Eve. The best woman in the world!
Fred. But she does not understand me. Well, time will work a change, and I must be content to wait.
Enter Servant.
Servant. Mr. Edward Athelney, miss, is in the drawing room.
Eve. Dear me, how tiresome.
Fred. (calmly). Miss Van Brugh is not at home.
Eve. (astonished). Oh, Frederick, I am![Exit Servant.
Fred. Well, yes, of course in one sense you certainly are. But being engaged upon a good work, with which an interruption would seriously interfere, you may be said—metaphorically, of course, and for the purposes of this particular case—to be, to a certain extent, out.
Eve. (puzzled). I am quite sure I am at home, dear, in every possible sense of the word. You don’t dislike Edward, do you?