MRS. FREEMAN: Let’s join Gwen, dear. It’s so much nicer in the drawing-room. Bring the chocolates if you like. FRANKIE: Oh no, thanks; I’ll take one more, though. MR. FREEMAN: I’ll be with you in a minute. MRS. FREEMAN (_ushering FRANKIE out_): Gwen’ll be so pleased. She’s only reading. [_MR. FREEMAN rings ... ROSIE appears._ MR. FREEMAN: Mr. John’s just come in. Tell him I want him in here. ROSIE: Yessir. [_She withdraws._ [_MR. FREEMAN waits._ [_To him enters his son JOHN; well-dressed in a lounge suit evidently cut by a good West End tailor; well-built, and nice-looking; with a pleasant-sounding voice._ MR. FREEMAN: Come in--I want to speak to you. [_JOHN comes in and shuts the door, but MR. FREEMAN doesn’t speak at once, so, after a moment, JOHN does. He speaks quietly._ JOHN: Whose car’s that outside? MR. FREEMAN: The Sewells’. JOHN (_with quick concern_): Is Frankie here? MR. FREEMAN: Yes. JOHN: Where? MR. FREEMAN: Drawing-room. JOHN (_evidently upset_): She said she wasn’t coming round to-night. MR. FREEMAN: You ought to have let your mother know you weren’t coming back to dinner. JOHN (_puzzled_): But ... surely ... I thought you were all going out to dinner with the Cleavers. MR. FREEMAN: To-morrow night. JOHN: I’ve made a mistake. MR. FREEMAN: You have ... had your dinner? JOHN: Yes. MR. FREEMAN: Restaurant? JOHN: Yes. MR. FREEMAN: Some girl, I suppose? JOHN: I was by myself. MR. FREEMAN: Then why on earth didn’t you come home? [_JOHN doesn’t answer; after a searching look at him his father continues._ Of course, if you prefer your own company, that’s nothing to do with me, but your life from ten o’clock in the morning till five in the evening _does_ belong to me. (_In answer to a look from his son he expands that._) It belongs to the firm. Now look here, young man, I can put this in a nutshell. You’ve been engaged to Frankie some time, on the understanding I make you a junior partner when you marry. JOHN: Yes. MR. FREEMAN: How much do you get now? JOHN: You know. MR. FREEMAN: Five hundred a year. A thousand when you marry; and a yearly rise after that. Of course your life belongs to the firm--and will do, more and more. It’s about time you realised that. JOHN: I realise it all right. MR. FREEMAN: Then I want to know why you left the office an hour before lunch--and never came back after lunch. JOHN: ... It’s difficult to explain. MR. FREEMAN: I daresay it is; but it’s the sort of thing that’s got to be explained. JOHN: I don’t think you understand. MR. FREEMAN: I daresay I shan’t--but I’ll have a dam’ good try. I’m not quite a fool, though you think I am ... any other man employed in the firm who did what you’ve done to-day without good reason would get the sack. I want to know your reason. Exactly. JOHN: It will sound very trivial. MR. FREEMAN: That doesn’t matter ... I’m waiting. JOHN: I’m trying to write. MR. FREEMAN: What d’you mean--“write”?