.

(Enter PETER HORNING boisterously. A PAGE BOY opens the door
but does not announce him.)

PETER. (Perceiving LOOE first.) Ah, Father! You here? How d'ye do?
What did you think of my special on last Sunday's sermon? (Shakes hands
with LOOE and bows to MISS LOOE as to an acquaintance.)

LOOE. Very good. Very good.

PETER. (Advancing to CARVE.) Mr. Shawn, I presume?

CARVE. (Glancing helplessly at JANET.) But this isn't the doctor?

PETER. (Volubly.) Admitted! Admitted! I'm only his brother--a
journalist. I'm on the Courier and the Mercury and several other
Worgan papers. One of our chaps failed to get into this room this
morning, so I came along to try what I could do. You see what I've
done.

JANET. Well, I never came across such a set of people in my life.

PETER. (Aside to LOOE.) Is he in service here, or what?

LOOE. Mr. Shawn was Mr. Carve's secretary and companion, not his valet.

PETER. (Puzzled, but accepting the situation.) Ah! So much the better.
Now, Mr. Shawn, can you tell me authoritatively whether shortly before
his death Mr. Carve was engaged to be married under romantic
circumstances to a lady of high rank?

HONORIA. Indeed!

CARVE. Who told you that?

PETER. Then he was!

CARVE. I've nothing to say.

PETER. You won't tell me her name?

CARVE. I've nothing to say.

PETER. Secondly, I'm instructed to offer something considerable for your
signature to an account of Ilam Carve's eccentric life on the Continent.

CARVE. Eccentric life on the Continent!

PETER. I shouldn't keep you half an hour--three quarters at most. A
hundred pounds. Cash down, you know. Bank notes. All you have to do is
to sign.

CARVE. (To Janet, exhausted, but disdainful.) I wouldn't mind signing
an order for the fellow's execution.

PETER. A hundred and fifty!

CARVE. Or burning at the stake.

PETER. (To LOOE.) What does he say?

LOOE. Mr. Shawn is indisposed. We've just been discussing the question
of the burial in the Abbey. I think I may say, if it interests you as an
item of news, that Ilam Carve will not be buried in the Abbey.

PETER. (Lightly.) Oh yes he will, Father. There was a little doubt
about it until we got particulars of his will this morning. But his will
settled it.

LOOE. His will?

PETER. Yes. Didn't you know? No, you wouldn't. Well, his estate will
come out at about a couple of hundred thousand, and he's left it
practically all for an International Gallery of Modern Ar