MARGARET. I divorced you-- HILARY. [_Beside himself_] You’re mad! You couldn’t do it! You’d no cause! D’you think I’m to be put off with your lies? Am I a child? You’d no cause! Oh, I see what you’re at. You want to confuse me. You want to pull wool over my eyes. You want to drive me off my head--drive me mad again. You devil! You devil! You shan’t do it. I’ve got friends--Sydney! where’s that girl [_Shouting_] Sydney! Hester! All of you! Come here! Come here, I say! [SYDNEY _opens the drawing room door_.] SYDNEY. Mother, what is it? [_She enters, followed by_ MISS FAIRFIELD. _To_ HILARY--] What are you doing? You’re frightening her. HILARY. [_Wildly_] No, no! You’re not on her side. You’re little Sydney--kind--my Sydney! What did you say--go slow, eh! Keep your hand here--cool, cool. [_Then as_ SYDNEY, _breaking from him, makes a movement to her mother_] Stand away from that woman! MARGARET. Sydney, humour him. HILARY. [_At white heat_] What was I calling you for, eh? Oh, yes, a riddle. I’ve got a riddle for you. There was a man at that place--used to ask riddles--the moon told ’em to him. Just such a white face whispering out of the blue--lies! He couldn’t find the answers--sent him off his head. But I know the answer. When’s a wife not a wife, eh? Want to know the answer? [_Pointing to_ MARGARET] When she’s _this--this--this_! [_Confidentially_] She’s poisoning me. MISS FAIRFIELD. Now, Hilary! Hilary!-- HILARY. Sydney, come here! I’ll tell _you_. [SYDNEY _stands torn between the two_.] MISS FAIRFIELD. What have you done to him, Margaret? MARGARET. I’ve told him the truth. MISS FAIRFIELD. God forgive you! HILARY. [_Raving_] I tell you she’s pouring poison into my ear. You remember that fellow in the play--and _his_ wife? That’s what she’s done. If I told you what she said to me, you’d think I was mad. And that’s what she wants you to think. She wants to get rid of me. She’s got a tame cat about the place. I’m in the way. And so she comes to me, d’you see, and tells me--what do you think? She says she’s not my wife. What do you think of that? MISS FAIRFIELD. [_Grimly_] You may well ask. MARGARET. [_To_ SYDNEY] He won’t listen-- SYDNEY. Sit down, darling! You’re shaking. MARGARET. He’s always had these rages. It’s my fault. I began at the wrong end. Hilary--it’s not--I’m not what you think. HILARY. Then what was that man doing in my house? MARGARET. In a week I’m going to marry him. HILARY. D’you hear her? To _me_ she says this! Is she mad or am I? MARGARET. [_Desperately_] I tell you there’s been a law passed-- MISS FAIRFIELD. No need for him to know that now, Margaret! SYDNEY. Of course he has to know. MISS FAIRFIELD. Not now. MARGARET. [_On the defensive_] I don’t know what you mean, Aunt Hester! MISS FAIRFIELD. Let us rather thank God that he has come back in time. MARGARET. [_Uneasy_] In time? In time? MISS FAIRFIELD. To snatch a brand from the burning. MARGARET. I’m a free woman. I’ve got my divorce.