Here _is_ Hugo. He’s just coming across the hall. With Hester. How unlucky. MRS. CLOUSTON I don’t see that it matters. MRS. DE MULLIN I’d rather not have told him before Hester. [_Mrs. Clouston shrugs her shoulders. A moment later Hugo enters. He leans on a stick and Hester’s arm. He looks weak and pale and altogether extremely sorry for himself, obviously a nervous and a very tiresome patient._ HESTER Carefully, father. That’s right. Will you lie on the sofa? DE MULLIN _(fretfully)_ No. Put me in the armchair. I’m tired of lying down. HESTER Very well. Let me help you. There. Wait a moment. I’ll fetch you some pillows. _[Props him up on pillows in an armchair._ DE MULLIN Thank you. _[Lies back exhausted and closes his eyes._ MRS. DE MULLIN _(going to him)_ How are you feeling now, Hugo? DE MULLIN Very weak. MRS. DE MULLIN I wonder if you ought to have come down? DE MULLIN It won’t make any difference. Nothing will make any difference any more, Jane. I shan’t last much longer. I’m worn out. HESTER Father! DE MULLIN Yes, Hester. Worn out _(with a sort of melancholy pride)_. None of the De Mullins have been strong. I’m the last of them. The last of the De Mullins. MRS. CLOUSTON Come, Hugo, you mustn’t talk in that morbid way. DE MULLIN I’m not morbid, Harriet. But I feel tired, tired. MRS. DE MULLIN You’ll be better in a day or two. DE MULLIN No, Jane. I shall never be better. Never in _this_ world _(pause)._ MRS. DE MULLIN _(nervously)_ Hugo... there’s something... something I have to tell you.... DE MULLIN What is it, Jane? _(fretfully)_. What have you been keeping from me? MRS. DE MULLIN I ought to have told you before. Only I didn’t like... DE MULLIN Is it something about my illness? MRS. DE MULLIN Oh no, Hugo. DE MULLIN _(relieved)_ I thought Dr. Rolt might have said something. MRS. DE MULLIN It’s nothing of that kind. DE MULLIN _(peevishly)_ Well, well, what is it? MRS. DE MULLIN Hugo, some one is coming here to-day, to see _you_. DE MULLIN To see _me?_ Who? MRS. DE MULLIN You won’t be angry, Hugo? DE MULLIN _(testily)_ How can I possibly say that, Jane, when I don’t know who it is? MRS. DE MULLIN Hugo, it’s... (Bell rings loudly.) Harriet, there’s the bell! I wonder if it’s she? Do you think it is? [_All look towards the door on the right, expectantly._ DE MULLIN _(querulously)_ Well, Jane? _Am_ I to hear who this visitor is or am I not? ELLEN _(showing in a lady leading a little boy by the hand)_ MRS. SEAGRAVE