RUTH. And with the market in such a state!
PLIM. It's terrible! Terrible!... ah, Lord Alderdyce!
LORD A. Good evening, Mr. Plimpton. How d'ye do, Mr. Rutherford?
RUTH. As well as could be expected, Lord Alderdyce. It's a trying time for men of affairs. [They pass on, and go of, left.]
GER. They must be under quite a strain just now.
LORD A. Don't mention it. Don't mention it! I've invested all my funds in this country, and I tremble to pick up the last edition of the paper!
MRS. IS. [Enters, right, costumed en grande dame, much excited.] Oh, Gerald, Lord Alderdyce, what do you think I've just heard?
LORD A. What?
MRS. IS. About Prince Hagen and Mrs. Bagley-Willis... how she came to take him up! Percy Pennington told me about it... he's her own first cousin, you know, Lord Alderdyce... and he vows he saw the letter in her desk!
LORD A. Oh, tell us!