LADY PEMBURY (gently). When did your mother die?
STRANGER. Look here, I wish you wouldn't keep on about mothers.
LADY PEMBURY. When did she die, proud mother?
STRANGER (sulkily). Well, why shouldn't she be proud? (After a pause) Two years ago, if you want to know.
LADY PEMBURY. It was then that you found out who your father was?
STRANGER. That's right. I found these old letters. She'd kept them locked up all those years. Bit of luck for me.
LADY PEMBURY (almost to herself). And that was two years ago. And for two years you had your hopes, your ambitions, for two years you were proud and independent. . . . Why did you not come to us then?
STRANGER (with a touch of vanity). Well, I was getting on all right, you know—and——
LADY PEMBURY. And then suddenly, after two years, you lost hope.
STRANGER. I lost my job.