JACK. Look here, don't excite Dad—I can simply say I was too beastly tired, and don't remember anything except that I came in and [in a dying voice] went to bed the same as usual.
BARTHWICK. Went to bed? Who knows where you went—I 've lost all confidence. For all I know you slept on the floor.
JACK. [Indignantly.] I did n't, I slept on the——
BARTHWICK. [Sitting on the sofa.] Who cares where you slept; what does it matter if he mentions the—the—a perfect disgrace?
MRS. BARTHWICK. What? [A silence.] I insist on knowing.
JACK. Oh! nothing.
MRS. BARTHWICK. Nothing? What do you mean by nothing, Jack?
There's your father in such a state about it!
JACK. It's only my purse.
MRS. BARTHWICK. Your purse! You know perfectly well you have n't got one.
JACK. Well, it was somebody else's—it was all a joke—I did n't want the beastly thing.