Hossefrosse. [Snapping his fingers at her] Ha! [He swings rather jauntily across and up towards the mantelpiece.]
Mrs. Pampinelli. More nonchalance in the cross, Mr. Hossefrosse.
Hossefrosse. [Turning to her suddenly] Me?
Mrs. Pampinelli. More savoir faire, as we say in French. [She illustrates the idea with a kind of floating gesture of the hand.]
Hossefrosse. I see. [He continues over to the left and down towards Ritter and Mrs. Fell, endeavoring to execute Mrs. Pampinelli’s idea by raising his shoulders, stiffening his arms, throwing his head back and swinging his legs, as he walks. Nelly Fell is whispering something to Ritter behind her fan, so that, when Hossefrosse reaches them, he is obliged to touch Ritter on the shoulder and suggest with a nod and a smile that the exigencies of the play require that he shall sit where Ritter is sitting. So Ritter jumps up and tiptoes across in front of the table and up to the piano, where he stands leaning—and watching—particularly Mrs. Pampinelli.]
Florence. [Moving to the table below the piano] But, I shall be magnanimous; having loved and lost myself. So that, really, it may not be nearly so difficult as you imagine.
Hossefrosse. [Sitting on the chair vacated by Ritter] Well, I can’t say that I relish the prospect, with any such misunderstanding as this between us.
Florence. [Crossing to the table at the left] It’s the portion of half the world, Clyde. [Twiller gets up from the stairs and comes down into the right hallway, where he stands watching.]
Hossefrosse. [Trying to look sullen, by resting one elbow on his knee and hunching his shoulders] It certainly isn’t a very inviting one. [Nelly Fell starts to whisper something in his ear.]
Florence. But it has its compensations. [Mrs. Pampinelli, having finished her cake and claret, sets the empty glass down on the table below the piano and uses her handkerchief.] You’ll have your memories, and I shall have the wisdom of disillusionment;—[The telephone-bell rings, up in the left hallway. Mrs. Ritter jumps up, places her sewing-basket on the chair, and, touching her hair, comes forward quickly at the right to the table below the piano.] as well as the consciousness of lots of company.