But now the one obstacle to my love has been removed. I will go to him now—I will put my arms around him. He shall love me and I will love him. MICHAEL. What are you saying, Patricia? Are you mad? Of whom are you speaking? LADY PATRICIA. Bill. Bill O’Farrel—Bill, whom I love and who loves me. MICHAEL. Bill O’Farrel! LADY PATRICIA. For two years he has been the passion of my soul. He will now become my heart’s delight. Yes, Michael, you have taken my wonderful and unrequited love for you too much for granted. You have played the infatuated husband so artistically that I believed in it to the extent of playing the infatuated wife in return. MICHAEL. You! LADY PATRICIA. Yes, I! I remained with you—I pretended to be absorbed in you, because I thought it would kill you if you realised that I wanted something more than you. MICHAEL. Bill O’Farrel.... LADY PATRICIA. Yes—Bill O’Farrel! MICHAEL. Does any one know of this? LADY PATRICIA. They all know. MICHAEL. That you’ve tricked and fooled me and made a laughing-stock of me? Oh—— LADY PATRICIA. What have you done with me? MICHAEL. When did they find it out? LADY PATRICIA. They overheard us last night. MICHAEL. You and O’Farrel? LADY PATRICIA. Yes. MICHAEL. In the tree—when they overheard us? LADY PATRICIA. You, too! Ah, I see it all now—I see it all. She said I must confess to you—that aunt—she said the result would astonish me. And now—now she’s hugging herself with vindictive joy at having humiliated me to the dust. But she has not finished with me yet. No! I can still strike back—and strike I will! You have no love for me. Very well. I know where to go for love. MICHAEL. What do you mean? LADY PATRICIA. Bill loves me—he loves me—he worships me. I shall go to him—I shall hold him to me—I shall love him. MICHAEL. I forbid it. LADY PATRICIA. Who are you to forbid me? MICHAEL. I am your husband. LADY PATRICIA. You! You are no husband of mine! He is my husband because he loves me! MICHAEL. If you go to him, I will return to Clare. LADY PATRICIA. To Clare! MICHAEL. To the girl who loves me with all the strength of her young heart and soul. LADY PATRICIA. You shall never do that! MICHAEL. And who’s to prevent me? LADY PATRICIA. I. MICHAEL. You—the woman who has tricked me—fooled me, and now threatens to leave me for another! LADY PATRICIA. Threatens! I don’t threaten. I mean to do it. MICHAEL. Very well, then. Leave _me_ to go my own way. LADY PATRICIA. Go to her. Go to her. And I will go to him. (_She turns and moves towards the house. He takes a step or two to the left, then stops with an exclamation._) MICHAEL. Clare!... LADY PATRICIA. (_She turns, looks to the left, and starts with a faint cry._) Bill! (_They both stand irresolute and embarrassed. BILL and CLARE enter from the left, also irresolute and embarrassed._) BILL.