I'm going. D'you think I want to stay 'ere? Good-bye, Jenny, I'm not going to stand being insulted by any one. [_He goes out slamming the door._] [BASIL, _smiling quietly, goes to his writing-table and turns over some papers_. BASIL. The only compensation in brother James is that he sometimes causes one a little mild amusement. JENNY. You might at least be polite to him, Basil. BASIL. I used up all my politeness six months ago. JENNY. After all, he is my brother. BASIL. That is a fact I deplore with all my heart, I assure you. JENNY. I don't know what's wrong with him. BASIL. Don't you? It doesn't matter. JENNY. I know he isn't a Society man. BASIL. [_With a laugh._] No, he wouldn't shine at duchesses tea-parties. JENNY. Well, he's none the worse for that, is he? BASIL. Not at all. JENNY. Then why d'you treat him as if he was a dog? BASIL. My dear Jenny, I don't.... I'm very fond of dogs. JENNY. Oh, you're always sneering. Isn't he as good as I am? And you condescended to marry me. BASIL. [_Coldly._] I really can't see that because I married you I must necessarily take your whole family to my bosom. JENNY. Why don't you like them? They're honest and respectable. BASIL. [_With a little sigh of boredom._] My dear Jenny, we don't choose our friends because they're honest and respectable any more than we choose them because they change their linen daily. JENNY. They can't help it if they're poor. BASIL. My dear, I'm willing to acknowledge that they have every grace and every virtue, but they rather bore me. JENNY. They wouldn't if they were swells. [BASIL _gives a short laugh, but does not answer; and_ JENNY _irritated, continues more angrily_. JENNY. And after all we're not in such a bad position as all that. My mother's father was a gentleman. BASIL. I wish your mother's son were. JENNY. D'you know what Jimmie says you are? BASIL. I don't vastly care. But if it pleases you very much you may tell me. JENNY. [_Flushing angrily._] He says you're a damned snob. BASIL. Is that all? I could have invented far worse things than that to say of myself.... [_With a change of tone._] You know, Jenny, it's not worth while to worry ourselves about such trifles. One can't force oneself to like people. I'm very sorry that I can't stand your relations. Why on earth don't you resign yourself and make the best of it? JENNY. [_Vindictively._] You don't think they're good enough for you to associate with because they're not in swell positions. BASIL. My dear Jenny, I don't in the least object to their being grocers and haberdashers. I only wish they'd sell us things at cost price. JENNY. Jimmie isn't a grocer or a haberdasher. He's an auctioneer's clerk. BASIL.