MAGGIE [calmly]. I suppose you mean what you say, James. I hear, David, that the minister of Galashiels is to be married on that Miss Turnbull. DAVID [on guard]. So they were saying. ALICK. All I can say is she has made a poor bargain. MAGGIE [the damned]. I wonder at you, father. He’s a very nice gentleman. I’m sure I hope he has chosen wisely. JAMES. Not him. MAGGIE [getting near her tragedy]. How can you say that when you don’t know her? I expect she is full of charm. ALICK. Charm? It’s the very word he used. DAVID. Havering idiot. ALICK. What IS charm, exactly, Maggie? MAGGIE. Oh, it’s--it’s a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it, you don’t need to have anything else; and if you don’t have it, it doesn’t much matter what else you have. Some women, the few, have charm for all; and most have charm for one. But some have charm for none. [Somehow she has stopped knitting. Her men-folk are very depressed. JAMES brings his fist down on the table with a crash.] JAMES [shouting]. I have a sister that has charm. MAGGIE. No, James, you haven’t. JAMES [rushing at her with the watch and chain]. Ha’e, Maggie. [She lets them lie in her lap.] DAVID. Maggie, would you like a silk? MAGGIE. What could I do with a silk? [With a gust of passion] You might as well dress up a little brown hen. [They wriggle miserably.] JAMES [stamping]. Bring him here to me. MAGGIE. Bring whom, James? JAMES. David, I would be obliged if you wouldn’t kick me beneath the table. MAGGIE [rising]. Let’s be practical; let’s go to our beds. [This reminds them that they have a job on hand in which she is not to share.] DAVID [slily]. I don’t feel very sleepy yet. ALICK. Nor me either. JAMES. You’ve just taken the very words out of my mouth. DAVID [with unusual politeness]. Good-night to you Maggie. MAGGIE [fixing the three of them]. ALL of you unsleepy, when, as is well known, ten o’clock is your regular bed-time? JAMES. Yes, it’s common knowledge that we go to our beds at ten. [Chuckling] That’s what we’re counting on. MAGGIE. Counting on? DAVID. You stupid whelp. JAMES. What have I done? MAGGIE [folding her arms]. There’s something up. You’ve got to tell me, David. DAVID [who knows when he is beaten]. Go out and watch, James. MAGGIE. Watch? [JAMES takes himself off, armed, as MAGGIE notices, with a stick.] DAVID [in his alert business way]. Maggie, there are burglars about. MAGGIE. Burglars? [She sits rigid, but she is not the kind to scream.] DAVID. We hadn’t meant for to tell you till we nabbed them; but they’ve been in this room twice of late. We sat up last night waiting for them, and we’re to sit up again to-night. MAGGIE. The silver plate. DAVID. It’s all safe as yet. That makes us think that they were either frightened away these other times, or that they are coming back for to make a clean sweep. MAGGIE. How did you get to know about this?