DAWKER. Six thousand! MRS. H. That's a fearful price. Well, good luck to you, Dawker! DAWKER. Good luck, ma'am. I'll go and see to that little matter of Mrs. Chloe. Never fear, we'll do them is somehow. [He winks, lays his finger on the side of his nose, and goes out at the door.] [MRS. HILLCRIST mounts the two steps, sits down Right of the door, and puts up a pair of long-handled glasses. Through the door behind her come CHLOE and ROLF. She makes a sign for him to go, and shuts the door.] CHLOE. [At the foot of the steps in the gangway--with a slightly common accent] Mrs. Hillcrist! MRS. H. [Not quite starting] I beg your pardon? CHLOE. [Again] Mrs. Hillcrist---- MRS. H. Well? CHLOE. I never did you any harm. MRS. H. Did I ever say you did? CHLOE. No; but you act as if I had. MRS. H. I'm not aware that I've acted at all--as yet. You are nothing to me, except as one of your family. CHLOE. 'Tisn't I that wants to spoil your home. MRS. H. Stop them then. I see your husband down there with his father. CHLOE. I--I have tried. MRS. H. [Looking at her] Oh! I suppose such men don't pay attention to what women ask them. CHLOE. [With a flash of spirit] I'm fond of my husband. I---- MRS. H. [Looking at her steadily] I don't quite know why you spoke to me. CHLOE. [With a sort of pathetic sullenness] I only thought perhaps you'd like to treat me as a human being. MRS. H. Really, if you don't mind, I should like to be left alone just now. CHLOE. [Unhappily acquiescent] Certainly! I'll go to the other end. [She moves to the Left, mounts the steps and sits down.] [ROLF, looking in through the door, and seeing where she is, joins her. MRS. HILLCRIST resettles herself a little further in on the Right.] ROLF. [Bending over to CHLOE, after a glance at MRS. HILLCRIST.] Are you all right? CHLOE. It's awfully hot. [She fans herself wide the particulars of sale.] ROLF. There's Dawker. I hate that chap! CHLOE. Where? ROLF. Down there; see? [He points down to stage Right of the room.] CHLOE. [Drawing back in her seat with a little gasp] Oh! ROLF. [Not noticing] Who's that next him, looking up here? CHLOE. I don't know. [She has raised her auction programme suddenly, and sits fanning herself, carefully screening her face.] ROLE. [Looking at her] Don't you feel well? Shall I get you some water? [He gets up at her nod.] [As he reaches the door, HILLCRIST and JILL come in. HILLCRIST passes him abstractedly with a nod, and sits down beside his wife.] JILL. [To ROLF] Come to see us turned out? ROLF. [Emphatically] No. I'm looking after Chloe; she's not well. JILL. [Glancing at her] Sorry. She needn't have come, I suppose? [RALF deigns no answer, and goes out.]