JACKIE: Have you travelled a lot? RICHARD (_modestly_): A good deal. JACKIE: How lovely. [_There is a pause._ RICHARD: Spain is very beautiful. JACKIE: Yes, I’ve always heard Spain was awfully nice. RICHARD: Except for the bull-fights. No one who ever really loved horses could enjoy a bull-fight. JACKIE: Nor anyone who loved bulls either. RICHARD: Exactly. JACKIE: Italy’s awfully nice, isn’t it? RICHARD: Oh, yes, charming. JACKIE: I’ve always wanted to go to Italy. RICHARD: Rome is a beautiful city. JACKIE: Yes, I’ve always heard Rome was lovely. RICHARD: And Naples and Capri—Capri’s enchanting. JACKIE: It must be. RICHARD: Have you ever been abroad at all? JACKIE: Oh, yes; I went to Dieppe once—we had a house there for the summer. RICHARD (_kindly_): Dear little place—Dieppe. JACKIE: Yes, it was lovely. [_JUDITH comes downstairs, followed by SANDY, with his arms full of cushions. She motions him out into the garden, sits down and puts on her goloshes, and then follows him._ JACKIE: Well! RICHARD: Russia used to be a wonderful country before the war. JACKIE: It must have been.... Was that her? RICHARD: Who? JACKIE: Judith Bliss. RICHARD: Yes, I expect it was. JACKIE: I wish I’d never come. RICHARD: You mustn’t worry. They’re a very Bohemian family, I believe. JACKIE: I wonder if Mr. Bliss knows I’m here. RICHARD: I wonder. JACKIE: Couldn’t we ring a bell, or anything? RICHARD: Yes, perhaps we’d better. (_He finds bell and presses it._) JACKIE: I don’t suppose it rings. RICHARD: You mustn’t be depressed. JACKIE: I feel horrid. RICHARD: It’s always a little embarrassing coming to a strange house for the first time. You’ll like Sorel—she’s charming. JACKIE (_desperately_): I wonder where she is. RICHARD (_consolingly_): I expect tea will be here soon. JACKIE: Do you think they _have_ tea? RICHARD (_alarmed_): Oh, yes—they must. JACKIE: Oh, well, we’d better go on waiting, then. (_She sits down._) RICHARD: Do you mind if I smoke? JACKIE: Not a bit. RICHARD: Will you? JACKIE: No, thank you. RICHARD (_sitting down_): I got this case in Japan. It’s pretty, isn’t it? JACKIE: Awfully pretty. [_They lapse into hopeless silence._ [_Enter SOREL, down stairs._ SOREL: Oh, Richard, I’m dreadfully sorry. I didn’t know you were here. RICHARD: We’ve been here a good while. SOREL: How awful! Please forgive me. I was upstairs. RICHARD: This is Miss Coryton. SOREL: Oh! JACKIE: How-do-you-do. SOREL: Have you come to see Father? JACKIE: Yes. SOREL: He’s in his study—you’d better go up. JACKIE: I don’t know the way. SOREL (_irritably_): Oh, well—I’ll take you. Come on. Wait a minute, Richard. (_She takes her to the top of the stairs._) It’s along that passage, and the third door on the right. JACKIE: Oh, thank you. (_She goes out despondently._) SOREL (_coming down again_): The poor girl looks half-witted. RICHARD: She’s shy, I think. SOREL: I hope Father will find her a comfort.