[_Snatching her hand away angrily._] Stay where you are; I'll nurse my half alone. [_She goes towards the window, then starts back._] Hush! SIR TRISTRAM. What's the matter? GEORGIANA. Didn't you hear something? SIR TRISTRAM. Where? GEORGIANA. [_Pointing to the window._] There. SIR TRISTRAM. [_Peeping through the curtains._] You're right. Some people moving about the garden. GEORGIANA. Tris! The horse! SIR TRISTRAM. They're not near the stables. They're coming in here. Hush! We'll clear out and watch! [_SIR TRISTRAM takes the candlestick and they go out leaving the room in darkness. The curtains at the window are pushed aside, and SALOME and SHEBA enter; both in their fancy dresses._ SALOME. [_In a rage, lighting the candles on the mantelpiece._] Oh! oh! oh! SHEBA. Oh! oh! No ball after all! SALOME. If we only had a brother to avenge us! SHEBA. I shall try and borrow a brother to-morrow! SALOME. Cold, wretched, splashed, in debt--for nothing! SHEBA. To think that we've had all the inconvenience of being wicked and rebellious and have only half done it! SALOME. This comes of stooping to the Military! SHEBA. It serves us right--we've been trained for clergymen's wives. I hate Nugent Darbey. I hope he may grow bald early! SALOME. Gerald Tarver's nose is inclined to pink--may it deepen and deepen till it frightens cows! [_Voices are heard from the curtained window recess._ DARBEY. [_Outside._] Miss Jedd--Sheba! TARVER. [_Outside._] Pray hear two wretched men! Miss Jedd! SALOME. [_In a whisper._] There they are. SHEBA. Shall we grant them a dignified interview? SALOME. Yes. Curl your lip, Sheba. SHEBA. You curl your lip better than I--I'll dilate my nostrils. [_SALOME draws aside the curtain. TARVER and DARBEY enter. They are both very badly and shabbily dressed as Cavaliers._ TARVER. [_A most miserable object, carrying a carriage umbrella._] Oh, don't reproach us, Miss Jedd. It isn't our fault that the Military were summoned to St. Marvells. DARBEY. You don't blame officers and gentlemen for responding to the sacred call of duty? SHEBA. We blame officers for subjecting two motherless girls to the shock of alighting at the Durnstone Athenaeum to find a notice on the front door: "Ball knocked on the head--Vivat Regina." SALOME. We blame gentlemen for inflicting upon us the unspeakable agony of being jeered at by boys. TARVER. I took the address of the boy who suggested that we should call again on the fifth of November. It is on the back of your admission card. DARBEY. Everything will be done. We shall both wait on the boy's mother for an explanation. TARVER. Oh, smile on us once again, Miss Jedd--a forced, hollow smile, if you will--only smile. Salome! _GEORGIANA enters._ GEORGIANA. Salome! Sheba! SALOME _and_ SHEBA. Aunt! GEORGIANA. You bad girls! SALOME. [_Weeping._] No, Aunt, no! SHEBA. Not bad. Aunt--trustful and confiding. GEORGIANA.