MRS DUBEDAT. I want nothing but you, dear. [She gives him a caress, to which he responds so passionately that she disengages herself]. There! be good now: remember that the doctors are coming this morning. Isnt it extraordinarily kind of them, Louis, to insist on coming? all of them, to consult about you?
LOUIS [coolly] Oh, I daresay they think it will be a feather in their cap to cure a rising artist. They wouldnt come if it didnt amuse them, anyhow. [Someone knocks at the door]. I say: its not time yet, is it?
MRS DUDEBAT. No, not quite yet.
LOUIS [opening the door and finding Ridgeon there] Hello, Ridgeon. Delighted to see you. Come in.
MRS DUDEBAT [shaking hands] It’s so good of you to come, doctor.
LOUIS. Excuse this place, wont you? Its only a studio, you know: theres no real convenience for living here. But we pig along somehow, thanks to Jennifer.
MRS DUBEDAT. Now I’ll run away. Perhaps later on, when youre finished with Louis, I may come in and hear the verdict. [Ridgeon bows rather constrainedly]. Would you rather I didnt?
RIDGEON. Not at all. Not at all.
Mrs Dubedat looks at him, a little puzzled by his formal manner; then goes into the inner room.
LOUIS [flippantly] I say: dont look so grave. Theres nothing awful going to happen, is there?