ROOPE. [_Thoughtfully._] C-c-capital! PHILIP. Titterton, my new publisher, is tremendously taken with the scheme of the thing--keen as mustard about it. ROOPE. Er--pardon me, Phil---- PHILIP. Eh? ROOPE. [_Fingering the lapel of_ PHILIP's _coat._] I say, old man, you wouldn't be guilty of the deplorably bad taste of putting _me_ into it, would you? PHILIP. [_Slapping him on the back._] Ha, ha! My dear Robbie, half the polite world is in it. Don't tell me you wish to be left out in the cold! ROOPE. [_Thoroughly alarmed._] Dear excellent friend----! [NOYES _enters again at the door on the left, preceding_ COLLINGHAM GREEN. NOYES. [_Announcing_ GREEN, _and then retiring._] Mr. Collingham Green. GREEN. [_A gaily-dressed, genial soul, with a flower in his button-hole, a monocle, a waxed moustache, and a skilful arrangement of a sparse head of hair--shaking hands with_ ROOPE.] How are you, my deah fellow? ROOPE. My dear Colly, delighted to see you. GREEN. An awful scramble to get heah. I was afraid I shouldn't be able to manage it. ROOPE. You'd have broken our hearts if you hadn't. You know Mackworth? GREEN. _And_ his charming works. [_Shaking hands with_ PHILIP.] Haven't met you for evah so long. PHILIP. How d'ye do? GREEN. Ouf! I must sit down. [_Sitting on the fauteuil-stool and taking off a pair of delicately tinted gloves._] The Season is killing me. I'm shaw I sha'n't last till Goodwood, Robbie. ROOPE. Yes, it's a shockin' rush, isn't it! GREEN. Haw! You only _fancy_ you're rushed. Your life is a rest-cure compared with mine. You've no conception, either of you, what my days are just now. PHILIP. [_Finding himself addressed._] Exhausting, no doubt. GREEN. Take to-day, for example. I was in my bath at half-past-seven---- ROOPE. Half-past-seven! GREEN. Though I wasn't in bed till two this morning. At eight I had a cup of coffee and a piece of dry toast, and skimmed the papers. From eight-thirty till ten I dictated a special article on our modern English hostesses--"The Hostesses of England: Is Hospitality Declining?", a question I answer in the negative---- ROOPE. [_In a murmur._] Quite right. GREEN.