Dick--[softly]--Dick! [DICK stops.] I didn't mean that; will you get me some water-irises for this evening? DICK. Won't I? [He goes to the hollow tree and from its darkness takes a bucket and a boat-hook.] I know where there are some rippers! [JOY stays unmoving with her eyes half closed.] Are you sure you 're all right. Joy? You 'll just rest here in the shade, won't you, till I come back?--it 'll do you no end of good. I shan't be twenty minutes. [He goes, but cannot help returning softly, to make sure.] You're quite sure you 're all right? [JOY nods. He goes away towards the river. But there is no rest for JOY. The voices of MRS. GWYN and LEVER are heard returning.] JOY. [With a gesture of anger.] Hateful! Hateful! [She runs away.] [MRS. GWYN and LEVER are seen approaching; they pass the tree, in conversation.] MRS. GWYN. But I don't see why, Maurice. LEVER. We mean to sell the mine; we must do some more work on it, and for that we must have money. MRS. GWYN. If you only want a little, I should have thought you could have got it in a minute in the City. LEVER. [Shaking his head.] No, no; we must get it privately. MRS. GWYN. [Doubtfully.] Oh! [She slowly adds.] Then it isn't such a good thing! [And she does not look at him.] LEVER. Well, we mean to sell it. MRS. GWYN. What about the people who buy? LEVER. [Dubiously regarding her.] My dear girl, they've just as much chance as we had. It 's not my business to think of them. There's YOUR thousand pounds---- MRS. GWYN. [Softly.] Don't bother about my money, Maurice. I don't want you to do anything not quite---- LEVER. [Evasively.] Oh! There's my brother's and my sister's too. I 'm not going to let any of you run any risk. When we all went in for it the thing looked splendid; it 's only the last month that we 've had doubts. What bothers me now is your Uncle. I don't want him to take these shares. It looks as if I'd come here on purpose. MRS. GWYN. Oh! he mustn't take them! LEVER. That 's all very well; but it 's not so simple. MRS. GWYN. [Shyly.] But, Maurice, have you told him about the selling? LEVER. [Gloomily, under the hollow tree.] It 's a Board secret. I'd no business to tell even you. MRS. GWYN. But he thinks he's taking shares in a good--a permanent thing. LEVER. You can't go into a mining venture without some risk. MRS. GWYN. Oh yes, I know--but--but Uncle Tom is such a dear! LEVER. [Stubbornly.] I can't help his being the sort of man he is. I did n't want him to take these shares; I told him so in so many words. Put yourself in my place, Molly: how can I go to him and say, "This thing may turn out rotten," when he knows I got you to put your money into it? [But JOY, the lost shadow, has come back. She moves forward resolutely. They are divided from her by the hollow tree; she is unseen. She stops.]