[Olive sits on the left and Sir Fletcher on the right of the table.
Olive.
[Addressing Mrs. Cloys.] Mrs. Cloys, it is only fair to you that I should say at once that I don’t expect Mrs. Fraser’s relatives to treat me at all tenderly over the painful proceedings which terminated to-day. [Mrs. Cloys bows stiffly; Sir Fletcher eyes her anxiously.] So I beg that you will speak before me entirely without reserve. [Looking at John.] It is my husband’s wish that you should do so.
John.
Certainly.
[Mrs. Cloys and Sir Fletcher Portwood sit staring before them in a glassy way; Olive again glances at John, puzzled.
Olive.
[A little impatiently.] Naturally, Mrs. Cloys, I can’t think that you have taken this inconvenient journey to-night without some very special, some very definite object.
Sir Fletcher Portwood.
Er—so far as I am concerned, the object of my visit is in a great part attained when I have given Mr. Allingham my assurance that only absolute proof of his unworthiness will ever induce me to withdraw my friendship from him. I am nothing if not a just man——