Oh, I beg your pardon!... I mean.... (_She comes into the room with a laugh._)... [_COLIN comes up from downstairs._ COLIN: Hullo. GWEN: Hullo. COLIN: I was told I’d find you up here. GWEN: Do you know where John is? COLIN: I met him on the stairs. Margaret refused to come up till she’d heard from his own lips that we were wanted: I came up. GWEN: ... Yes. COLIN: I’ve got those tickets. GWEN: Oh, thank you. COLIN: For to-morrow night. GWEN: Thank you. [_Unexpectedly there is an awkward little silence between them ... it grows uncomfortably._ GWEN: ... Won’t you have a cigarette? COLIN (_gratefully_): Thank you. [_He takes and lights one; she does the same; the horrid little silence hasn’t been killed._ GWEN: It’s a long time since I went to the theatre. It _is_ kind of you. COLIN: I’m looking forward to to-morrow night. GWEN: So am I. [_The door opens cautiously and MARGARET HEAL appears; a woman of about thirty-five; attractive without being strikingly beautiful or pretty; she is looking her best now, in evening dress and cloak._ MARGARET: Anybody here? GWEN: Hullo, Margaret. Come along in. What have you done with John? MARGARET: He’s walking round the square. COLIN: Sounds mathematical. MARGARET: Yes, it’s impossible. COLIN: Why? MARGARET: It’s raining; and he’s got no coat, and slippers. (_To COLIN._) You ought to go and fetch him in. GWEN: It would be kind of you. COLIN: Certainly I will; if I may come back. GWEN: Of course. [_COLIN goes._ MARGARET: There’s been trouble; I’m sure you don’t want us. GWEN: Oh yes I do. I’m glad you came. MARGARET: It’s dreadfully late to call; but Colin was so anxious to come back here. GWEN: Was he? MARGARET: Something’s happened to him since dinner. GWEN: Oh? MARGARET: He’s unusually easy enough to manage; to-night he was as obstinate as a pig. He would come; said he wanted to see John particularly. And there was only the most expensive box left for to-morrow night. He would get it. It cost him about twelve guineas. I wonder who he’s going to take. [_She has taken off her cloak. GWEN takes it._ Thank you. [_MARGARET sits._ What are you doing with yourself these days? GWEN: Nothing special. MARGARET: Have you kept on your nursing at all, since the war? GWEN: No. And then I only ran errands for the nurses. MARGARET: Did you like it? GWEN: Rather. It was something outside home I wasn’t cross-examined about. I often envy _you_. MARGARET: _Me?_ GWEN: John often tells me about you, and your office. MARGARET: Oh! GWEN: It’s a kind of a literary agency, isn’t it? MARGARET: That’s the sort of thing. GWEN: It must have been awfully adventurous--starting on your own.