[_To_ MRS. DOT.] May I give you some tea? MRS. DOT. [_Going to the tea-table._] Thanks so much. [GERALD _comes over to_ LADY SELLENGER _with a cup. She takes it. The others are gathered round the tea-table, which is right at the back, and talk among themselves._ LADY SELLENGER. Come and sit by me, Gerald. I’ve not had a word with you since we came back from Italy. GERALD. [_Lightly._] What are you going to say to me? LADY SELLENGER. You can guess why I wrote to ask if we might come and see you to-day? GERALD. [_Rising._] Yes. LADY SELLENGER. Now do sit down. And look as if you were talking of the weather. GERALD. It’s a little difficult to discuss the matter quite indifferently. LADY SELLENGER. My dear boy, it’s the little difficulties of life which prevent it from being dull. We should be no better than the beasts of the field if we had no anxieties about our soul and our position in society. GERALD. I see. LADY SELLENGER. [_Rather impatiently._] My dear Gerald, why don’t you help me? What I have to say is so very unpleasant. You know I have always had a most sincere affection for you. Under other circumstances I would have wanted no better son-in-law. GERALD. It’s very kind of you to say so. LADY SELLENGER. I’ve assured you for the last three years that a marriage was absurd, and now I want to tell you that it’s impossible. Love is all very well in its way, but it doesn’t make up for a shabby house in the suburbs. GERALD. You’re not romantic, Lady Sellenger. LADY SELLENGER. My dear, when you reach my age you’ll agree with me that it’s only the matter of fact which really signifies. Love in a cottage is a delusion of youth. It’s difficult enough after ten years of solid matrimony in Grosvenor Square. GERALD. You married for love, Lady Sellenger. LADY SELLENGER. I’m anxious that my daughter shouldn’t make the same mistake. Now let us be quite frank with one another.... Are you sure they’re not listening? GERALD. [_Glancing at the others._] They seem very much occupied with their own affairs. What is your ultimatum? LADY SELLENGER. Well, Gerald, I’m not in the least mercenary. I know that money can’t give happiness. But I do feel that unless you have at least two thousand a year you can’t make my daughter even comfortable. GERALD. I’m sure that’s very modest. LADY SELLENGER. It’s not love in a cottage. It’s not love in a palace. It’s just--matrimony in Onslow Gardens. GERALD. I may as well tell you at once that I’ve had very bad luck. I wanted to make money, and I’ve come an absolute cropper. LADY SELLENGER. My dear Gerald, I’m very sorry. Is it as bad as all that? GERALD. It couldn’t be much worse. LADY SELLENGER. Dear me, that’s very sad. But, of course, it simplifies matters, doesn’t it? GERALD. Enormously. It puts marriage entirely out of the question and leaves only one course open to me. I’ll take the earliest opportunity to ask Nellie for my release. LADY SELLENGER.