Oh, this would ruin me with Valma! oh, if your lordship hasn't any feeling for me, don't let Valma think that I'm a--that I'm--! [_Going down on her knees before him._] Oh, I won't tell on you! I promise I won't, if you'll only let me go! I will hold my tongue about you and the Duchess! I take my solemn oath I'll hold my tongue! QUEX. [_Rising._] Ha! [_Calmly._] No, my dear Sophy, I wasn't aware that your _fiancé_ is in the house. So the situation comes home to you a little more poignantly now, does it? SOPHY. [_Rising and going to the passage-door._] Unlock the door! where's the key? QUEX. Wait, wait, wait! And you're going to keep your mouth shut after all, are you? SOPHY. [_Rattling the door-handle._] Yes, yes, Unlock it! QUEX. Don't be in such a hurry. SOPHY. I give you my sacred word-- QUEX. [_Thoughtfully._] Tsch, tsch, tsch! [_Sharply, with a snap of the fingers._] Yes--by Jove--! [_Pointing to the chair by the writing-table._] Sit down. [_Imperatively._] Sit down. [_She sits, wonderingly. He goes to the table, selects a plain sheet of paper and lays it before her. Then he hands her a pen._] Write as I tell you. SOPHY. [_Tremblingly._] What? QUEX. [_Pointing to the ink._] Ink. [_Dictating._] "My lord." [_She writes; he walks about as he dictates._] "My lord. I am truly obliged to you--" SOPHY Yes. QUEX. "For your great liberality--" SOPHY. [_Turning._] Eh? QUEX. [_Sternly._] Go on. [_She writes._] "For your great liberality, and in once more availing myself of it I quite understand--" SOPHY. [_Weakly._] Oh! [_After writing._] Yes. QUEX. "I quite understand that our friendship comes to an end." [_She rises and faces him._] Go on. SOPHY. Our friendship! QUEX. Yes. SOPHY. Our--_friendship_! QUEX. Yes. SOPHY. I won't. QUEX. Very well. SOPHY. How dare you try to make me write such a thing! [_He turns from her and, book in hand, resumes his recumbent position on the sofa. She approaches him, falteringly._] What would you do with that, if I did write it? QUEX. Simply hold it in my possession, as security for your silence, until after my marriage with Miss Eden; then return it to you. SOPHY. Oh, won't your lordship trust me? QUEX. [_Contemptuously._] Trust you! [_After a pause, she returns to the writing-table and takes up her pen again._] Where were we? SOPHY. [_Feebly._] "I quite understand--" QUEX. "That our friendship comes to an end." [_She writes. He rises and looks over her shoulder._] "While thanking you again for past and present favours--" SOPHY. [_Groaning as she writes._] Oh! oh! QUEX. "I undertake not to approach or annoy you in the future--" SOPHY. Oh! QUEX.