[Horton withdraws.

Sir Fletcher Portwood.

[Rising.] I’d quite forgotten your aunt. Do, please, look unconcerned, Claude. Let her see that men can display courage and decision at such moments.

[Humming an air, he unbuttons his coat and throws it back, sticking his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets. Some newspapers fall from the breast of his coat; he is hastily picking them up when Mrs. Cloys enters.

Sir Fletcher Portwood.

[Meekly.] You are going, Harriet?

Mrs. Cloys.

Fletcher, you’ve been out to buy evening papers!

Sir Fletcher Portwood.

[Putting them into his tail pockets.] The malicious utterances of the judge are not in these editions.