DAN _shrugs his shoulders, stands behind_ MRS. BRAMSON'S _chair, and studies her play._ OLIVIA _follows his example from her side._ OLIVIA (_pointing to two cards_): Look. MRS. BRAMSON (_infuriated_): I saw that! Leave me alone, and don't interfere. _A pause._ DAN _makes a quick movement and puts one card on another. (Pleased and interested, quite unconscious to the difference in her attitude_) Oh, yes, dear, of course.... OLIVIA (_as_ MRS. BRAMSON _makes a move_): No, that's a spade. MRS. BRAMSON (_sharply_): No such thing; it's a club. It's got a wiggle on it. DAN: They both got wiggles on 'em. (_Pointing to another card_) This is a club. MRS. BRAMSON: Oh yes, dear, so it is! OLIVIA (_writing_): The ironmonger says there _were_ two extra gallons of paraffin not paid for. MRS. BRAMSON: And they _won't_ be paid for either--not if I have to go to law about it. _A pause. She coughs absently_. DAN: I'm sorry. Is my cigarette worrying you? MRS. BRAMSON: No, no, dear. _This has its effect on_ OLIVIA. DAN _sits on the left of the table, where "East Lynne" is open on the table_. I'm sick of patience. DAN (_reading laboriously_): "You old-fashioned child--" MRS. BRAMSON: What? DAN: _East Lynne_. MRS. BRAMSON: Oh.... DAN (_reading_): "'You old-fashioned child!' retorted Mrs. Vane. 'Why did you not put on your diamonds?' 'I-did-put on my diamonds,' stammered Lady Isabel. 'But I--took them off again.' 'What on earth for?'" That's the other lady speaking there-- MRS. BRAMSON: Yes, dear.... DAN: "'What on earth for?' ... 'I did not like to be too fine,' answered Lady Isabel, with a laugh--" (_turning over_) "--and a blush. 'They glittered so! I feared it might be thought I had put them on to look fine.'" MRS. BRAMSON (_absently_): Good, isn't it? DAN (_flicking ash_): Oh, yes, reelistic.... (_Reading_) "'I see you mean to set up among that class of people who pree-tend to dee-spise ornyment,' scornfully ree-marked Mrs. Vane. 'It is the ree-finement of aff-affectation, Lady Isabel----'" _An excited knock at the kitchen door._ DORA _enters._ DAN _turns back the page and surveys what he has been reading, scratching his head._ MRS. BRAMSON (_the old edge to her voice_): What is it? DORA: Them men's in the wood again. MRS. BRAMSON: What men? DORA: The men lookin' for that Mrs. Chalfont. _A pause._ DAN _hums "Dames" under his breath._ MRS. BRAMSON: You don't mean to tell me they're still at it? But they've been pottering about since ... when was that day Mr. Dan left the Tallboys? DORA (_stressing a little bitterly_): _Mister_ Dan? DAN (_smiling_): Ahem!... DORA: _Mister_ Dan first came to work for you, mum, a week last Monday.... MRS. BRAMSON: Well, I think it's a disgrace---- DORA: _I_'ve found something! DAN'S _humming stops abruptly; he swivels round and looks at_ DORA, _his face unseen by the audience._ OLIVIA _and_ MRS. BRAMSON _stare at_ DORA; _a pause._ MRS. BRAMSON: _You've_ found something? OLIVIA: What?