ell him,
father. Oh, it is horrible to me--(covering her face). It seemed so
natural at the time.

LORD LOAM (petulantly). Never again make use of that word in this house,
Mary.

LADY MARY (with an effort). Father, Brocklehurst has been so loyal to me
for these two years that I should despise myself were I to keep my--my
extraordinary lapse from him. Had Brocklehurst been a little less good,
then you need not have told him my strange little secret.

LORD LOAM (weakly). Polly--I mean Mary--it was all Crichton's fault,
he--

LADY MARY (with decision). No, father, no; not a word against him
though. I haven't the pluck to go on with it; I can't even understand
how it ever was. Father, do you not still hear the surf? Do you see the
curve of the beach?

LORD LOAM. I have begun to forget--(in a low voice). But they were happy
days; there was something magical about them.

LADY MARY. It was glamour. Father, I have lived Arabian nights. I
have sat out a dance with the evening star. But it was all in a past
existence, in the days of Babylon, and I am myself again. But he has
been chivalrous always. If the slothful, indolent creature I used to be
has improved in any way, I owe it all to him. I am slipping back in many
ways, but I am determined not to slip back altogether--in memory of him
and his island. That is why I insisted on your telling Brocklehurst. He
can break our engagement if he chooses. (Proudly.) Mary Lasenby is going
to play the game.

LORD LOAM. But my dear--

(LORD BROCKLEHURST is announced.)

LADY MARY (meaningly). Father, dear, oughtn't you to be dressing?

LORD LOAM (very unhappy). The fact is--before I go--I want to say--

LORD BROCKLEHURST. Loam, if you don't mind, I wish very specially to
have a word with Mary before dinner.

LORD LOAM. But--

LADY MARY. Yes, father. (She induces him to go, and thus courageously
faces LORD BROCKLEHURST to hear her fate.) I am ready, George.

LORD BROCKLEHURST (who is so agitated that she ought to see he is
thinking not of her but of himself). It is a painful matter--I wish I
could have spared you this, Mary.

LADY MARY. Please go on.

LORD BROCKLEHURST. In common fairness, of course, this should be
remembered, that two years had elapsed. You and I had no reason to
believe that we should ever meet again.

(This is more considerate than she had expected.)

LADY MARY (softening). I was so lost to the world, George.

LORD BROCKLEHURST (with a groan). At