VALENTINE (_not unmindful that this is the room in which he is esteemed a wit_). I regret that they are out, Patty, but I will await their return. (_The astonishing man sits on the ottoman beside_ MISS SUSAN, _but politely ignores her presence._) It is not my wish to detain you, Patty. (PATTY _goes reluctantly, and the sisters think how like him, and how delightful it would be if they were still the patterns of propriety he considers them._) PHOEBE (_bravely_). Captain Brown. VALENTINE (_rising_). You, Miss Phoebe. I hear Miss Livvy is indisposed? PHOEBE. She is--very poorly. VALENTINE. But it is not that unpleasant girl I have come to see, it is you. MISS SUSAN (_meekly_). How do you do? VALENTINE (_ignoring her_). And I am happy, Miss Phoebe, to find you alone. MISS SUSAN (_appealingly_). How do you do, sir? PHOEBE. You know quite well, sir, that Susan is here. VALENTINE. Nay, ma'am, excuse me. I heard Miss Susan say she was gone out. Miss Susan is incapable of prevarication. MISS SUSAN (_rising--helpless_). What am I to do? PHOEBE. Don't go, Susan--'tis what he wants. VALENTINE. I have her word that she is not present. MISS SUSAN. Oh dear. VALENTINE. My faith in Miss Susan is absolute. (_At this she retires into the bedroom, and immediately his manner changes. He takes_ MISS PHOEBE'S _hands into his own kind ones._) You coward, Miss Phoebe, to be afraid of Valentine Brown. PHOEBE. I wrote and begged you not to come. VALENTINE. You implied as a lover, Miss Phoebe, but surely always as a friend. PHOEBE. Oh yes, yes. VALENTINE. You told Miss Livvy that you loved me once. How carefully you hid it from me! PHOEBE (_more firmly_). A woman must never tell. You went away to the great battles. I was left to fight in a little one. Women have a flag to fly, Mr. Brown, as well as men, and old maids have a flag as well as women. I tried to keep mine flying. VALENTINE. But you ceased to care for me. (_Tenderly._) I dare ask your love no more, but I still ask you to put yourself into my keeping. Miss Phoebe, let me take care of you. PHOEBE. It cannot be. VALENTINE. This weary teaching! Let me close your school. PHOEBE. Please, sir. VALENTINE. If not for your own sake, I ask you, Miss Phoebe, to do it for mine. In memory of the thoughtless recruit who went off laughing to the wars. They say ladies cannot quite forget the man who has used them ill; Miss Phoebe, do it for me because I used you ill. PHOEBE. I beg you--no more. VALENTINE (_manfully_). There, it is all ended. Miss Phoebe, here is my hand on it. PHOEBE. What will you do now? VALENTINE. I also must work. I will become a physician again, with some drab old housekeeper to neglect me and the house. Do you foresee the cobwebs gathering and gathering, Miss Phoebe? PHOEBE. Oh, sir! VALENTINE. You shall yet see me in Quality Street, wearing my stock all awry. PHOEBE. Oh, oh! VALENTINE. And with snuff upon my sleeve.