Grace! [GRACE
_immediately sails out of the room._] Well, my dear, I thought I
should never extricate myself from the court-room. You look very
debonnair!

CYNTHIA. The tea's making. You'll have your glass of sherry?

PHILIP. [_The strain of the day evidently having been severe._]
Thanks! [_Taking it from_ THOMAS _and sighing._] Ah!

CYNTHIA. I can see it's been a tiring day with you.

PHILIP. [_His great tussle with the world leaving him unworsted but
utterly spent._] H'm! [_He gratefully sips his tea._

CYNTHIA. Were the lawyers very long-winded?

PHILIP. [_Almost too tired for speech._] Prolix to the point of
somnolence. It might be affirmed without inexactitude that the
prolixity of counsel is the somnolence of the judiciary. I am
fatigued, ah! [_A little suddenly, awaking to the fact that his orders
have not been carried out to the letter._] Thomas! My _Post_ is not in
its usual place!

CYNTHIA. It's here, Philip. [THOMAS _gets it._

PHILIP. Thanks, my dear. [_Opening "The Post."_] Ah! This hour with
you--is--is really the--the-- [_Absently._] the one vivid moment of the
day. [_Reading._] H'm--shocking attack by the President on vested
interests. H'm--too bad--but it's to be expected. The people insisted
on electing a desperado to the presidential office--they must take the
hold-up that follows. [_After a pause, he reads._] H'm! His English is
lacking in idiom, his spelling in conservatism, his mind in balance,
and his character in repose.

CYNTHIA. [_Amiable but not very sympathetic._] You seem more fatigued
than usual. Another glass of sherry, Philip?

PHILIP. Oh, I ought not to--

CYNTHIA. I think you seem a little more tired than usual.

PHILIP. Perhaps I am. [_She pours out sherry._ PHILIP _takes glass but
does not sip._] Ah, this hour is truly a grateful form of restful
excitement. [_After an inspired interval._] You, too, find it--eh?
[_He looks at_ CYNTHIA.

CYNTHIA. [_With veiled sarcasm._] Decidedly.

PHILIP. Decidedly what, my dear?

CYNTHIA. [_Her sarcasm still veiled._] Restful.

PHILIP. H'm! Perhaps I need the calm more than you do. Over the case
to-day I actually--eh-- [_Sipping his tea._] slumbered. I heard myself
do it. That's how I know. A dressmaker sued on seven counts. [_Reading
his newspaper._] Really, the insanity of the United States Senate--you
seem restless, my dear. Ah--um--have you seen the evening paper? I see
there has been a lightning change in the style or size