_Christmas Eve; fourteen months later; the dining room of the Hunters' house, which is now lived in jointly by the_ STERLINGS _and_ MRS. HUNTER _and her daughters. It is a dark wainscoted room, with curtains of crimson brocade. It is decorated with laurel roping, mistletoe, and holly, for Christmas. It is the end of a successful dinner party, fourteen happy and more or less congenial persons being seated at a table, as follows:_ WARDEN, RUTH, MASON, CLARA, TROTTER, MRS. HUNTER, BLANCHE, STERLING, MISS SILLERTON, MR. GODESBY, JESSICA, DOCTOR STEINHART, _and_ MISS GODESBY. _The room is dark on all sides, only a subdued light being shed on the table by two large, full candelabra with red shaded candles. As the curtain rises the bare backs of the three women nearest the footlights gleam out white. Candied fruit and other sweetmeats are being passed by four men servants, including_ JORDAN _and_ LEONARD. RUTH. My dear Blanche, what delicious candy! MISS SILLERTON. Isn't it! MISS GODESBY. Half of the candy offered one nowadays seems made of _papier-mache_. MRS. HUNTER. [_To_ MISS GODESBY.] Julia, do tell me how Mr. Tomlins takes his wife's divorce? MISS GODESBY. He takes it with a grain of salt! MRS. HUNTER. But isn't he going to bring a counter suit? STERLING. No. RUTH. I hope not. I am an old-fashioned woman and don't believe in divorce! MISS GODESBY. Really! But then you're not married! MISS SILLERTON. What is the reason for so much divorce nowadays? RUTH. Marriage is the principal one. BLANCHE. _I_ don't believe in divorce, either. MISS SILLERTON. My dear, no woman married to as handsome a man as Mr. Sterling would. TROTTER. You people are all out of date! More people get divorced nowadays than get married. BLANCHE. Too many people do--that's the trouble. I meant what I said when I was married--"for better, for worse, till death us do part."--What is the opera Monday? TROTTER. Something of Wagner's. He's a Dodo bird! Bores me to death! Not catchy enough music for me. MRS. HUNTER. You'd adore him if you went to Bayreuth. Which was that opera, Clara, we heard at Bayreuth last summer? Was it _Faust_ or _Lohengrin_! They play those two so much here I'm always getting them mixed! MISS SILLERTON. Wagner didn't write _Faust_! MRS. HUNTER. Didn't he? I thought he had; he's written so many operas the last few seasons! CLARA. I like _Tannhaeuser_, because as soon as you hear the "twinkle, twinkle, little stars" song, you can cheer up and think of your wraps and fur boots. TROTTER. My favorite operas are _San Toy_ and the _Roger Brothers_, though I saw _Florodora_ thirty-six times! BLANCHE. Mother would have gone with you every one of those thirty-six _Florodora_ times. She's not really fond of music. MRS. HUNTER. Not fond of music! Didn't I have an opera box for four years? TROTTER. Why doesn't Conried make some arrangement with Weber and Fields and introduce their chorus into _Faust_ and _Carmen_?