SYDNEY. Yes, I’m sure it’s someone trying to get on. They’ve rung up once already. MISS FAIRFIELD. Sydney, I won’t be left to deal with it. [_The telephone rings deafeningly._] There, I told you so. SYDNEY. Well, it’s not my fault! [_She takes off the receiver_] Hullo! Hullo!... Yes.... Yes.... Yes.... [_To her aunt_] It’s a trunk call. MISS FAIRFIELD. Who on earth--? SYDNEY. Yes.... Hullo!... Yes.... Mrs. Fairfield’s out. Shall I take a message?... This is Miss Fairfield speaking.... All right, I’ll hold on.... [_To her aunt_] Auntie, it’s from Bedford. It’s about Father. [_Into the telephone_] Yes.... This is Miss Fairfield speaking.... What?... Good Lord! MISS FAIRFIELD. Sydney, don’t say “Good Lord”! SYDNEY. But you should have let Mrs. Fairfield know!... Only this morning? Oh, I see.... No, we’ve heard nothing. When did you find out?... What makes you--? I see.... No, he’s not here.... Of course we’d let you know.... Then you’ll let us know at once if anything ... yes.... _Miss_ Fairfield. Mrs. Fairfield is going away very soon.... Thank you.... Good-bye. SYDNEY _hangs up the receiver and turns round_. MISS FAIRFIELD. Well? SYDNEY. Father’s got away. MISS FAIRFIELD. What? Who spoke to you? SYDNEY. The head man--what’s his name? Rogers! Frightfully upset. MISS FAIRFIELD. I should think so. Why, the poor fellow’s dangerous. SYDNEY. Apparently he’s been very much better lately, and this last week, a marked change, he says. MISS FAIRFIELD. [_Agitated_] You mean he’s getting well? SYDNEY. Looks like it. Rogers was awfully guarded but--apparently they’d already written to Uncle Hugh and the solicitors. MISS FAIRFIELD. They ought to have written to me. SYDNEY. Of course, they wouldn’t write to Mother--now--but we ought to have heard. MISS FAIRFIELD. When did they miss him? SYDNEY. This morning. Then a lot about its being inexplicable and the precautions they had taken and so on. The fact remains that he has managed to get away. MISS FAIRFIELD. It’s disgraceful carelessness. SYDNEY. Their theory is that he has suddenly come to himself. Is it possible, Auntie? Can it happen? MISS FAIRFIELD. It’s quite possible. It does. It was the same with my poor sister, Grace. After ten years that was. SYDNEY. But the doctors said incurable. MISS FAIRFIELD. The Almighty’s greater than the doctors. And nerves--nerves are queer things. I nursed your Aunt Grace. Well, I always told your mother to wait. SYDNEY. [_Struck_] Is that a fact about Aunt Grace? Was she out of her mind too? MISS FAIRFIELD. She never had to be sent away. SYDNEY. Nobody ever told me. MISS FAIRFIELD. There’s something in most families. SYDNEY. But with Father--wasn’t it shell-shock? MISS FAIRFIELD. It was brought on by shell-shock. SYDNEY. D’you mean that in our family there’s insanity?