Can't I do anything for you at all? [_She looks at him for a moment intently. She rings the bell._ LUCY. Yes, you can do me the greatest possible service. ALEC. I'm so glad. What is it you mean? LUCY. Wait, and I'll tell you. [_The_ BUTLER _enters._] Ask Mr. George to come here, please. BUTLER. Very well, Miss. [_He goes out._ LUCY. I want you to help me. [GEORGE _comes in._ GEORGE. Yes, Lucy? LUCY. I want to give into your charge what I love most in the world.... George, have you thought at all what you're going to do now? I'm afraid you can't go back to Oxford. GEORGE. No, I don't know what's to become of me. I wish I were dead. LUCY. An idea has just come to me. I'm going to ask Mr. Mackenzie to take you with him to Africa. Will you go? GEORGE. Yes, yes! I'd do anything to get away from England. I daren't face my friends--I'm too ashamed. LUCY. Ah, but it's not to hide yourself that I want you to go. Mr. Mackenzie, I daresay you know that we've always been very proud of our name. And now it's hopelessly dishonoured. GEORGE. Lucy, for God's sake ... LUCY. [_Turning to him._] Now our only hope is in you. You have the opportunity of achieving a great thing. You can bring back the old name to its old honour. Oh, I wish I were a man. I can do nothing but wait and watch. If I could only fill you with my courage and with my ambition! Mr. Mackenzie, you asked if you could do anything for me. You can give George the chance of wiping out the shame of our family. ALEC. Do you know that he will have to suffer every sort of danger and privation, that often he will be parched by the heat, and often soaked to the skin for days together? Sometimes he'll not have enough to eat, and he'll have to work harder than a navvy. LUCY. Do you hear, George? Are you willing to go? GEORGE. I'll do anything you want me to, Lucy. ALEC. And you know that he may get killed. There may be a good deal of fighting. LUCY. If he dies a brave man's death, I have nothing more to ask. ALEC. [_To_ GEORGE.] Very well. Come with me, and I'll do my best for you. LUCY. Ah, thanks. You are really my friend. ALEC. And when I come back? LUCY. Then, if you still care, ask your question again. ALEC. And the answer? LUCY. [_With a little smile._] The answer, perhaps, will be different. END OF THE FIRST ACT THE SECOND ACT SCENE: ALEC MACKENZIE'S _tent in North-East Africa. It is night. The place is dimly lighted. There is a little camp bed in one corner with a mosquito net over it. There are two or three folding chairs, some tin cases, and a table. On this a gun is lying._ DICK _is seated with his head on his hands, leaning on the table, fast asleep_. DR. ADAMSON, _the surgeon of the expedition, comes in. He is a large-boned brawny fellow with a Scotch accent. He looks at_ DICK _and smiles_. DOCTOR.