MRS. G. (_Putting out her hands._) Oh, Pip, don't look at me like that! I've never seen you look like that before and it hu-urts me! I'm sorry. I oughtn't to have been here at all, and--and--and--(_sobbing_). Oh, be good to me! Be good to me! There's only you--anywhere! _Breaks down in long chair, hiding face in cushions._ CAPT. G. (_Aside._) She doesn't know how she flicked me on the raw. (_Aloud, bending over chair._) I didn't mean to be harsh, dear--I didn't really. You can stay here as long as you please, and do what you please. Don't cry like that. You'll make yourself sick. (_Aside._) What on earth has come over her? (_Aloud._) Darling, what's the matter with you? MRS. G. (_Her face still hidden._) Let me go--let me go to my own room. Only--only say you aren't angry with me. CAPT. G. Angry with _you_, love! Of course not. I was angry with myself. I'd lost my temper over the saddlery--Don't hide your face, Pussy. I want to kiss it. _Bends lower_, MRS. G. _slides right arm round his neck. Several interludes and much sobbing._ MRS. G. (_In a whisper._) I didn't mean about the jam when I came in to tell you---- CAPT. G. Bother the jam and the equipment! (_Interlude._) MRS. G. (_Still more faintly._) My finger wasn't scalded at _all_. I--I wanted to speak to you about--about--something else, and--I didn't know how. CAPT. G. Speak away, then. (_Looking into her eyes._) Eh! Wha--at? Minnie! Here, don't go away! You don't mean? MRS. G. (_Hysterically, backing to portiere and hiding her face in its folds._) The--the Almost Inevitable Consequences! (_Flits though portiere as_ G. _attempts to catch her, and bolts herself in her own room._) CAPT. G. (_His arms full of portiere._) Oh! (_Sitting down heavily in chair._) I'm a brute--a pig--a bully, and a blackguard. My poor, poor little darling! 'Made to be amused only--? THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW Knowing Good and Evil. SCENE.--_The_ GADSBYS' _bungalow in the Plains, in June. Punkah-coolies asleep in veranda where_ CAPTAIN GADSBY _is walking up and down._ DOCTOR'S _trap in porch._ JUNIOR CHAPLAIN _drifting generally and uneasily through the house. Time,_ 3.40 A. M. _Heat 94 degrees in veranda._ DOCTOR. (_Coming into veranda and touching_ G. _on the shoulder._) You had better go in and see her now. CAPT. G. (_The colour of good cigar-ash._) Eh, wha-at? Oh, yes, of course. What did you say? DOCTOR. (_Syllable by syllable._) Go--in--to--the--room--and--see--her. She wants to speak to you. (_Aside, testily._) I shall have _him_ on my hands next. JUNIOR CHAPLAIN. (_In half-lighted dining-room._) Isn't there any--? DOCTOR. (_Savagely._) Hsh, you little fool! JUNIOR CHAPLAIN. Let me do my work. Gadsby, stop a minute! (_Edges after_ G.) DOCTOR. Wait till she sends for you at least--_at least_. Man alive, he'll kill you if you go in there! What are you bothering him for?