SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. The House-friend, as aforesaid. MRS. CLOYS. Two? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Bézique—as aforesaid. MRS. CLOYS. Three? MRS. EMPTAGE. I repeat, surely all this doesn’t matter now! MRS. CLOYS. Number Three? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Tannhäuser. MRS. CLOYS. In Heaven’s name, what——! JUSTINA. That was nothing. Alec Fraser was in Scotland as usual—— MRS. CLOYS. As usual! MRS. EMPTAGE. No, no—as he is often obliged to be. JUSTINA. Alec was in Scotland, and Theo had been to the opera with pals—— MRS. CLOYS. With——! JUSTINA. Friends, to hear Tannhäuser. She had sent her servants to bed, and let herself in with her latchkey. As she was closing the front door she caught sight of Jack Allingham on the other side of the way. MRS. EMPTAGE. He had had one of his terrible scenes with his wife; they lived round the corner, in Pont Street—— SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. And a most charming house theirs was. I always say, with regard to Pont Street—— MRS. CLOYS. [_Sternly._] Fletcher! MRS. EMPTAGE. Jack was in a dreadful state of distress; pacing the streets like a maniac, in fact—— JUSTINA. He’s a very old friend of all of us—— MRS. EMPTAGE. More like a brother than a—— JUSTINA. And Theo begged him to come in—— MRS. EMPTAGE. To calm himself. Simply an impulsive, warm-hearted act on her part. JUSTINA. And it wouldn’t have mattered in the least if that devil of a wife hadn’t suspected—— MRS. EMPTAGE. And planted her maid outside Theo’s house—set of spies!—— SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Till three in the morning—— MRS. EMPTAGE. When Theo turned Jack out. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Not _four_ in the morning, as Mrs. Allingham’s blundering counsel tried to establish. Ha, ha! Sir John Clarkson bowled him over there! Three, sir—not four! MRS. CLOYS. [_To_ SIR FLETCHER.] Be quiet! be silent! SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Upon my word, Harriet——! MRS. CLOYS.