DIMMUCK. The master wants you, Miss Ann.

SARAH. Ask papa if he'll see me soon.

ANN _goes towards the house_.

SARAH. Dimmuck, Mr. Tetgeen has been left to find his own way here.

DIMMUCK. I couldn't help it, my lady.

_And he follows_ ANN.

SARAH. Our father is confined to his room.

GEORGE. By your leave.

_Then_ GEORGE _takes himself off up the steps, and out of sight. The old lawyer bows to_ LADY COTTESHAM, _who regards him steadily_.

MR. TETGEEN. From Sir Charles . . . a talking machine.

SARAH. Please sit.

_He sits carefully upon the rim of the fountain, she upon the seat opposite._

SARAH. [_Glancing over her shoulder._] Will you talk nonsense until the gardener is out of hearing? He is on his way away. You have had a tiring journey?

MR. TETGEEN. Thank you, no . . . by the night coach to Reading and thence I have walked.

SARAH. The country is pretty, is it not?

MR. TETGEEN. It compares favourably with other parts.

SARAH. Do you travel much, Mr. Tetgeen? He has gone.

MR. TETGEEN. [_Deliberately and sharpening his tone ever so little._]

Sir Charles does not wish to pet.i.tion for a divorce.

SARAH. [_Controlling even her sense of humour._] I have no desire to jump over the moon.

MR. TETGEEN. His scruples are religious. The case would be weak upon some important points, and there has been no public scandal . . . at the worst, very little.

SARAH. My good manners are, I trust, irreproachable, and you may tell Sir Charles that my conscience is my own.

MR. TETGEEN. Your husband's in the matter of . . .

SARAH. Please say the word.

MR. TETGEEN. Pardon me . . . not upon mere suspicion.

SARAH. Now, is it good policy to suspect what is incapable of proof?

MR. TETGEEN. I advise Sir Charles, that, should you come to an open fight, he can afford to lose.

SARAH. And have I no right to suspicions?

MR. TETGEEN. Certainly. Are they of use to you?

SARAH. I have been a tolerant wife, expecting toleration.

MR. TETGEEN. Sir Charles is anxious to take into consideration any complaints you may have to make against him.

SARAH. I complain if he complains of me.

MR. TETGEEN. For the first time, I think . . . formally.

SARAH. Why not have come to me?

MR. TETGEEN. Sir Charles is busy.

SARAH. [_Disguising a little spasm of pain._] Shall we get to business?

MR. TETGEEN _now takes a moment to find his phrase_.

MR. TETGEEN. I don't know the man's name.

SARAH. This, surely, is how you might address a seduced housemaid.

MR. TETGEEN. But Sir Charles and he, I understand, have talked the matter over.

_The shock of this brings_ SARAH _to her feet, white with anger_.

SARAH. Divorce me.

MR. TETGEEN. [_Sharply._] Is there ground for it?

SARAH. [_With a magnificent recovery of self control._] I won't tell you that.

MR. TETGEEN. I have said we have no case . . . that is to say, we don't want one; but any information is a weapon in store.

SARAH. You did quite right to insult me.

MR. TETGEEN. As a rule I despise such methods.

SARAH. It's a lie that they met . . . those two men?

MR. TETGEEN. It may be.

SARAH. It must be.