[_She passes out;_ JOHN _follows her, leaving the door open_. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. [_Standing over_ CLAUDE, _shaking him_.] Wake up, sir! wake up! CLAUDE. [_Waking._] What is it? eh? [_Rising._] Hullo, Uncle! SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. You’ve been sleeping, sir; your manners are appalling. CLAUDE. [_Stupidly._] Where’s aunt? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. [_Leading him towards the door._] In the next room. Come, sir! You are deficient in tact, delicacy—— [JOHN _re-enters._ SIR FLETCHER _passes him and goes out_. CLAUDE. [_As he passes_ JOHN.] The dining-room? JOHN. [_To_ CLAUDE.] I shan’t keep you more than a minute or two. CLAUDE. [_In the doorway, turning to_ JOHN.] Allingham, of course you and I can never again be the same to each other as we have been in the past; but may I take the liberty of foraging for a piece of cake? JOHN. [_Laying a hand on his shoulder._] Certainly. [CLAUDE _goes out_; JOHN _closes the door and turns to_ OLIVE. OLIVE. [_Facing him._] Well? JOHN. [_Advancing to her._] Well? OLIVE. Oh, could anything be clearer? It’s easy enough now to see through the twaddle these people have been talking! Mrs. Fraser runs away from her husband, who believes her guilty; her relatives go in pursuit; they look for her and find her—where? JOHN. Her relations chance to be here when Mrs. Fraser sends for me—— OLIVE. [_Mockingly._] Yes! JOHN. [_Referring to the letter._] Desiring to see me “for a few moments, upon a matter of business.” That is all that can be made of it. OLIVE. A matter of business! JOHN. This letter is not quite ingenuous, you infer. OLIVE. You’ve caught the tone of the lawyers exactly. JOHN. [_Hotly._] “A matter of business” is a lie, you mean? OLIVE. Her arrival to-night is a remarkable coincidence. JOHN. A perfectly natural one. OLIVE. Why are you so eager, then, to avoid granting her the interview she asks for? JOHN. Eager——! OLIVE. You send word to her that it’s impossible. JOHN. Don’t you make it impossible? OLIVE. No, I do not; I do not. I want you to meet her to-night; you’ve heard me say I wish it.