MR. MORLAND (ruminating by the fire). He is a good fellow, George, but how touchy he is about his age. And he has a way of tottering off to sleep while one is talking to him.
MRS. MORLAND. He is not the only one of us who does that.
(She is standing by the window.)
MR. MORLAND. What are you thinking about, Fanny?
MRS. MORLAND. I was thinking about the apple-tree, and that you have given the order for its destruction.
MR. MORLAND. It must come down. It is becoming a danger, might fall on some one down there any day.
MRS. MORLAND. I quite see that it has to go. (She can speak of MARY ROSE without a tremor now.) But her tree! How often she made it a ladder from this room to the ground.
(MR. MORLAND does not ask who, but he very nearly does so.)
MR. MORLAND. Oh yes, of course. Did she use to climb the apple-tree? Yes, I think she did.
(He goes to his wife, as it were for protection.)