[_There is a pause._ ETCHINGHAM _can hardly bear his anxiety_. BENNETT _is trying to hide his agitation_. GEORGE WINTER _looks at her with a smile_. CATHERINE _and_ JAMES FORD _confront one another, and she looks at him steadily_. CATHERINE. That you may do. [ETCHINGHAM _cannot prevent a little gasp of relief, but_ GEORGE WINTER _makes no sign_. SWALECLIFFE. You have no intention of divorcing your husband? CATHERINE. None whatever. SWALECLIFFE. You’ve never had any intention? GEORGE WINTER. [_Impatiently._] Good lord, isn’t that enough for you? JAMES FORD. [_Kindly._] Yes, yes, we won’t bother you any more. Thank you, very much! And I’m glad that you’ve put our minds at rest. George Winter, shake hands. GEORGE WINTER. I’ll shake hands with you, but I can’t help saying that I could have expected more charity, more confidence in me from men who make a practice of belief in the Christian Church. JAMES FORD. [_Unmoved by the rebuke._] That’s all right. SWALECLIFFE. I can understand your vexation, Mr. Winter. But we were in a very difficult position. JAMES FORD. Anyhow, we must get along, and if we look sharp we’ll catch the 5.40 back to Middlepool. Good afternoon to you, Mrs. Winter. Good afternoon, gentlemen. GEORGE WINTER. Mr. Bennett will show you out. Good-bye. Good-bye, Boyce. I shall be up at Middlepool in a day or two.... [_As they are going out._] Oh, by the way, Boyce, a little bit of information for you--Robert Colby’s going to the War Office in the New Cabinet. END OF THE SECOND ACT. THE THIRD ACT _The scene is a spacious sitting-room in the Palace Hotel at Middlepool. It is sumptuously furnished with the lack of taste peculiar to such apartments. Everything is large and rich and rather stiff. It is obvious that the decorations have been carried out on contract by a first-rate firm. They are calculated to give the business man who engages the room the impression that he is getting his money’s worth._ _On the left is a large French window, opening to the floor and looking on the square in front of the hotel. At the back is a door leading into_ GEORGE WINTER’S _bedroom. On the right are two doors; one leads into the passage, and the other is that of_ CATHERINE’S _room_. _There is a telephone on the table._ _It is some weeks later, between ten and eleven on the morning of the election._ LORD FRANCIS ETCHINGHAM, FRED BENNETT, JAMES FORD, COLONEL BOYCE, _and_ MR. SWALECLIFFE. MR. SWALECLIFFE _is standing at the window_. _When the curtain rises there is an excited buzz of conversation._ BOYCE _is at the telephone_. BOYCE. [_Speaking into the receiver._] Yes, Colonel Boyce. Be sure you don’t make a mistake. SWALECLIFFE. I can’t imagine what’s become of him. One would have thought.... ETCHINGHAM. [_To_ COLONEL BOYCE.] If he’s not there, you’d better try somewhere else. JAMES FORD.