JOHN. [_Shaking hands with_ JENNY.] Good-bye and--my best wishes. JENNY. Thanks. You didn't expect I'd marry Basil when I used to mix cocktails for you in the "Golden Crown," did you? JAMES. Come on, 'Alliwell. Don't stop there gassing. You'll only disturb the canary-birds. So long, old tart, see you later. Ta-ta, Basil, old man. BASIL. Good-bye--Jimmie. [JOHN HALLIWELL _and_ JAMES _go out_, JENNY _goes up to_ BASIL _impulsively._ JENNY. Kiss me. [_He kisses her, smiling._] There! Now I can sit down quietly and talk. How d'you like my brother? BASIL. Oh--I hardly know him yet. He seems very amiable. JENNY. He's not a bad sort when you know him. He's just like my mother. BASIL. [_Raising his brows._] Is he? And--is your father like that too? JENNY. Well, you know, Pa hasn't had the education that Jimmie's had. Jimmie was at a boarding-school at Margate. BASIL. Was he? JENNY. You were at a boarding-school, too, weren't you? BASIL. [_Smiling._] Yes, I was at Harrow. JENNY. Ah, you don't get the fine air at Harrow that you get at Margate. BASIL. Shall I put down your cup? JENNY. [_Placing it on a table._] Oh, thanks, it's all right. Come and sit by me, Basil. BASIL. [_Seating himself on the arm of her chair._] There. JENNY. [_Taking his hand._] I'm so glad we're alone. I should like to be alone with you all my life. You do love me, don't you, Basil? BASIL. Yes. JENNY. Much? BASIL. [_Smiling._] Yes. JENNY. I'm so glad. Oh, I don't know what I should do if you didn't love me. If you hadn't been kind to me I should have thrown myself in the river. BASIL. What nonsense you talk. JENNY. I mean it. [_He passes his hand affectionately over her hair._ JENNY. Oh, you _are_ so good, Basil. I'm so proud of you. I shall be so proud to be your wife. BASIL. [_Gravely._] Don't think too well of me Jenny. JENNY. [_With a laugh._] I'm not afraid of that. You're brave and you're clever and you're a professional man, and you're everything. BASIL. You foolish child. JENNY. [_Passionately._] I can't tell you how much I love you. BASIL. I'll try with all my might to be a good husband to you, Jenny. [_She flings her arms round his neck and they kiss one another._ END OF THE FIRST ACT. THE SECOND ACT AN INTERVAL OF ONE YEAR ELAPSES BETWEEN ACTS I. AND II. _The drawing-room in Basil's house at Putney. In the wall facing the auditorium there is a door leading from the passage. On the right two doors lead into bedrooms, and opposite these is a bay window. The same pictures and plates decorate the walls as in the preceding Scene; the writing-table is between the side doors._ JENNY'S _influence is noticeable in the cushions in the wicker-work arm-chairs, in the window curtains and portières of art serge, and in the huge chrysanthemums of the wall paper_.