A chair and a table were placed suitably for the author, and he seated himself, rather white about the gills, but with a belligerent jut to his chin. He cleared his throat, and Nathaniel broke the expectant silence by asking Stephen for a match.
Stephen produced a box from his pocket, and handed it to his uncle, who began to light his pipe, saying between puffs: "Go on, go on! What are you waiting for?"
"Wormwood," said Roydon throatily. "A play in three acts."
"Very powerful title," nodded Mottisfont knowledgeably. Roydon threw him a grateful look, and continued:
"Act I. The scene is a back-bedroom in a third-rate lodging-house. The bedstead is of brass, with sagging springs, and two of the knobs missing from the foot-rail. The carpet is threadbare, and the wallpaper, which is flowered in a design of roses in trellis-work tied up with blue ribbons, is stained in several places."
"Stained with what?" asked Stephen.
Roydon, who had never considered this point, glared at him, and said: "Does it matter?"
"Not to me, but if it's blood you ought to say so, and then my betrothed can make an excuse to go away. She's squeamish."
"Well, it isn't! I don't write that kind of play. The wallpaper is just stained."
"I expect it was from damp," suggested Maud. "It sounds as though it would be a damp sort of a place." Stephen turned his mocking gaze upon her, and said: