Sel. (most emphatically). Dull! Miserable! Regularly downright, positively wretched.
Mrs. S. I didn’t expect to find you up so soon as this.
Sel. No! I shouldn’t have been only—only——(Searching for an excuse.)
Dibbs (chiming in, R.). Only the master went to bed so early last night!
Sel. (aside to Dibbs). Shut up!
Dibbs (aside to Selwyn). Leave it to me, governor. I’ll pull you through!
Mrs. S. For all that, you look anything but well, you are quite pale and haggard—it’s a most extraordinary thing that whenever I go to aunt’s for a day or two I always find you looking bad when I return.
Sel. (forcing smile). Yes! it’s the—the——
Dibbs (striking in). It’s the toothache!
Grace (sympathetically). Oh! papa dear, have you had the toothache?