REX

[_with the intoxication of such moments_]

I don't care who comes--I love you.

JEAN

No ... let me go.

REX

Not till you kiss me, Jean. [_JEAN hesitates, brushes his cheek lightly with her lips, and in pretty confusion tries to escape._] Not till you say you love me, Jean. [_Eyes hidden in his coat, she bobs her head. He laughs and loves it._] Say it!

JEAN

I--er--do.

REX

Do _what_?... _Say_ it!...

[_She cannot. He swings her about, bringing her face close to his._

JEAN

I love you, Rex. Are you sure you love me?

REX

Am I sure! You irresistible little--

[_Begins to kiss her. Masculine triumph._

JEAN

And want to marry me, Rex?

REX

[_stops--startled--had not thought of that_]

Why--er--of course. What did you suppose!

[_Drops his eyes, sobered._

JEAN

[_feminine triumph_]

And me "a penniless orphing"?

REX

[_fascinated by the way she says it, he laughs. Then, his honor touched_]

Why, what kind of a man do you take me for!

[_And wants her lips again._

JEAN

[_giving herself to him, head sinks upon his shoulder_]

Then, oh, Rex, love me and be nice to me and--and take me away from all this!

[_She covers her face with her hands and sobs. He pats her tenderly, with a manly look on his face._

_LUCY comes up from the garden. She is dressed in white with a garden hat, a garden basket filled with flowers in one hand, long scissors in the other. She is JOHN'S wife, the mistress of the house, sister-in-law to JEAN; conspicuously a "sweet" woman, affectedly so, a contrast with JEAN'S more modern, less delicate charm. JEAN is frank and brave, LUCY indirect and timid, pretty but fading, forty but fighting it._

JEAN

[_laughing_]

It's all right, Lucy--we're engaged!

LUCY

Well, I should hope so!

[_Shoots a look at JEAN, "So?"_

REX

[_recovering himself_]