E has disappeared. He is going towards
the door.] Let me get hold of him, Mrs. Thorpe.

AGNES. [Standing before LUCAS, quietly] She knows, Lucas, dear.

LUCAS. Does she?

AGNES. She overheard some gossip at the Caffe Quadri yesterday, and
began questioning me; so I told her.

LUCAS. [Taking off his coat.] Adieu to them, then--eh?

AGNES. [Assisting him.] Adieu.

LUCAS. I intended to write to the brother directly they had left
Venice, to explain.

AGNES. Your describing me as "Mrs. Cleeve" at the hotel in Florence
helped to lead us into this; after we move from here I must always be,
frankly, "Mrs. Ebbsmith."

LUCAS. These were decent people. You and she had formed quite an
attachment?

AGNES. Yes.

[She places his coat, &c. on a chair, then fetches her work-basket from
the cabinet.]

LUCAS. There's something of the man in your nature, Agnes.

AGNES. I've anathematised my womanhood often enough. [She sits at the
table, taking out her work composedly.]

LUCAS. Not that every man possesses the power you have acquired--the
power of going through life with compressed lips.

AGNES. [Looking up, smiling.] A propos?

LUCAS. These people--this woman you've been so fond of. You see them
shrink away with the utmost composure.

AGNES. [Threading a needle.] You forget, dear, that you and I have
prepared ourselves for a good deal of this sort of thing.

LUCAS. Certainly, but at the moment--

AGNES. One must take care that the regret lasts no longer than a
moment. Have you seen your uncle?

LUCAS. A glimpse. He hadn't long risen.

AGNES. He adds sluggishness to other vices, then?

LUCAS. [Lighting a cigarette.] He greeted me through six inches of open
door. His toilet has its mysteries.

AGNES. A stormy interview?

LUCAS. The reverse. He grasped my hand warmly, declared I looked the
picture of health, and said it was evident I had been most admirably
nursed.

AGNES. [Frowning.] That's a strange utterance. But he's an eccentric,
isn't he?

LUCAS. No man has ever been quite satisfied as to whether his oddities
are ingrained or affected.

AGNES. No man. What about women?

LUCAS. Ho! They have had opportunities of closer observation.

AGNES. Hah! And they report--?

LUCAS. Nothing. They become curiously reticent.

AGNES. [Scornfully, as she is cutting a thread.] These noblemen!

LUCAS. [Taking a packet of letters from his pocket.] Finally, he
presented me with these, expressed a hope that he'd se