Robbie--[ROOPE _returns to_ PHILIP _reluctantly, leaving the outer door open._] Oh, Robbie--[_gripping_ ROOPE's _arm_] how I boasted to you of my triumph--my grand victory! How I swaggered and bellowed, and crowed over you----! ROOPE. [_Fidgeting to get away._] Yes, but we won't discuss that now, Phil---- PHILIP. [_Detaining him._] Wait. [_Brokenly._] Robbie--should Ottoline show any inclination to--to patch matters up, you may tell her--as from me--that I--I've done with it. ROOPE. [_Wonderingly._] Done with it? PHILIP. My career as a writing-man. It's finished. [_Hanging his head._] I'm sorry to break faith with her people; but she may take me, if she will, on her own terms--a poor devil who has proved a duffer at his job, and who is content henceforth to be nothing but her humble slave and dependant. ROOPE. [_Energetically._] My dear Phil, for heaven's sake, don't entertain such a notion! Abandon your career just when you're making a noise in the world----! PHILIP. [_Throwing up his hands._] Noise in the world! ROOPE. When you're getting the finest advertisement an author could possibly desire! PHILIP. [_Choking._] Advertisement----! ROOPE. I can sympathize with your feeling mortified at not scoring entirely off your own bat; but, deuce take it, your book _is_ in its thirteenth edition! PHILIP. [_Laughing wildly._] Ho, ho, ho! [_Moving to the fireplace._] Ha, ha, ha, ha----! ROOPE. [_Testily._] Oh, I'm glad I amuse you----! PHILIP. [_Coming to the settee on the right._] You're marvellous, Robbie--incomparable----! ROOPE. [_Again preparing to depart._] Indeed? PHILIP. Ha, ha, ha----! [_A moment earlier,_ SIR TIMOTHY BARRADELL _has appeared in the vestibule, trying, in the dim light there, to decipher the name on the outer door. Hearing the sound of voices, he turns and reveals himself._ SIR TIMOTHY. [_Looking into the room and encountering_ ROOPE.] Roope! ROOPE. [_As they shake hands--astonished._] Dear excellent _friend_, what a surprise! SIR TIMOTHY. Ah, don't flatter yourself you're the only early riser in London! [_Seeing_ PHILIP.] Mr. Mackworth--[_advancing_] I found your door open and I took the liberty---- PHILIP. [_Meeting him in the middle of the room._] Sir Timothy Barradell, isn't it? SIR TIMOTHY.