Edward shuts up like a clam the moment I try to discuss anything in the least interesting. Where have you been, Bobbie? BOBBIE Playing squash with Evie at the Bath Club. EDWARD Why didn’t you bring him along? BOBBIE He said he was coming on later. MARGOT I suppose he won. BOBBIE Yes; he always does. [_Enter BERRY with a tray of cocktails._] EDWARD Put them down here, Berry. [_He clears a space on the table._] Do you want any more tea, Margot? MARGOT No thanks. EDWARD Take away the remains, then, Berry. BERRY Yes, sir. [_He piles the tea things up and takes them out._] BOBBIE I saw your wife in St. James’s Street, Churt. MARGOT [_Eagerly_] Who was she with? BOBBIE Harry Challoner. MARGOT I love Harry. Don’t you, Edward? EDWARD Passionately. MARGOT I expect they were going to Fanny’s. She’s got a mah-jong party. She seems to imagine it’s a novelty. I ought to be there, really, but I just felt I couldn’t bear it—all those hot scented women squabbling over the scores. BOBBIE Do you mind if I take a cigarette, Churt? EDWARD Of course not. I’m so sorry. [_He hands the box._] Margot? MARGOT Thanks, Edward dear. [_BERRY enters._] BERRY [_Announcing_] Mrs. St. Merryn. [_ZOE ST. MERRYN enters. She is beautifully dressed and pleasantly unexaggerated._] ZOE Edward! [_She takes both his hands._] I’m terribly excited at seeing you again. EDWARD It’s grand, isn’t it, after a whole year. ZOE I’ve got so much to say I don’t know where to start. [_She sees MARGOT._] Margot, this is lovely. How are you? [_They kiss._] MARGOT You look divine, darling. Do you know Bobbie? ZOE [_Shaking hands with him_] Bobbie who? MARGOT Romford, dear. ZOE [_With a swift glance at MARGOT._] Oh, yes, of course. I’ve heard of you. MARGOT _What_ have you heard? You must tell me. ZOE I can’t remember at the moment. Edward, give me a cigarette and a cocktail and tell me all about everything. EDWARD [_Ministering to her_] Cigarette—cocktail—there. ZOE Thank you. Now then— EDWARD I don’t know where to start any better than you do. ZOE How’s Carol? EDWARD Awfully well. ZOE Where is she? EDWARD Out. She leads rather a hectic life I’m afraid—matinées, bridge, mah-jong, dancing— ZOE You reel off those four harmless occupations as though they were the most ignoble of human frailties. EDWARD I didn’t mean to, really. ZOE They’re wonderful _pis allers_ for people who don’t do things. EDWARD I don’t believe in _pis allers_. ZOE That’s not a virtue; it’s just part of your creative equipment. MARGOT I want to hear all about your travels, Zoe—where you’ve been and who with. ZOE [_Laughing_] It’s difficult to remember accurately who I was with all the time. You may rest assured that I had an endless succession of lovers, beginning with an elderly mulatto in Honolulu and finishing with a retired matador in Seville. EDWARD I hope you’re satisfied, Margot.