[_Plaintively._] Thanks. And I have dragged you into it all.
Good-night. [_She goes to the table and prepares to remove the tray. Having turned the key of the door,_ QUEX _pauses. She says fretfully._] Oh, why don't you go, Harry?
[_Facing her sharply, a new light in his eyes._] No! _you_ go.
[_Returning to her excitedly._] I tell you I can't wait through a night of suspense! Quick! [_Facing the room._] Leave me to deal with her here, at once.
Give her a fair chance, and then spoil her tale against you, in any event.
Trust to me. [_Impatiently._] Go, Duchess.
Run away to Mrs. Jack--ask her to let you share her room to-night. [_Pointing to the writing-table._] Ah--! scribble a message--
[_The_ DUCHESS _seats herself at the writing-table and writes agitatedly at his dictation._
[_Dictating._] "The Duchess of Strood has been seized with a dreadful fit of nerves and has gone to Mrs. Eden's room. Come to her there at eight." Lay that upon the bed. [_Indicating the bedroom._] Is there a door in there?
The key. [_Imperatively._] Give me the key. [_She runs into the bedroom and, having laid the written message upon the bed, disappears for a moment. He refills his tumbler and drinks, chuckling sardonically as he does so._] Ha, ha, ha! [_She returns with the key, which he pockets._] The bell that rings in your maid's room--? [_She points to the bell-rope hanging beside the passage-door._] Good. [_Motioning to her to go_.] Now--[_She is going towards the other door; he detains her._] Hist! [_Thoughtfully._] If anything unusual should occur, remember that we were simply discussing books and pictures in the Italian garden before dinner.
[_Intently._] Books and pictures--of course. [_In an outburst._] Oh, you are certain you can save my reputation?
[_Politely._] _Yours_ at least, my dear Duchess. Sleep well.
[_She is about to open the door when a thought strikes her and she again runs up to the bed._
[_She returns, carrying her night-dress case--a thing of white satin with a monogram and coronet embroidered upon it. She holds it up to him in explanation; he nods, and she lets herself out. He immediately locks the door at which she has departed and slips the key into his waistcoat pocket. This done, he pulls the bell-rope communicating with the maid's room and takes up a position against the wall so that the opening of the passage door conceals him from the view of the person entering. After a pause the door is opened and_ SOPHY _appears. The frills of her night-dress peep out from under the Mandarin's robe, and she is wearing a pair of scarlet cloth slippers; altogether she presents an odd, fantastic figure. She pauses in the doorway hesitatingly, then steadies herself and, with a defiant air, stalks into the bedroom. Directly she has moved away,_ QUEX _softly closes the door, locks it, and pockets the key. Meanwhile_ SOPHY, _looking about the bedroom for the_ DUCHESS, _discovers the paper upon the bed. She picks it up, reads it and replaces it, and, coming back into the boudoir, encounters_ QUEX.