THOMPSON: My father always said to me, miss, a good servant should never presume to be sure. He should avoid conveying information as if he were instructing his betters. LORD WILLIAM: A wise man, your father, Thompson—if only people could get it into their heads that each time they are right somebody loves them less. How is her ladyship? THOMPSON: Overworking, m’lord. LORD WILLIAM: What at? [_Sits settee L._ THOMPSON: Other people, m’lord. SELINA: Other people? [_Sits D. S. L._ THOMPSON: Other people’s happiness, Miss Selina. SELINA: Ah! THOMPSON: Her ladyship can’t see that the worthless is the worthless. SELINA: She doesn’t try to improve them, does she, Thompson? THOMPSON: No, miss—to make them happy. Pampering the riff-raff that’s what she does. Why, only the other day she was taken in by a swindler, and do you know what she said, m’lord? LORD WILLIAM: No. THOMPSON: She said, “Well, it’s much better than if he’d been honest and I’d not believed him.” SELINA: Don’t you try and protect her against herself, Thompson? THOMPSON: I try, Miss Selina, but then, her ladyship says: “You aren’t kind to me, Thompson,” and I capitulate. Human and mortal, that’s what we all are. [_He goes out._ SELINA: (_calling to him at the door_): Thompson! THOMPSON: Miss Selina? SELINA: You haven’t admired my new hat. THOMPSON: Very neat, I’m sure—— [_Exit THOMPSON._ SELINA: Funny, isn’t it, a saint like Ann coming out of our family. [_Enter TIM._ LORD WILLIAM: How de do, Tim? SELINA: How’s Ann? TIM: She’s looking tired. SELINA: Is Ninian here? TIM: He doesn’t arrive till seven-thirty. LORD WILLIAM: The others are coming by the three o’clock train—Molly, Mr. Jordan and Mrs. Martineau. TIM: Yes. SELINA: I never can think why Ann should see so much of Mabel Martineau. TIM: They played together in the nursery. SELINA: That’s the only explanation that’s ever brought forward for Mabel. LORD WILLIAM: She’s rather an amusing little viper. TIM: But she stings so continuously that I don’t believe she could stop if she wanted to. SELINA: She certainly is no respecter of persons. TIM: Some day she will sting Ann. SELINA: She really would be fond of Ann if it weren’t for you. TIM: Me? SELINA: She’s a little bit in love with you. TIM: Nonsense. LORD WILLIAM: And why not? An attractive, personable young man like you. SELINA: Papa, you’ve made Tim blush. LORD WILLIAM: It’s easier nowadays to make a young man blush than a young woman. SELINA: One’s cheeks can’t always respond to one’s feelings. LORD WILLIAM: Do you know Jordan, Tim? TIM: A little. SELINA: What’s he like? TIM: Heavy and common and on the make. SELINA: Why does Ann like him? LORD WILLIAM: One of her endowment schemes, I expect. SELINA: What do you mean, Papa? LORD WILLIAM: That Ann goes about endowing people with her own qualities. Very unfair to the poor things, of course, as they have to revert to type sooner or later.