ELIZABETH. She had the world at her feet. You were rich. She was a figure in society. And she gave up everything for love. C.-C. [_Dryly._] I'm beginning to suspect it wasn't only for her sake and for Arnold's that you asked her to come here. ELIZABETH. I seem to know her already. I think her face is a little sad, for a love like that doesn't leave you gay, it leaves you grave, but I think her pale face is unlined. It's like a child's. C.-C. My dear, how you let your imagination run away with you! ELIZABETH. I imagine her slight and frail. C.-C. Frail, certainly. ELIZABETH. With beautiful thin hands and white hair. I've pictured her so often in that Renaissance Palace that they live in, with old Masters on the walls and lovely carved things all round, sitting in a black silk dress with old lace round her neck and old-fashioned diamonds. You see, I never knew my mother; she died when I was a baby. You can't confide in aunts with huge families of their own. I want Arnold's mother to be a mother to me. I've got so much to say to her. C.-C. Are you happy with Arnold? ELIZABETH. Why shouldn't I be? C.-C. Why haven't you got any babies? ELIZABETH. Give us a little time. We've only been married three years. C.-C. I wonder what Hughie is like now! ELIZABETH. Lord Porteous? C.-C. He wore his clothes better than any man in London. You know he'd have been Prime Minister if he'd remained in politics. ELIZABETH. What was he like then? C.-C. He was a nice-looking fellow. Fine horseman. I suppose there was something very fascinating about him. Yellow hair and blue eyes, you know. He had a very good figure. I liked him. I was his parliamentary secretary. He was Arnold's godfather. ELIZABETH. I know. C.-C. I wonder if he ever regrets! ELIZABETH. I wouldn't. C.-C. Well, I must be strolling back to my cottage. ELIZABETH. You're not angry with me? C.-C. Not a bit. [_She puts up her face for him to kiss. He kisses her on both cheeks and then goes out. In a moment TEDDIE is seen at the window._ TEDDIE. I saw the old blighter go. ELIZABETH. Come in. TEDDIE. Everything all right? ELIZABETH. Oh, quite, as far as he's concerned. He's going to keep out of the way. TEDDIE. Was it beastly? ELIZABETH. No, he made it very easy for me. He's a nice old thing. TEDDIE. You were rather scared. ELIZABETH. A little. I am still. I don't know why. TEDDIE. I guessed you were. I thought I'd come and give you a little moral support. It's ripping here, isn't it? ELIZABETH. It is rather nice. TEDDIE. It'll be jolly to think of it when I'm back in the F.M.S. ELIZABETH. Aren't you homesick sometimes? TEDDIE. Oh, everyone is now and then, you know. ELIZABETH. You could have got a job in England if you'd wanted to, couldn't you?