(_They go into the room, forward right_) LADY WITH CONSPICUOUS COIFFURE. (_Entering forward left with Pale Lady_) Indeed it would; To just have all the money that you want. PALE LADY. And her new necklace, did you notice it? LADY WITH CONSPICUOUS COIFFURE. Her mother's plain enough. PALE LADY. There she goes now. (_They pass rear and mingle with the throng_) FIRST MAN. (_Appearing forward right with a glass of wine_) You ladies, I presume, are temperance workers. (_'The punch! The punch!' is whispered about, and the people begin to pass out centre and forward right_) FAT LADY. I mean to just taste everything there is. (_Goes out_) LADY IN BLACK. Isn't it just too grand for anything! PALE LADY. At night, though, I should think 'twould scare a body With all those horrid things upon the walls. (_They go out. A moment later Mrs. Egerton comes in and looks about as though she were seeking some one_) MRS. EGERTON. (_To her daughter, who passes toward the conservatory_) Please don't keep showing it, Gladys. GLADYS EGERTON. Marjorie! (_She enters the conservatory_) MRS. EGERTON. (_Beckons to some one in the room forward left. The Butler appears_) Has no word come? BUTLER. Jack says that Mr. George inquired And they've seen nothing of him. (_He goes back into the room, forward left. Mrs. Egerton lingers a while, then returns to the room, forward right. Here, a moment later Ralph Ardsley appears_) RALPH ARDSLEY. (_Calls to a group of four men back near the stairs_) Laggards! laggards! (_Bishop Hardbrooke and a fellow-townsman, each with a man who is evidently a stranger, come slowly forward_) BISHOP HARDBROOKE. Isn't there aspiration in all this, (_Indicating the house_) A reaching out toward God, and a love, too, Of all that God hath made? FELLOW-TOWNSMAN. The river there. RALPH ARDSLEY. The walls will be here when the wine is gone. FIRST STRANGER. But public sentiment. BISHOP HARDBROOKE. _Vox populi_. FELLOW-TOWNSMAN. People don't stop to think of what he's done. BISHOP HARDBROOKE. Exactly. When an axe falls on one's toes, The service that it's been, that's out of mind. And yet you throw the bruise, the moment's pain, In one side, and in the other a cleared land With homes and fields---- SECOND STRANGER. That's true. BISHOP HARDBROOKE. And populous towns. The balance will be struck up yonder, brother. RALPH ARDSLEY. Show me one man that's in the public eye Because he stands for something, towers above them, That hasn't had them yelping at his heels. BISHOP HARDBROOKE. You know the Editor of the Courier? (_The Strangers shake hands with Ardsley_) SECOND STRANGER. You didn't come back. RALPH ARDSLEY. I've troubles of my own. (_Walks back in the hall_)