I’ve just told yer. STRANGER On your oath---- MRS PERKINS Oath! D’ y’ doubt the word of a lady? STRANGER Then--d’ you feel it--I mean--whereabouts is it now? MRS PERKINS I don’t think that’s a question a gentleman ’d ask. STRANGER Kites of hell! You’ll have to be cut open. MRS PERKINS Nay, I won’t. STRANGER (_To himself._) Cremation? Would it melt the diamond? MRS PERKINS I won’t be cremated. There! Y’ ’ve to get the deceased’s consent. I’m goin’ to be buried when my time comes. STRANGER (_Pacing about in agitation while Mrs Perkins controls the others by nods and winks._) What’s to be done? An emetic? MRS PERKINS You’d better go ’ome an’ say it’s lost. STRANGER Unhappy woman! Do you understand that your life is a trifle, a pawn in the game? MRS PERKINS Pawn! Yes, an’ y’ can’t get it out without the ticket. STRANGER It’s impossible. It can’t be. (_He turns on the others._) The truth! Did she swallow it? If she did, she dies. MISS PERKINS Oh, no, no. She didn’t. MRS PERKINS You silly! MISS PERKINS Oh, Ma! MR PERKINS Ma, Ma, what can we do? MRS PERKINS Y can ’old y’r tongues. Y’re no ’elp at all. STRANGER What folly this is! What can you do with it? That diamond means death to you. Death! Destruction! You haven’t a chance of keeping it. You’re mad. Your lives now are not worth a minute’s purchase. MISS PERKINS Give it up, Ma. I’ll tell you where it is. It’s---- MRS PERKINS (_In a terrible voice._) Stop! MR PERKINS What can you do, Ma? Chuck it! Chuck it! MRS PERKINS ’E don’t bluff me. ’E’s in a great ’urry. I believe ’e’s the thief. STRANGER Thousand devils! We’re wasting time. (_He looks at the clock and then plucks out his watch._) Your clock’s slow. It’s stopped. It was that time when I came in. MISS PERKINS Tell him. Tell him. MR PERKINS Oh, chuck it! STRANGER (_Perceiving that he is getting “warm.”_) What stopped the clock? MISS PERKINS (_Hysterically._) Give it ’im. MRS PERKINS Polly, I’m ashamed of yer. [_A face appears at the window, but they do not see it._ STRANGER Is it there? [_He makes for the clock, and Mrs Perkins throws herself in front._ MRS PERKINS No, it’s not; and y’ shan’t meddle with my furniture. STRANGER (_Pointing the revolver at her_.) Move aside! MRS PERKINS Move aside yerself. STRANGER (_He hesitates, then turns the revolver on Miss Perkins._) Is it there? Quick! [_Miss Perkins shrieks, a hand with a revolver in it is thrust through the empty pane, the revolver is fired, the Stranger drops his, stamps, curses, and wrings his hands. A man opens the window-sash and springs into the room._ MISS PERKINS Albert! MRS PERKINS What! It’s Albert. [_The Stranger rushes to the switch and turns off the light. Darkness, shouting, and confusion. The light is turned on. The furniture is disarranged, the Stranger and the clock have gone, the others are distributed about the room, Mrs Perkins sitting in the chair she first occupied._ ALBERT Who’s got it?