BURGE-LUBIN [_jumping up_] Look here. Let us stop talking damned nonsense. I don't wish to be disagreeable; but it's getting on my nerves. The best joke won't bear being pushed beyond a certain point. That point has been reached. I--I'm rather busy this morning. We all have our hands pretty full. Confucius here will tell you that I have a heavy day before me. BARNABAS. Have you anything more important than this thing, if it's true? BURGE-LUBIN. Oh, if if, if it's true! But it isn't true. BARNABAS. Have you anything at all to do? BURGE-LUBIN. Anything to do! Have you forgotten, Barnabas, that I happen to be President, and that the weight of the entire public business of this country is on my shoulders? BARNABAS. Has he anything to do, Confucius? CONFUCIUS. He has to be President. BARNABAS. That means that he has nothing to do. BURGE-LUBIN [_sulkily_] Very well, Barnabas. Go on making a fool of yourself. [_He sits down_]. Go on. BARNABAS. I am not going to leave this room until we get to the bottom of this swindle. MRS LUTESTRING [_turning with deadly gravity on the Accountant General_] This what, did you say? CONFUCIUS. These expressions cannot be sustained. You obscure the discussion in using them. BARNABAS [_glad to escape from her gaze by addressing Confucius_] Well, this unnatural horror. Will that satisfy you? CONFUCIUS. That is in order. But we do not commit ourselves to the implications of the word horror. THE ARCHBISHOP. By the word horror the Accountant General means only something unusual. CONFUCIUS. I notice that the honorable Domestic Minister, on learning the advanced age of the venerable prelate, shews no sign of surprise or incredulity. BURGE-LUBIN. She doesn't take it seriously. Who would? Eh, Mrs Lutestring? MRS LUTESTRING. I take it very seriously indeed, Mr President. I see now that I was not mistaken at first. I have met the Archbishop before. THE ARCHBISHOP. I felt sure of it. This vision of a door opening to me, and a woman's face welcoming me, must be a reminiscence of something that really happened; though I see it now as an angel opening the gate of heaven. MRS LUTESTRING. Or a parlor maid opening the door of the house of the young woman you were in love with? THE ARCHBISHOP [_making a wry face_] Is that the reality? How these things grow in our imagination! But may I say, Mrs Lutestring, that the transfiguration of a parlor maid to an angel is not more amazing than her transfiguration to the very dignified and able Domestic Minister I am addressing. I recognize the angel in you. Frankly, I do not recognize the parlor maid. BURGE-LUBIN. Whats a parlor maid?