Ashley: "I wasn't saying anything!"
Miss Ramsey: "Oh, I forgot. And I don't know what we were talking about myself." She falls limply back into her chair and closes her eyes.
Ashley: "Sha'n't I ring for the maid? I'm afraid—"
Miss Ramsey, imperiously: "Not at all. Not on any account." Far less imperiously: "You may pour me a cup of tea if you like. That will make me well. The full strength, please." She motions away the hot-water jug with which he has proposed qualifying the cup of tea which he offers her.
Ashley: "One lump or two?"
Miss Ramsey: "Only one, thank you." She takes the cup.
Ashley, offering the milk: "Cream?"
Miss Ramsey: "A drop." He stands anxiously beside her while she takes a long draught and then gives back the cup. "That was perfect."
Ashley: "Another?"
Miss Ramsey: "No, that is just right. Now go on. Or, I forgot. You were not going on. Oh dear! How much better I feel. There must have been something poisonous in those cigarettes."