No! Don’t get so upset. I’ll go! (_She goes out at the left. Mrs. Briggs stares after her for a moment; looks in the opposite direction; then seats herself upon the settee, and from the midst of a handkerchief which she has crumpled in her hand produces a small gold vanity box. She opens it, gazes in the tiny mirror, touches her hair, glances right and left, and uses a diminutive powder puff quickly; then she closes the box, conceals it in her handkerchief again, and hums a song to herself. Mr. Ingoldsby enters at the left. He has an air slightly embarrassed._) MRS. BRIGGS (_as if surprised_) Oh! INGOLDSBY Ah--I was here a while ago. It was a little earlier than our--our appointment; if I may call it so. (_He laughs nervously._) MRS. BRIGGS (_smiling_) Well, I suppose it _could_ be called an appointment--in a way. INGOLDSBY I--I thought--that is, I’ve noticed this was about the only place in the hotel where there aren’t usually a lot of people. I suggested it because--because I had something to say--ah--I mean that I thought it would be as well to say it in private--as it were. That is, if we were alone together, I--ah--that is to say, it’s something I couldn’t very well say in--in public, so to speak. I mean it would be difficult with other people present. MRS. BRIGGS (_smiling nervously_) Is it something very mysterious, Mr. Ingoldsby? INGOLDSBY I wish you wouldn’t call me that. MRS. BRIGGS (_seriously_) You want me to call you Henry? INGOLDSBY You did once. MRS. BRIGGS (_rising in some agitation_) Yes, but that was pretty long ago. INGOLDSBY (_sharply_) I called you Fannie then. MRS. BRIGGS (_more agitated_) I don’t think we should ever refer to it. When an episode is as long buried as-- INGOLDSBY (_his own agitation increasing_) Episode? See here, Fannie; you know why I stayed a bachelor. You do know. MRS. BRIGGS (_protesting quickly_) No, no! I have no responsibility for that! INGOLDSBY Haven’t you? When you broke your engagement to me-- MRS. BRIGGS (_crying out, though she suppresses the loudness of her voice_) It was a misunderstanding, Henry. INGOLDSBY It was not. I’ve held my peace in silence all these years because of my principles. I wouldn’t refer to such things with you when you had become a married woman. But I can speak now. You deliberately broke off with me-- MRS. BRIGGS (_choking_) I didn’t! INGOLDSBY (_with a suppressed passion_) You did! (_He paces the floor as he goes on._) You decided Lance Briggs was the better man, and you sent me my ring and letters without a single word explaining why you did it. MRS. BRIGGS Oh! INGOLDSBY You did! MRS. BRIGGS Is it fair to attack me with that now? INGOLDSBY Fair? How _dare_ you speak of _fairness_ to _me_? MRS. BRIGGS But you _knew_ why I did it. INGOLDSBY (_bitterly_)