ALLISON [_handing him papers_]. You’ve the deeds and old mortgages all there, Professor. Some of them haven’t seen daylight for a hundred years. _JOSEPH comes in quietly at back._ PROF. [_takes papers_]. Give me the key. [_ALLISON gives key._] Come here, Peggy. [_She goes to him._] You gave me a kindly welcome to-day, and three pounds. Do you remember? PEGGY. Y-es. PROF. There’s part of your reward. [_Hands her papers and key._] A wedding present. PEGGY [_after a pause_]. Uncle ... I’m going to cry.... PROF. Ah, Peggy, don’t be so obvious. Tears are as common as rain-water. Do something original. PEGGY. Can I do with these what I like, uncle? PROF. Do with them whatever you please, Peggy. Light your pipe with them. PEGGY [_hands all to O’C._]. You’re a great prophet, dear. Without going away you’re coming back to Rush Hill.... Say something, Hugh. _O’C. damps his lips and tries to speak, but in vain._ PROF. Don’t open your lips, young man, or your heart ’ill fly out. I can hear it beating against the roof of your mouth. PEGGY [_petting him_]. Try again, Hugh. [_O’C. shakes his head._] You see, uncle, he hasn’t had much practice in thanking his lucky stars. That’s why he can’t speak now. He’s so much finer in defeat. PROF. It depends on what a man’s best used to, Peggy. O’C. [_shaking himself_]. I can speak now. [_Shakes hands with PROF._] I suppose I may call you uncle? PROF. Yes, it’s only a little ante-dated. O’C. It’ll take some time for me to realise what has happened. For the last ten days I’ve been like a blind man. One smash coming after another, old friends disappearing as if by magic, and the future as black as the inside of a cloud. Leaving Rush Hill to-night was like walking out to be hanged. PROF. Sonny, you please me well. You pleased me to-day at the auction, when the world was falling in pieces about your ears. That’s when a man stands out. Not when he’s eating strawberries and cream. If you call a boy after me I’ll put six figures to his name. ALLISON. And never miss it! PADDY. In sowl, at that rate, we’ll call a dozen for him. MOLL. Pad-ee! have some morals. PROF. For the rest of my life I want to spend half time in this house and the other half at Rush Hill. Can I have a room there facing the south? O’C. Can Peggy and I have a room there facing anywhere? The rest belongs to you. Peggy and I are your tenants. PROF. Good. I’ll be a bachelor and a family man combined. We can have everything we want at Rush Hill. And Peggy the undisputed boss of the show. You hear that, Peggy! PEGGY. I should think I do, uncle.... And you hear it, Hugh? No more double-banks or champion stone walls. I don’t want to be left a widow at Rush Hill. O’C. Before all these witnesses, Peggy, I hand you the whip and the reins. [_Gives PADDY the key._] Take the key, Paddy, and turn up the lights. I’ll be over after you directly.