MRS HUSHABYE. I'm beginning to like you a little. I perfectly loathed you at first. I thought you the most odious, self-satisfied, boresome elderly prig I ever met. MAZZINI [resigned, and now quite cheerful]. I daresay I am all that. I never have been a favorite with gorgeous women like you. They always frighten me. MRS HUSHABYE [pleased]. Am I a gorgeous woman, Mazzini? I shall fall in love with you presently. MAZZINI [with placid gallantry]. No, you won't, Hesione. But you would be quite safe. Would you believe it that quite a lot of women have flirted with me because I am quite safe? But they get tired of me for the same reason. MRS HUSHABYE [mischievously]. Take care. You may not be so safe as you think. MAZZINI. Oh yes, quite safe. You see, I have been in love really: the sort of love that only happens once. [Softly]. That's why Ellie is such a lovely girl. MRS HUSHABYE. Well, really, you are coming out. Are you quite sure you won't let me tempt you into a second grand passion? MAZZINI. Quite. It wouldn't be natural. The fact is, you don't strike on my box, Mrs Hushabye; and I certainly don't strike on yours. MRS HUSHABYE. I see. Your marriage was a safety match. MAZZINI. What a very witty application of the expression I used! I should never have thought of it. Ellie comes in from the garden, looking anything but happy. MRS HUSHABYE [rising]. Oh! here is Ellie at last. [She goes behind the sofa]. ELLIE [on the threshold of the starboard door]. Guinness said you wanted me: you and papa. MRS HUSHABYE. You have kept us waiting so long that it almost came to--well, never mind. Your father is a very wonderful man [she ruffles his hair affectionately]: the only one I ever met who could resist me when I made myself really agreeable. [She comes to the big chair, on Mangan's left]. Come here. I have something to show you. [Ellie strolls listlessly to the other side of the chair]. Look. ELLIE [contemplating Mangan without interest]. I know. He is only asleep. We had a talk after dinner; and he fell asleep in the middle of it. MRS HUSHABYE. You did it, Ellie. You put him asleep. MAZZINI [rising quickly and coming to the back of the chair]. Oh, I hope not. Did you, Ellie? ELLIE [wearily]. He asked me to. MAZZINI. But it's dangerous. You know what happened to me. ELLIE [utterly indifferent]. Oh, I daresay I can wake him. If not, somebody else can. MRS HUSHABYE. It doesn't matter, anyhow, because I have at last persuaded your father that you don't want to marry him. ELLIE [suddenly coming out of her listlessness, much vexed]. But why did you do that, Hesione? I do want to marry him. I fully intend to marry him. MAZZINI. Are you quite sure, Ellie? Mrs Hushabye has made me feel that I may have been thoughtless and selfish about it.