NISH (eagerly). Mrs. Tremayne, what fools we are! He _is_ your
husband all the time!

BELINDA. Yes.

BAXTER. You've had a husband all the time?

BELINDA (apologetically). I lost him; it wasn't my fault.

BAXTER. Really, this is very confusing. I don't know where I am. I
gather--I am to gather, it seems, that you are no longer eligible as a
possible wife?

BELINDA. I am afraid not, Mr. Baxter.

BAXTER. But this is very confusing--this is very disturbing to a man
of my age. For weeks past I have been regarding myself as a--a possible
benedict. I have--ah--taken steps. Only this morning, in writing to
my housekeeper, I warned her that she might hear at any moment a most
startling announcement.

DEVENISH (cheerfully). Oh, that's all right. That might only mean that
you were getting a new bowler-hat.

BAXTER (suddenly). Ah, and what about you, sir? How is it that you take
this so lightly? (Triumphantly.) I have it. It all becomes clear to me.
You have transferred your affections to her daughter!

DEVENISH. Oh, I say, Baxter, this is very crude.

BELINDA. And why should he not, Mr. Baxter? (Softly.) He has made me
very happy.

BAXTER. He has made you happy, Mrs. Tremayne!

BELINDA. Very happy.

BAXTER (thoughtfully). Ah! (He takes a turn round the room in, silence,
and then comes back to her.) Mrs. Tremayne, I have taken a great
resolve. (Solemnly.) I also will make you happy. (Thumping his heart.)
I also will woo Miss Delia. (Suddenly seizing DEVENISH'S arm) Come,
we will seek Miss Delia together. It may be that she will send us upon
another quest in which I shall again be victorious. (Tempestuously)
Come, I say! (He marches the resisting DEVENISH to the swing doors.)

DEVENISH (to BELINDA). Please!

BELINDA (gently). Mr. Baxter... Harold. (BAXTER stops and turns round.)
You are too impetuous. I think that as Delia's mother--

BAXTER. Your pardon, Mrs. Tremayne. In the intoxication of the moment I
am forgetting. (Formally.) I have the honour to ask your permission to
pay my addresses--

BELINDA. No, no, I didn't mean that. But, as Delia's mother, I ought
to warn you that she is hardly fitted to take the place of your
housekeeper. She is not very domesticated.

BAXTER (indignantly). Not domesticated? Why, did I not hear her tell her
father at dinner that she had arranged all the flowers?

BELINDA. There are other things than flowers.

DEVENISH. Bed-socks, for instance, Baxter. It's a very tricky thin