[_He drinks his glass of champagne before the crowd. The cheering which has been going on all through the speech now grows louder and louder. There are shouts of_ MRS. WINTER. GEORGE WINTER. Kate, they want you. CATHERINE. No. Please not. GEORGE WINTER. Come. No false modesty. Give them a bow, that won’t hurt you. [_He takes her hand and draws her to the window. The crowd bursts out again into cheering._ GEORGE WINTER _comes back into the room_. GEORGE WINTER. My word, what a moment! BOYCE. You must be dead beat. GEORGE WINTER. I? Fresh as a daisy. Nothing can beat me. O’DONNELL. [_Taking out his watch._] By Jove, I had no idea it was so late. BOYCE. I think I’ll be getting along. GEORGE WINTER. Oh, nonsense! Why, the evening’s only just beginning. BOYCE. I’m dog tired. SWALECLIFFE. I must be getting away, too. My wife will be wanting to know all about it. GEORGE WINTER. Well, if I can’t persuade you, I suppose I can’t. I hope you’ll all have as good a night as I mean to. SWALECLIFFE. You think it’s all right about--about that matter? GEORGE WINTER. Don’t you worry your head. It’s as right as rain. I tell you that nothing I touch can fail. SWALECLIFFE. Then good-night. GEORGE WINTER. Good-night. [COLONEL BOYCE, SWALECLIFFE, _and the other two men who came in with them, go out_. GEORGE WINTER. You’re not going yet, Ford? JAMES FORD. No. If you don’t mind I’d like to have a word with you when you can spare me a few minutes. GEORGE WINTER. As many as you like. I’m ready now. LADY FRANCIS. If you’re going to talk business, we’d better leave you. JAMES FORD. I’m in no hurry, my lady. LADY FRANCIS. It really is getting very late. O’DONNELL. Aren’t you too tired for business now? GEORGE WINTER. Tired? I don’t know what it is to be tired. When you write my biography, young man, you can say that after the hardest fought battle of the election, when the cheers of the multitude were still ringing in his ears, he sat down at midnight, fresh as paint, and talked business with the shrewdest man in Middlepool till break of day. JAMES FORD. [_Drily._] It’ll be more accurate if you say for ten minutes. GEORGE WINTER. But so much less effective. ANNE. I’m sure you’ve been drinking too much champagne, George. GEORGE WINTER. [_Laughing._] Nonsense. I could drink a gallon, and be as sober as a judge at the end of it. ANNE. Well, good-night. GEORGE WINTER. [_Kissing her._] Good-night, my chick. Have you named the happy day yet? LADY FRANCIS. Good-night. GEORGE WINTER. [_To_ _O’Donnell_.] And you can add that I enveloped my mother-in-law in my arms. LADY FRANCIS. [_With a smile, warding off his attempt to embrace her._] I congratulate you. It’s been a great triumph. GEORGE WINTER. Oh, it’s only the beginning. I’ve got the world at my feet. In ten years I shall be crying like Alexander because there are no more worlds to conquer. O’DONNELL.