separated for two years.

Mrs. Denham.

Poor Blanche! Then it was not a success?

Mrs. Tremaine.