CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [rising]. Nonsense! the man is in bed. ELLIE. Aha! I've caught you. My real father has gone to bed; but the father you gave me is in the kitchen. You knew quite well all along. Come. [She draws him out into the garden with her through the port door]. HECTOR. That's an extraordinary girl. She has the Ancient Mariner on a string like a Pekinese dog. RANDALL. Now that they have gone, shall we have a friendly chat? HECTOR. You are in what is supposed to be my house. I am at your disposal. Hector sits down in the draughtsman's chair, turning it to face Randall, who remains standing, leaning at his ease against the carpenter's bench. RANDALL. I take it that we may be quite frank. I mean about Lady Utterword. HECTOR. You may. I have nothing to be frank about. I never met her until this afternoon. RANDALL [straightening up]. What! But you are her sister's husband. HECTOR. Well, if you come to that, you are her husband's brother. RANDALL. But you seem to be on intimate terms with her. HECTOR. So do you. RANDALL. Yes: but I AM on intimate terms with her. I have known her for years. HECTOR. It took her years to get to the same point with you that she got to with me in five minutes, it seems. RANDALL [vexed]. Really, Ariadne is the limit [he moves away huffishly towards the windows]. HECTOR [coolly]. She is, as I remarked to Hesione, a very enterprising woman. RANDALL [returning, much troubled]. You see, Hushabye, you are what women consider a good-looking man. HECTOR. I cultivated that appearance in the days of my vanity; and Hesione insists on my keeping it up. She makes me wear these ridiculous things [indicating his Arab costume] because she thinks me absurd in evening dress. RANDALL. Still, you do keep it up, old chap. Now, I assure you I have not an atom of jealousy in my disposition. HECTOR. The question would seem to be rather whether your brother has any touch of that sort. RANDALL. What! Hastings! Oh, don't trouble about Hastings. He has the gift of being able to work sixteen hours a day at the dullest detail, and actually likes it. That gets him to the top wherever he goes. As long as Ariadne takes care that he is fed regularly, he is only too thankful to anyone who will keep her in good humor for him. HECTOR. And as she has all the Shotover fascination, there is plenty of competition for the job, eh? RANDALL [angrily]. She encourages them. Her conduct is perfectly scandalous. I assure you, my dear fellow, I haven't an atom of jealousy in my composition; but she makes herself the talk of every place she goes to by her thoughtlessness. It's nothing more: she doesn't really care for the men she keeps hanging about her; but how is the world to know that? It's not fair to Hastings. It's not fair to me. HECTOR. Her theory is that her conduct is so correct