g now. I
feel, Phoebe, as if Livvy really existed.

PHOEBE (_mournfully_). We shall never be able to esteem ourselves
again.

MISS SUSAN (_who has in her the makings of a desperate criminal_).
Phoebe, why not marry him? If only we could make him think that Livvy
had gone home. Then he need never know.

PHOEBE. Susan, you pain me. She who marries without telling all--hers
must ever be a false face. They are his own words.

(PATTY _enters importantly._)

PATTY. Captain Brown.

PHOEBE (_starting up_). I wrote to him, begging him not to come.

MISS SUSAN (_quickly_). Patty, I am sorry we are out.

(_But_ VALENTINE _has entered in time to hear her words._)

VALENTINE (_not unmindful that this is the room in which he is esteemed
a wit_). I regret that they are out, Patty, but I will await their
return. (_The astonishing man sits on the ottoman beside_ MISS SUSAN,
_but politely ignores her presence._) It is not my wish to detain you,
Patty.

(PATTY _goes reluctantly, and the sisters think how like him, and how
delightful it would be if they were still the patterns of propriety he
considers them._)

PHOEBE (_bravely_). Captain Brown.

VALENTINE (_rising_). You, Miss Phoebe. I hear Miss Livvy is
indisposed?

PHOEBE. She is--very poorly.

VALENTINE. But it is not that unpleasant girl I have come to see, it
is you.

MISS SUSAN (_meekly_). How do you do?

VALENTINE (_ignoring her_). And I am happy, Miss Phoebe, to find you
alone.

MISS SUSAN (_appealingly_). How do you do, sir?

PHOEBE. You know quite well, sir, that Susan is here.

VALENTINE. Nay, ma'am, excuse me. I heard Miss Susan say she was gone
out. Miss Susan is incapable of prevarication.

MISS SUSAN (_rising--helpless_). What am I to do?

PHOEBE. Don't go, Susan--'tis what he wants.

VALENTINE. I have her word that she is not present.

MISS SUSAN. Oh dear.

VALENTINE. My faith in Miss Susan is absolute. (_At this she retires
into the bedroom, and immediately his manner changes. He takes_ MISS
PHOEBE'S _hands into his own kind ones._) You coward, Miss Phoebe, to
be afraid of Valentine Brown.

PHOEBE. I wrote and begged you not to come.

VALENTINE. You implied as a lover, Miss Phoebe, but surely always as a
friend.

PHOEBE. Oh yes, yes.

VALENTINE. You told Miss Livvy that you loved me once. How carefully
you hid it from me!

PHOEBE (_more firmly_). A woman must never tell. You went away to the