BETTY. [_Looking at the clock on the mantelpiece._] Twenty-five past, Hector. HECTOR. [_Cheerily._] All right, my lass, I'm off. By-bye, Walter--keep the old woman company for a bit. Good-bye, sweetheart. [_He kisses her._] Don't wait up. Now for the drama. Oh, the dog's life! [_He goes._ BETTY _waits till the hall door has banged, then she sits on the elbow of_ WALTER'S _chair, and rests her head on his shoulder._ BETTY. [_Softly._] Poor Hector! WALTER. [_Uncomfortably._] ... Yes ... BETTY. Doesn't it make you feel dreadful when he talks like that? [_She kisses him; then puts her arms round his neck, draws his face to her, and kisses him again, on the cheek._] Doesn't it? [_She nestles contentedly closer to him._ WALTER. [_Trying to edge away._] Well, it does. Yes. BETTY. [_Dreamily._] I--like it. WALTER. Betty! BETTY. Yes, I like it. I don't know why. I suppose I'm frightfully wicked. Or the danger perhaps--I don't know. WALTER. [_Making a futile effort to get up._] Betty-- BETTY. [_Tightening her arms around him._] Stop there, and don't move. How smooth your chin is--_his_ scrapes. Why don't husbands shave better? Or is it that the forbidden chin is always smoother? Poor old Hector! If he could see us! He hasn't a suspicion. I think it's lovely--really, I do. He leaves us here together, night after night, and imagines you're teaching me bridge. WALTER. [_Restlessly._] So I am. Where are the cards? BETTY. [_Caressing him._] Silly, have you forgotten that this is Tuesday--Maggie's night out? She's gone--I told her she needn't wait to clear away. We've arranged master's supper. Master! _You're_ my master, aren't you? WALTER. ... I don't know what I am ... BETTY. Oh yes you do--you're my boy. Whom I love. There. [_She kisses him again, full on the lips._] That was a nice one, wasn't it? Poor old Hector, sitting in his stall--thinks he's so wonderful, knows such a lot! Yes, Maggie's out--with _her_ young man, I suppose. The world's full of women, with their young men--and husbands sitting in the stalls.... And I suppose that's how it always has been, and always will be. WALTER. [_Shifting uneasily._] Don't, Betty--I don't like it. I mean, he has such confidence in us. BETTY. Of course he has. And quite rightly. Aren't you his oldest friend? WALTER. [_With something of a groan._] I've known him since I was seven. BETTY. The first man he introduced me to--his best man at the wedding--do you remember coming to see us during the honeymoon? I liked you _then._ WALTER. [_Really shocked._] Betty! BETTY. I did. You had a way of squeezing my hand.... And then when we came back here. You know it didn't take me long to discover-- WALTER. [_Protesting._] I scarcely saw you the first two or three years! BETTY. No--you were afraid. Oh I thought you so silly! [_He suddenly contrives to release himself--gets up, and moves to the card-table._] Why, what's the matter?