MRS HUSHABYE [half coaxing, half rallying, altogether tenderly]. Oh no: not what I call a man. Only a Boss: just that and nothing else. What business has a Boss with a heart? MANGAN. Then you're not a bit sorry for what you did, nor ashamed? MRS HUSHABYE. I was ashamed for the first time in my life when you said that about hitting a woman in the breast, and I found out what I'd done. My very bones blushed red. You've had your revenge, Boss. Aren't you satisfied? MANGAN. Serve you right! Do you hear? Serve you right! You're just cruel. Cruel. MRS HUSHABYE. Yes: cruelty would be delicious if one could only find some sort of cruelty that didn't really hurt. By the way [sitting down beside him on the arm of the chair], what's your name? It's not really Boss, is it? MANGAN [shortly]. If you want to know, my name's Alfred. MRS HUSHABYE [springs up]. Alfred!! Ellie, he was christened after Tennyson!!! MANGAN [rising]. I was christened after my uncle, and never had a penny from him, damn him! What of it? MRS HUSHABYE. It comes to me suddenly that you are a real person: that you had a mother, like anyone else. [Putting her hands on his shoulders and surveying him]. Little Alf! MANGAN. Well, you have a nerve. MRS HUSHABYE. And you have a heart, Alfy, a whimpering little heart, but a real one. [Releasing him suddenly]. Now run and make it up with Ellie. She has had time to think what to say to you, which is more than I had [she goes out quickly into the garden by the port door]. MANGAN. That woman has a pair of hands that go right through you. ELLIE. Still in love with her, in spite of all we said about you? MANGAN. Are all women like you two? Do they never think of anything about a man except what they can get out of him? You weren't even thinking that about me. You were only thinking whether your gloves would last. ELLIE. I shall not have to think about that when we are married. MANGAN. And you think I am going to marry you after what I heard there! ELLIE. You heard nothing from me that I did not tell you before. MANGAN. Perhaps you think I can't do without you. ELLIE. I think you would feel lonely without us all, now, after coming to know us so well. MANGAN [with something like a yell of despair]. Am I never to have the last word? CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [appearing at the starboard garden door]. There is a soul in torment here. What is the matter? MANGAN. This girl doesn't want to spend her life wondering how long her gloves will last. CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [passing through]. Don't wear any. I never do [he goes into the pantry]. LADY UTTERWORD [appearing at the port garden door, in a handsome dinner dress]. Is anything the matter? ELLIE. This gentleman wants to know is he never to have the last word? LADY UTTERWORD [coming forward to the sofa]. I should let him have it, my dear. The important thing is not to have the last word, but to have your own way. MANGAN. She wants both.