ALICE. ‘Oh, Cosmo—how splendid you are.’
COSMO, soothingly, ‘That’s all right, mother.’
ALICE. ‘Say it again.’
COSMO. ‘That’s all right.’
ALICE. ‘No, the other word.’
COSMO. ‘Mother.’
ALICE. ‘Again.’
COSMO. ‘Mother—mother—’ When she has come to: ‘Are you better now?’
ALICE. ‘He is my son, and he is in uniform.’
COSMO, aware that allowances must be made, ‘Yes, I know.’