[_Addressing_ MRS. CLOYS.] Mrs. Cloys, it is only fair to you that I should say at once that I don’t expect Mrs. Fraser’s relatives to treat me at all tenderly over the painful proceedings which terminated to-day. [MRS. CLOYS _bows stiffly_; SIR FLETCHER _eyes her anxiously_.] So I beg that you will speak before me entirely without reserve. [_Looking at_ JOHN.] It is my husband’s wish that you should do so. JOHN. Certainly. [MRS. CLOYS _and_ SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD _sit staring before them in a glassy way_; OLIVE _again glances at_ JOHN, _puzzled_. OLIVE. [_A little impatiently._] Naturally, Mrs. Cloys, I can’t think that you have taken this inconvenient journey to-night without some very special, some very definite object. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Er—so far as I am concerned, the object of my visit is in a great part attained when I have given Mr. Allingham my assurance that only absolute proof of his unworthiness will ever induce me to withdraw my friendship from him. I am nothing if not a just man—— JOHN. Genuinely obliged to you, Sir Fletcher. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Oh, I am not ashamed of my simple faith in young English manhood and in the efficacy of a training at one of our most honoured public schools. True, I was never a public-school boy myself—— CLAUDE. [_Leaning on a chair near the window, with his back to those in the room._] Ha! [_All turn their heads towards_ CLAUDE, _surprised_. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. [_Rising, and going to_ CLAUDE.] No, but I am still capable of rejoicing when I see the traditions of popular British institutions worthily upheld. The world was my public school—— OLIVE. [_Changing her position._] Mrs. Cloys—— SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. [_Eyeing_ OLIVE, _and returning quickly_.] Er—is there a question more vital, more absorbing, than this great vexed question of Education? Is there a question which calls more imperatively upon the attention of thinking men——? OLIVE. [_Turning to him with a forced smile._] But, Sir Fletcher, you surely haven’t brought Mrs. Cloys all the way to Epsom that she may hear you discuss Education with my husband? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. [_Disconcerted._] No, no. Good! ha, ha! good! Excellent! Er—— [_Suddenly._] Now, this cottage—I wonder whether I may ask how many rooms? OLIVE. How many rooms! JOHN. Twelve. OLIVE. [_Between her teeth._] Twelve. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. The reason I put the question is this: my dear brother-in-law, the bishop——