You were so worried, I couldn't. Oh, I've been such a fool. I tried to make a _coup_ for Rose's sake. LADY FREDERICK. Is it a gambling debt? GERALD. Yes. LADY FREDERICK. [_Ironically._] What they call a debt of honour? GERALD. I must pay it the day after to-morrow without fail. LADY FREDERICK. But that's the day my two bills fall due. And if you don't? GERALD. I shall have to send in my papers, and I shall lose Rosie. And then I shall blow out my silly brains. LADY FREDERICK. But who is the man? GERALD. He's the son of Aaron Levitzki, the money-lender. LADY FREDERICK. [_Half-comic, half-aghast._] Oh lord! END OF THE FIRST ACT THE SECOND ACT _The scene is the same as in_ ACT I. ADMIRAL CARLISLE _is sleeping in an armchair with a handkerchief over his face_. ROSE _is sitting on a grandfather's chair, and_ GERALD _is leaning over the back_. ROSE. Isn't papa a perfectly adorable chaperon? [_The_ ADMIRAL _snores_. GERALD. Perfectly. [_A pause._ ROSE. I've started fifteen topics of conversation in the last quarter of an hour, Gerald. GERALD. [_Smiling._] Have you? ROSE. You always agree with me, and there's an end of it. So I have to rack my brains again. GERALD. All you say is so very wise and sensible. Of course I agree. ROSE. I wonder if you'll think me sensible and wise in ten years. GERALD. I'm quite sure I shall. ROSE. Why, then, I'm afraid we shan't cultivate any great brilliancy of repartee. GERALD. Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever. ROSE. Oh, don't say that. When a man's in love, he at once makes a pedestal of the Ten Commandments and stands on the top of them with his arms akimbo. When a woman's in love she doesn't care two straws for Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Not. GERALD. When a woman's in love she can put her heart on the slide of a microscope and examine how it beats. When a man's in love, what do you think he cares for science and philosophy and all the rest of it! ROSE. When a man's in love he can only write sonnets to the moon. When a woman's in love she can still cook his dinner and darn her own stockings. GERALD. I wish you wouldn't cap all my observations. [_She lifts up her face, and he kisses her lips._ ROSE. I'm beginning to think you're rather nice, you know. GERALD. That's reassuring, at all events. ROSE. But no one could accuse you of being a scintillating talker. GERALD. Have you ever watched the lovers in the Park sitting on the benches hour after hour without saying a word? ROSE. Why? GERALD. Because I've always thought that they must be bored to the verge of tears. Now I know they're only happy. ROSE. You're certainly my soldier, so I suppose I'm your nursery-maid. GERALD. You know, when I was at Trinity College, Dublin---- ROSE. [_Interrupting._] Were you there? I thought you went to Oxford. GERALD. No, why? ROSE. Only all my people go to Magdalen. GERALD. Yes. ROSE.