'Will it be ready in time for the season--I mean after Easter?' 'What! in a fortnight? How could they be ready to produce it in a fortnight, especially with the Easter holidays between? It won't be long, that I can promise you. I'm a quick worker.' He waited a minute, and then said-- 'You mustn't be depressed, Edith dear, if I get a little slating from some of the critics, you know. You can't expect them all to appreciate a new writer at once. And it really won't make any difference to the success if my play pleases the public, which I don't mind telling you I know it's sure to do; because, you see, it'll have all the good points and none of the bad ones of all the successful plays of the last six years. That's my dodge. That's how I do it.' 'I see.' 'Won't it be a joke when the governor and the mater are there on the first night? They'll be frightfully pleased. You must try and prevent the mater swaggering about it too much, you know. She's such a dear, she's sure to be absurdly proud of it. And it'll be a bit of a score off the governor in a way, too. He never would have thought I could do it, would he? And Raggett will be surprised, too. You must have a ripping new dress for the first night, Edith, old girl.' 'I think I shall have Liberty satin, dear--that new shade of blue--it wears better than Nattier. But I won't order it just yet. You haven't written the first scene, have you?' 'The first scene? No! Plays aren't done like that. The chief thing about a play like this is to get a scenario.' 'Oh! Isn't that where the people sit?' 'Don't be ridiculous! You're thinking of the auditorium. I mean the skeleton of the play. That's what I shall send round to the managers. They can see what it's going to be like at once.' 'How many acts will it be?' 'Four.' 'And have you settled on the name?' 'Yes, as a matter of fact I have settled on a name; but don't you go giving it away. It's rather an original name. It would do if I developed the comedy interest just the same and just as well as if I made the chief point the tragic part. It's going to be called _You Never Know_. Good name, isn't it?' 'It's a splendid name. But isn't it a tiny bit like something else?' 'How unsympathetic you are! The fact is you don't understand. That's what it is.' 'Oh, I do sympathise immensely, Bruce, and I'm sure you'll have a great success. What fun it will be! Are you going to work at it this afternoon?' 'Why, no! not _this_ afternoon. I'm rather tired out with thinking. I think I shall go and look in at the club.' CHAPTER XVIII Hyacinth Waits 'He's coming this afternoon, Anne,' Hyacinth said. 'See that I'm really alone today--I mean that I'm out to everyone.' 'You think, then, that he really will propose today?' 'Don't be so horribly explicit. Don't you think his having to go the other day--because of Lady Cannon--would lead to a sort of crisis? I mean, either he wouldn't come here again, or else--'