[BASIL _and_ JOHN _appear_, _and at the same moment_ MABEL _comes in from the room in which she has been telephoning_. MABEL. [_To_ JOHN.] Wretched creature! I've been trying to ring you up. JOHN. Have I kept you waiting? I went down to Chancery Lane with Basil. [JOHN _turns to shake hands with_ HILDA _and_ BRACKLEY, _while_ BASIL, _who has said how d'you do to_ HILDA, _comes down to speak to_ MABEL. _The conversation between_ MABEL _and_ BASIL _is in an undertone_. BASIL. How d'you do. You must scold me for keeping John so long. MABEL. I didn't really want him, you know. BASIL. [_Pointing with his head to_ BRACKLEY.] I say, who is that? MABEL. Robert Brackley. Don't you know him? BASIL. The poet? MABEL. Of course. They say he'd have been given the Laureateship if it hadn't been abolished at Tennyson's death. BASIL. [_Tightening his lips._] He's rather a low blackguard, isn't he? MABEL. Heavens, what's the matter with him, poor man? He's Hilda's latest celebrity. He pretends to adore her. BASIL. Don't you remember the Grange case that he was mixed up in? MABEL. [_In tones of surprise._] But, my dear Mr. Kent, that was two years ago. HILDA. Mr. Kent, I want to introduce you to Mr. Brackley. BASIL. [_Going up._] How d'you do. [JOHN _comes down to his wife_. MABEL. Wretched creature! JOHN. I say, Mabel, is Basil often here? MABEL. I don't know. I met him here last week. JOHN. Why the Dickens does he come? He's got no business to. MABEL. You brought him yourself to-day. JOHN. I didn't. He insisted on coming--when I said I had to fetch you. MABEL. Perhaps he came to see me. JOHN. Fiddledidee! I think you ought to speak to Hilda about it. MABEL. My dear John, are you mad? She'd jump down my throat. JOHN. Why does she let him hang about her? She must know she's turning his silly head. MABEL. I daresay she wants to prove to him that he showed very bad taste a year ago. It is rather annoying when you're attached to a young man that he should go and marry somebody else. JOHN. Well, I don't think she's playing the game, and I shall tell her so. MABEL. She'll snub you awfully. JOHN. I don't care.... Look here, you make a diversion so that I can get hold of her. MABEL. How? JOHN. [_Dryly._] I don't know. Exercise your invention. MABEL. [_Going towards the others._] Hilda, John is clamouring for some tea. HILDA. [_Coming down._] Why on earth can't he help himself? JOHN. My native modesty prevents. HILDA. That's quite a new trait in you. [HILDA _sits down and pours out tea for_ JOHN. _He looks at her silently._ HILDA. You've been lunching at Richmond? JOHN. Yes.... Then I went on to Putney. HILDA. You've been making quite a day of it. JOHN. [_Taking the cup._] I say, old gal--you're not going to make a fool of yourself, are you? HILDA.