(BOBBIE _comes mooching into the hall through the window._ _Enter_ FAITH _downstairs._) FAITH. Good morning, Mr. Dermott. (_Offers hand coldly._) BOBBIE (L.C.). I say--you have been quick. FAITH (C., _coldly_). I've been up for hours--what is it you want? BOBBIE. I've had a perfectly miserable night--I couldn't sleep a wink. I want to know if you really meant what you said last night. FAITH. Of course I really meant it, how silly you are. BOBBIE. I'm not silly--I thought maybe it was only the heat of the moment that made you so utterly beastly. FAITH. If you're going to be rude I shall go away. (_She sits down in chair by Chesterfield._) BOBBIE. Do you really care for me so little that you can give me up at a moment's notice like that? FAITH. You will not understand Bobbie--I had to. BOBBIE. Why? FAITH. Because mother made me promise. BOBBIE (_up to her_). _What_ did she make you promise? FAITH. She made me promise that--that---- BOBBIE. Well? FAITH. Well, you see I'm an only child, and mother wants me to be happy above all things and---- BOBBIE. I could make you happy--wonderfully happy. FAITH. Mother doesn't think so. You see I've always been used to having money and comforts and things. BOBBIE. Do you imagine that I shouldn't have been able to give you all the comforts you wanted whether I had uncle's money or not? Why, in a year or so I shall be making hundreds and hundreds. I mean to be successful--nothing will stop me. FAITH. Well, Bobbie, if you come to me again then, perhaps mother would---- BOBBIE. You mean that I'm to go on working for my happiness on the off chance of your being free to accept me? Neither you nor your mother have enough trust in me to believe that I shall make a big name for myself. Good God, it was a pretty thought of your parents to call you "Faith." I suppose if you had a couple of sisters you'd call them Hope and Charity. FAITH. It's no use being angry and beastly about it. One must use a little common sense. BOBBIE. It isn't a question of common sense, but common decency. FAITH. How dare you say that. (_She pulls him round by the leg of his trousers. He brushes her hand away. She repeats this business._) Why can't we just be friends? BOBBIE. You know I'm much too fond of you to be just friends. Men can't switch their feelings on and off like bath-taps. If they mean a thing they mean it, and there's an end of it. FAITH. I wish I'd never come down at all if all you mean to do is grumble at me. BOBBIE. It's more than grumbling--it's genuine unhappiness. (_Sits on form below table._) I quite realize now that you never really cared for me a bit, in spite of what you said; but still I want to find out why--_why_ you've changed so suddenly, _why_ need you have hurt me so much. If you'd written breaking it off, it would have been different, but you've been so--so unnecessarily brutal. FAITH. It was mother's fault.