MRS. PENDLETON. Not seen him! Ah! Mr. Timbrell, you're the one that's to blame. TIMBRELL. Really, madam, I can't discuss the matter with you. I've said what I mean to do. EDGAR. It's about time this dinner was ready, isn't it? LEONARD. And to think that all this bother is through a confounded chimney! We might have been comfortably at table, with incomes secure. What do you think of the Governor's proposal, Edgar--as a business man? EDGAR. Don't talk to me. LEONARD. No, brother. TIMBRELL. [_Bouncing from the chair on which he had seated himself._] I tell you I will not stand-- [_Enter maidservant._] MAID. Dinner is served. [_Those who are seated rise hesitatingly. TIMBRELL glares about him and then offers his arm to MRS. PENDLETON who accompanies him out of the room. SHEILA and ADA follow. EDGAR offers his arm to MARY, who shakes her head. PENDLETON offers his arm to MRS. TIMBRELL._] MRS. TIMBRELL. Excuse me for a moment. [_She turns to MARY and LEONARD._] What are you going to do? LEONARD. Well, we don't seem to be wanted here. PENDLETON. Better all come. MARY. I want to go home. LEONARD. Yes, it's all right for you when you get to your baby. MRS. TIMBRELL. I'll follow you Mr. Pendleton. PENDLETON. Well, I'll just see what Timbrell's up to now. [_He goes out._] MRS. TIMBRELL. I think you had better not stay. MARY. No, let us go. LEONARD. I've made a mess of it, mother. MRS. TIMBRELL. Never mind that. LEONARD. No. That doesn't matter. But I've hurt you. I've shaken you. You look pale and queer now. I've no reverence. I'm selfish. But I can sympathise. Do you see that? I understand you better than anyone does, mother. I know you better, I like you more. You don't properly exist without me. Did I say some horrible things about you? I really don't know what I meant. It was a kind of inspiration. Oh! yes. I know the proper things to say about one's mother. MRS. TIMBRELL. But I'm a mother like the rest. MARY. He doesn't understand that. He wants to see all sorts of things in you. MRS. TIMBRELL. We're just mothers, aren't we, Mary? MARY. That's the best. LEONARD. Yes, Mary's a mother. But what of you, poor thing? Look at us. Look at Edgar and me and Ada. Look at the finished product. What's the good of it? What's the good of being a mother when one's children are grown up? I can understand Mary. I've watched her with the baby. There's been something suppressed and killed in you. MARY. Don't say these things to her. LEONARD. Failure is written on her face. MARY. Don't, don't. LEONARD. I'm at my best in saying such things. MARY. But they hurt her. You only care for yourself. LEONARD. She must be hurt. We've let her alone all these years. She ought to have revolted. She ought to be alive now. MRS. TIMBRELL. I remember you all as babies, as children. I've got the past. LEONARD. Was I always your favourite, mother?