SYLVESTER. I have always been under that impression. MARGERY. A husband who isn't master of his wife isn't half a husband. SYLVESTER. I am content to be a fraction! MARGERY. But you're a cipher. SYLVESTER. You're frank, Mrs. Cazenove. MARGERY. I only say to your face what everybody says behind your back. SYLVESTER. What do they say? MARGERY. That Mrs. Sylvester's too much alone. SYLVESTER. Never. She's always with your husband! MARGERY. Well? SYLVESTER. As long as _you_ don't object---- MARGERY. Object? Not I! But that's a very different thing! SYLVESTER. How so? MARGERY. I am my husband's wife, and I am not afraid of any woman in the world. SYLVESTER. You have no need to be. [_With admiration._] And in your pre-eminence resides my safety, Margery. MARGERY. I'm not Margery now! SYLVESTER [_seriously_]. I ask Mrs. Cazenove's pardon. [_In a casual tone_] You don't object to the collaboration, then? MARGERY. I think it's fun! They are so serious over it. As if the world depended on a book! As if there were no Providence or anything, and they two had to keep creation going by scratching upon little bits of paper! I love to watch them, biting at their pens, and staring at that little crack up there. [_Looking at the ceiling. SYLVESTER looks also._] I often think to myself, you may well look--there's something there that'll keep the world going round, just as it is, long after your precious book is dust and ashes. SYLVESTER. Then you do watch them, Margery--Mrs. Cazenove? MARGERY. Oh, often, from my room. [_Indicates curtains._] But I can scarcely keep from laughing all the time. Some day I mean to have such fun with them! I mean to steal in here, [_business_] and put my head out, so--and just when they are putting the world right, say Bo! [_Runs back, and bursts into a peal of laughter. SYLVESTER laughs also._ _Re-enter WELLS, L._ WELLS. Miss Vivash! [_Exit WELLS, L._ _Enter VICTORIA._ VICTORIA. Good morning, dear. [_Kisses MARGERY._] What! Captain Sylvester! you here, and Agnes not? MARGERY. Mrs. Sylvester is coming! VICTORIA. No need to apologize! A wife is just as much entitled to entertain another woman's husband as a husband to entertain another man's wife. You're getting on, dear. That's philosophy! MARGERY. Gerald is in the next room! VICTORIA. Then it's not philosophy! MARGERY. I'll go and wake him up. [_Exit, R._ VICTORIA. Humph! [_Sits._] Well, how long do you give it? SYLVESTER. Do you mean philosophy? VICTORIA. The Cazenove _ménage._ Another six months? These love-matches are honeymoon affairs. When once that's over, there's an end of everything. SYLVESTER. But is it over? VICTORIA. Everybody's talking. Cazenove is bored to death. SYLVESTER. I don't think his wife is. VICTORIA. Ah, that will come in time; and when it does, I mean to take Margery in hand. She is neglected shamefully. _She_ hasn't discovered it yet, but all her friends have. SYLVESTER.