"So this is _not_ your mother!" he said with infinite indignation. "Were you ever really simple enough to suspect me of having a mother?" she retorted contemptuously. "I had her on the hire system. Don't you know that a combination of maid and mother is the newest thing in actresses' wardrobes? It is safer then having a maid, and more comfortable than having a mother." "But I _have_ been a mother to you, Clorinda," the old dame pleaded. "Oh, yes, you have always been a good, obedient woman. I am not finding fault with you, and I have no wish to part with you. I do find fault and I shall certainly part with your son." "Nonsense," said the Man in the Ironed Mask. "The situation is essentially unchanged. She is still the mother of one of us, she can still become the mother-in-law of the other. Besides, Clorinda, that is the only way of keeping the secret in the family." "You threaten?" "Certainly. You are a humbug. So am I. United we stand. Separated, you fall." "You fall, too." "Not from such a height. I am still on the first rungs." "Nor likely to get any higher." "Indeed? Your experience of me should have taught you different. High as you are, I can raise you yet higher if you will only lift me up to you." "How do you climb?" she said, his old ascendency reasserting itself. "By standing still. Profound meditation on the philosophy of modern society has convinced me that the only way left for acquiring notoriety is to do nothing. Every other way has been exploited and is suspected. It is only a year since the discovery flashed upon me, it is only a year that I have been putting it in practice. And yet, mark the result! Already I am a known man. I had the _entrée_ to no society; for half-a-guinea a night (frequently paid in paper money) I have mingled with the most exclusive. When there was no _premiere_ anywhere, I went to see you--not from any admiration of you, but because the _Lymarket_ is the haunt of the best society, and in addition, the virtue of Shakespeare and of yourself attracts there a highly respectable class of bishops whom I have not the opportunity of meeting elsewhere. By doing nothing I fascinated you--somebody was sure to be fascinated by it at last, as the dove flutters into the jaws of the lethargic serpent--by continuing to do nothing I completed my conquest. Had I met your advances, you would have repelled mine. My theories have been completely demonstrated, and but for the accident of our having a common mother----" "Speak for yourself," said Clorinda haughtily.