NEWTE. Well, they had their notice all right.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL [they have begun to cry]. It has been so wrong and foolish of us. We have never learnt to do anything for ourselves.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. We don’t even know where our things are.
DR. FREEMANTLE. They can’t all have gone—the whole twenty-three of them, at a couple of hours’ notice. [To Newte] Haven’t seen any of them, have you?
NEWTE. No sign of any of them downstairs.
DR. FREEMANTLE. Oh, they must be still here. Not up, I suppose. It isn’t seven o’clock yet.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. But they have all been discharged. We can’t ask them to do anything.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL [to her sister]. And the Grimstones are coming to lunch with the new curate. Vernon asked them on Sunday.
THE YOUNGER MISS WETHERELL. Perhaps there’s something cold.
THE ELDER MISS WETHERELL. Vernon so dislikes a cold lunch.