BRIGNAC [_talking all the time while he goes into his study and comes back with his portfolio, hat, and coat_] I’m off. It’s too much! Yes; I’m off! And for my part, I refuse to be the victim of your sister’s pranks! LUCIE [_to herself_] Wretch! wretch! BRIGNAC. Do what you like, but I won’t have that sort of thing here. [_He goes out_]. MADELEINE. I don’t know which way she went nor where she is. LUCIE. You’ve been to the Bernins? MADELEINE. They were dining out. LUCIE. Did they leave the town by an afternoon train? MADELEINE. I don’t know. LUCIE. Oh, I’m afraid. MADELEINE. Annette must have known where they were dining, because I got to their door before she had time to get there herself. LUCIE. You should have gone to the station. MADELEINE. I made up my mind to, but then I saw that I shouldn’t have time before the train went. So I thought she must have come back. LUCIE. Here she is! Thank God! _Enter Catherine and Annette._ CATHERINE. I will! I will tell! So as they may stop you trying again. _Annette, her teeth clenched, her eyes fixed, shrugs her shoulders. Throughout the ensuing scene no tear comes to her eyes._ MADELEINE. In heaven’s name what has happened? LUCIE. You’re here, you’re here! [_She tries to take Annette in her arms_]. ANNETTE. Let me go! Let me go! [_She picks up her hat and coat, which she has thrown on to a chair, and sits down, hard and reticent_] LUCIE. What is the matter? What have you done? ANNETTE [_in a broken voice_] I wanted to put an end to myself. Catherine stopped me. LUCIE. To kill— MADELEINE. Annette! LUCIE. And us, had you forgotten us? ANNETTE. My death would have brought less trouble on you than my life will. MADELEINE. Catherine, what has happened? CATHERINE. I was getting out of the train. I saw her start to throw herself under the wheels. MADELEINE and LUCIE [_terrified_] Oh! ANNETTE. You’ll be sorry one day you stopped me. CATHERINE. You hear her! That’s the way she’s been going on as we came back, all the time she was telling me her story. LUCIE. Swear you’ll never try again, Annette. ANNETTE. How can I tell? MADELEINE. Was she alone? CATHERINE. No. When I saw her, she seemed to be having a dispute with M. Bernin’s family. I stopped to watch. Then M. Jacques got into the train and Annette stood there crying; and just as the train went away, she gave a cry and ran to try and throw herself under the wheels. I caught her by her dress and brought her away; and I wouldn’t leave her till I knew she was back here and I had told you what she’d done. ANNETTE. All right. Don’t let’s speak about it. I tried to kill myself and I failed. If they saw me, no doubt they shrugged their shoulders. MADELEINE. You went to wait for them at the train?