[_He crosses to the window as she goes to the entrance._ MISS LIMBIRD _appears._ MISS LIMBIRD. [_To_ SOPHY.] Here's Miss Eden. SOPHY. [_With a nod._] Give me half a minute with her; then I'm at liberty. [MISS LIMBIRD _disappears._ SOPHY _comes to_ POLLITT.] I'll send Muriel across directly. [_He departs._ MISS LIMBIRD _returns and, holding the_ portière _aside, admits_ MURIEL. MURIEL _is wearing a veil._ MISS LIMBIRD _withdraws._ SOPHY _meets_ MURIEL; _they kiss each other undemonstratively._ SOPHY. [_Constrainedly._] Well, darling? MURIEL. [_In the same way._] Well, Sophy? SOPHY. You're here then? MURIEL. As you see. SOPHY. Any difficulty? MURIEL. [_In a hard voice._] No. The Duchess and Mrs. Jack were coming to town shopping, and Lady Owbridge proposed that she and I should tack ourselves on to them. SOPHY. How have you got rid of 'em? MURIEL. Spoken the truth, for once--my head really does throb terribly. They think I've run in here to sit quietly with you while they--[_Suddenly._] Oh, be quick, Sophy! SOPHY. Quick, dear? MURIEL. Why don't you tell me? SOPHY. Tell you--? MURIEL. About last night--this woman-- SOPHY. Her Grace? MURIEL. Yes, yes. SOPHY. Oh, why, I haven't anything to tell, darling. MURIEL. Haven't anything to--? SOPHY. You see, I couldn't help remembering what you'd called me--mean, and despicable, and all the rest of it; and the feeling came over me that you were right, that I had been sneaky. And so, after I'd attended to her Grace, I--I went straight to bed. MURIEL. [_Sitting._] Oh, yes. Then you didn't attempt to--to watch? SOPHY. No. MURIEL. [_Faintly._] Oh! SOPHY. Aren't you glad? MURIEL. Glad! SOPHY. Why, you were certain that the word or two I'd overheard meant nothing wrong. MURIEL. I said so. SOPHY. Said so! MURIEL. [_Turning to her with clenched hands._] Yes, but at the same time you put the dreadful idea into my head, Sophy, and I've not been able to dismiss it for one moment since. SOPHY. [_Under her breath._] Oh! [_Sitting._ MURIEL. [_Lifting her veil._] There! you can see what I've been going through. SOPHY. [_Looking at her._] I'm so sorry. MURIEL. [_Looking at_ SOPHY.] _You_ look rather washed out too. Haven't you slept, either? SOPHY. [_Turning her head away._] Not over well. [_Falteringly._] Then, after all, it would have been better if I _had_ spied on her? MURIEL. Anything--even that--would have been preferable to this uncertainty. SOPHY. [_To herself, her jaw falling._] Oh--! MURIEL. [_Looking towards the window._] Has _he_ arrived? SOPHY. Yes. [MURIEL _rises, then_ SOPHY. MURIEL. [_Producing, from her pocket, a jeweller's case and showing it to_ SOPHY.] Do you like this? I've just bought it, over the way, at Gressier's. SOPHY. For Captain Bastling? MURIEL. [_With a nod, opening the box._] A solitaire shirt-stud. [_She retains a neatly-folded piece of paper which is enclosed in the box and hands the box to_ SOPHY. SOPHY.