ROBERT.
[After a pause.] Well, I am not a coward any more than he. I will see him.
BERTHA.
[Rises.] I will call him.
ROBERT.
[Catching her hands.] Bertha! What happened last night? What is the truth that I am to tell? [He gazes earnestly into her eyes.] Were you mine in that sacred night of love? Or have I dreamed it?
BERTHA.
[Smiles faintly.] Remember your dream of me. You dreamed that I was yours last night.
ROBERT.
And that is the truth—a dream? That is what I am to tell?
BERTHA.
Yes.
ROBERT.
[Kisses both her hands.] Bertha! [In a softer voice.] In all my life only that dream is real. I forget the rest. [He kisses her hands again.] And now I can tell him the truth. Call him.
[Bertha goes to the door of Richard’s study and knocks. There is no answer. She knocks again.]
BERTHA.
Dick! [There is no answer.] Mr Hand is here. He wants to speak to you, to say goodbye. He is going away. [There is no answer. She beats her hand loudly on the panel of the door and calls in an alarmed voice.] Dick! Answer me!
[Richard Rowan comes in from the study. He comes at once to Robert but does not hold out his hand.]