[_Enter NINIAN._ NINIAN: I apologize, Mr. Molyneux. Forgive me, Uncle William. I have been kept. LORD WILLIAM: Tut, tut, Ninian, a rich man like you! NINIAN: I cannot see how being rich can affect the fact that I was sitting late on a committee. And anyway, I am not rich ... you know very well, Uncle William, that it is almost impossible nowadays for a gentleman to be rich. MOLYNEUX: It was always difficult. LORD WILLIAM: It is a question of minerals, my boy. There is still coal in the earth. MOLYNEUX: But, as Ninian would say, there are unfortunately also miners. NINIAN: There are, I understand, a number of very rich people in this country to-day. I know very few of them. SELINA: What a pity. MOLYNEUX: Never mind—as the proverb says, if you fail the first time—and it applies, I imagine, to all of the numerous first times—try, try again. LADY EMILY: I feel that you ought to make an effort to get into touch with all these millionaires. NINIAN: I do not know their names. SELINA: What a shame! MOLYNEUX: There must be ways of finding out. Somerset House, for instance. SELINA: Aren’t they all dead there? MOLYNEUX: It is difficult not to have an heir. NINIAN: I have no desire to know any of these profiteers. What could they do me? I should, I hope, feel at a disadvantage in their company. [_Enter THOMPSON and MRS. MARTINEAU._ THOMPSON: Mrs. Martineau, m’lady. [_Exit THOMPSON._ ANN: Dear Mabel. [_General greetings._ NINIAN: If you were older, Mrs. Martineau, I should say that you look younger each time I see you. MRS. MARTINEAU: Please say it—I am not young enough not to have my head turned. [_Enter THOMPSON and TIM._ THOMPSON: Mr. Carstairs, m’lady. ANN: Tim.... TIM: I am so sorry if I am late. ANN: You’re not late—for dinner. LADY EMILY (_in the other corner_): Why, Mrs. Martineau? MOLYNEUX: Why indeed? These nursery friendships never come to any good. LADY EMILY: Even later friendships rarely come to any good. MOLYNEUX: But they can easily be taken to the bad. LADY EMILY: Not easily. Believe me, not easily. Going to the bad is very difficult. MOLYNEUX: Why so difficult? LADY EMILY: Because one’s roots go deeper than one thinks. You find a lot of odd principles and inhibitions lying about at the bottom of the sea. If the psychoanalysts hadn’t made the term ridiculous I should talk of the subconscious. LORD WILLIAM: Did I hear you use the word subconscious, Emily? LADY EMILY: You did, William. LORD WILLIAM: It has played no part in your life. LADY EMILY: It has played the same part in my life that it plays in other people’s. It has been the refuge of unwelcome guests. LORD WILLIAM (_calling_): Ann. Ann! There is something the matter with Emily to-night. She has become a moralist. Everyone is very odd. Selina is silent, Tim is restless, Ninian is absent-minded, and Mrs. Martineau is sunny. Why the devil should they run away from themselves like that? By the way, Ann, what are you?