CANTELUPE, _with a gesture which might be mistaken for a bow, folds himself up_. TREBELL. Shall I bring you the figures on Friday . . that might save time. CANTELUPE, _by taking a deeper fold in himself seems to assent_. TREBELL. Will the afternoon do? Kent shall fix the hour. CANTELUPE. [_With an effort._] Kent? TREBELL. My secretary. CANTELUPE. Friday. Any hour before five. I know my way. _The three phrases having meant three separate efforts_, CANTELUPE _escapes_. WEDGECROFT _has walked to the table, his brows a little puckered. Now_ TREBELL _notices that_ KENT'S _door is open; he goes quickly into the room and finds it empty. Then he stands for a moment irritable and undecided before returning._ TREBELL. Been here long? WEDGECROFT. Five minutes . . more, I suppose. TREBELL. Mrs. O'Connell gone? WEDGECROFT. To her dressmaker's. TREBELL. Frances forgot she was coming and went out. WEDGECROFT. Pretty little fool of a woman! D'you know her husband? TREBELL. No. WEDGECROFT. Says she's been in Ireland with him since we met at Shapters. He has trouble with his tenantry. TREBELL. Won't he sell or won't they purchase? WEDGECROFT. Curious chap. A Don at Balliol when I first knew him. Warped of late years . . perhaps by his marriage. TREBELL. [_Dismissing that subject._] Well . . how's Percival? WEDGECROFT. Better this morning. I told him I'd seen you . . and in a little calculated burst of confidence what I'd reason to think you were after. He said you and he could get on though you differed on every point; but he didn't see how you'd pull with such a blasted weak-kneed lot as the rest of the Horsham's cabinet would be. He'll be up in a week or ten days. TREBELL. Can I see him? WEDGECROFT. You might. I admire the old man . . the way he sticks to his party, though they misrepresent now most things he believes in! TREBELL. What a damnable state to arrive at . . doubly damned by the fact you admire it. WEDGECROFT. And to think that at this time of day you should need instructing in the ethics of party government. But I'll have to do it. TREBELL. Not now. I've been at ethics with Cantelupe. WEDGECROFT. Certainly not now. What about my man with the stomach-ache at twelve o'clock sharp! Good-bye. _He is gone._ TREBELL _battles with uneasiness and at last mutters_. "Oh . . why didn't she wait?" _Then the telephone bell rings. He goes quickly as if it were an answer to his anxiety._ "Yes?" _Of course, it isn't . ._ "Yes." _He paces the room, impatient, wondering what to do. The Maid comes in to announce_ MISS DAVENPORT. LUCY _follows her. She has gained lately perhaps a little of the joy which was lacking and at least she brings now into this room a breath of very wholesome womanhood._ LUCY. It's very good of you to let me come; I'm not going to keep you more than three minutes. TREBELL. Sit down. _Only women unused to busy men would call him rude._