QUINCY [_Flirtatiously_] That depends. The last I had was in Russia itself--from the fair hands of your mother, the Baroness. VERA [_Pained_] Please don't say my mother, my mother is dead. QUINCY [_Fatuously misunderstanding_] Oh, you have no call to be ashamed of your step-mother--she's a stunning creature; all the points of a tip-top Russian aristocrat, or Quincy Davenport's no judge of breed! Doesn't speak English like your father--but then the Baron is a wonder. VERA [_Takes up teapot_] Father once hoped to be British Ambassador--that's why _I_ had an English governess. But you never told me you met him in _Russia_. QUINCY Surely! When I gave you all those love messages---- VERA [_Pouring tea quickly_] You said you met him at Wiesbaden. QUINCY Yes, but we grew such pals I motored him and the Baroness back to St. Petersburg. Jolly country, Russia--they know how to live. VERA [_Coldly_] I saw more of those who know how to die.... Milk and sugar? QUINCY [_Sentimentally_] Oh, Miss Revendal! Have you forgotten? VERA [_Politely snubbing_] How should I remember? QUINCY You don't remember our first meeting? At the Settlement Bazaar? When I paid you a hundred dollars for every piece of sugar you put in? VERA Did you? Then I hope you drank syrup. QUINCY Ugh! I hate sugar--I sacrificed myself. VERA To the Settlement? How heroic of you! QUINCY No, not to the Settlement. To you! VERA Then I'll only put milk in. QUINCY I hate milk. But from you---- VERA Then we _must_ fall back on the lemon. QUINCY I loathe lemon. But from---- VERA Then you shall have your tea neat. QUINCY I detest tea, and here it would be particularly cheap and nasty. But---- VERA Then you shall have a cake! [_She offers plate._] QUINCY [_Taking one_] Would they be eatable? [_Tasting it._] Humph! Not bad. [_Sentimentally_] A little cake was all you would eat the only time you came to one of my private concerts. Don't you remember? We went down to supper together. VERA [_Taking his tea for herself and putting in lemon_] I shall always remember the delicious music Herr Pappelmeister gave us. QUINCY How unkind of you! VERA Unkind? [_She sips the tea and puts down the cup._] To be grateful for the music? QUINCY You know what I mean--to forget _me_! [_He tries to take her hand._] VERA [_Rising_] Aren't you forgetting yourself? QUINCY You mean because I'm married to that patched-and-painted creature? She's hankering for the stage again, the old witch. VERA Hush! Marriages with comic opera stars are not usually domestic idylls. QUINCY I fell a victim to my love of music. VERA [_Murmurs, smiling_] Music! QUINCY And I hadn't yet met the right breed--the true blue blood of Europe. I'll get a divorce. [_Approaching her_] Vera! VERA [_Retreating_] You will make me sorry I came to you. QUINCY No, don't say that--promised the Baron I'd always do all I could for---- VERA You promised? You dared discuss my affairs?