mrs. farrant. Otherwise I seem to have fulfilled my mission in life. The boys are old enough to go to school. George and I have become happily unconscious of each other.
frances trebell. [With sudden energy of mind.] Till I was forty I never realised the fact that most women must express themselves through men.
mrs. farrant. [Looking at frances a little curiously.] Didn't your instinct lead you to marry . . or did you fight against it?
frances trebell. I don't know. Perhaps I had no vitality to spare.
lady davenport. That boy is a long time proposing to Lucy.
This effectually startles the other two from their conversational reverie.
mrs. farrant. Walter? I'm not sure that he means to. She means to marry him if he does.
frances trebell. Has she told you so?
mrs. farrant. No. I judge by her business-like interest in his welfare.
frances trebell. He's beginning to feel the responsibility of manhood . . doesn't know whether to be frightened or proud of it.