Grandmother. Hush! (Looks out of the window.) There is Justice Röst coming, with his wife. Go and tell your uncle!
Grandmother. I might have expected it. They came up from the country yesterday.
Grandmother. Good-bye, my boy! (HAGBART goes out to the right. The door at the back is opened. CORNELIA ushers in RÖST and MRS. RÖST.)
Mrs. Röst. Thank you! You must excuse us for calling so early. We came up from the country yesterday, and my husband has to go to the courts for a little while!
Röst. I have to go to the courts to-day. (The BISHOP conies in from the right.)
Mrs. Röst. You must excuse our calling so early; but we came up from the country yesterday, and my husband has to go to the courts to-day.
Röst. I have to go to the courts for a little while.
Mrs. Röst. And there is the old lady in her chair already!
Mrs. Röst. Good morning!--No, please don't get up!
Röst. Ah, I wish I were as active as you!
Mrs. Röst. My husband was saying to Miss Cornelia only last night--
Grandmother. You need not strain yourself so. I can hear perfectly well. (The others exchange glances.)
Röst. I was saying to Miss Cornelia only last night--we met for a few moments after the service--
Röst. I said I had never known any one of over ninety have all their faculties so remarkably clear--
Mrs. Röst.--so remarkably clear as yours! And such good health, too! My husband has suffered a great deal from asthma lately.
Röst. I have suffered a great deal from asthma lately.
Mrs. Röst. And I from a heart trouble, which--
Grandmother. We did not know anything about such ailments in my day.
Mrs. Röst. Isn't she sweet! She doesn't remember that people were sometimes ill in her day.
Röst. Delightful weather! I cannot in the least understand how it is that I--. (The BISHOP brings a chair forward for him.) Oh, please don't trouble, my lord! Allow me.
Mrs. Röst. My husband must have caught cold. (RÖST sits down.)
Cornelia. It certainly was draughty in church last night.
Röst. But we sat in the corner farthest from the door.
Mrs. Röst. We sat in the corner farthest from the door. That was why we were not able to bid your lordship good evening afterwards.
Röst, Mrs. Röst, and Cornelia. Such a crowd!
Mrs. Röst. These services must be a great help in your lordship's labours.