[Perhaps JAMES utters a cry, but the silence
of ALICK and DAVID is more terrible.]
SYBIL [whose voice is smaller than we had thought]. What are you to
do?
[It is to MAGGIE she is speaking.]
DAVID. She'll leave it for us to do.
JOHN. That's what I want.
[The lords of creation look at the ladies.]
MAGGIE [interpreting]. You and I are expected to retire, Lady Sybil,
while the men decide our fate. [SYBIL is ready to obey the law, but
MAGGIE remains seated.] Man's the oak, woman's the ivy. Which of us
is it that's to cling to you, John?
[With three stalwarts glaring at him, JOHN rather grandly takes
SYBIL'S hand. They are two against the world.]
SYBIL [a heroine]. I hesitated, but I am afraid no longer; whatever
he asks of me I will do.
[Evidently the first thing he asks of her is to await him in the
dining-room.]
It will mean surrendering everything for him. I am glad it means all
that. [She passes into the dining-room looking as pretty as a kiss.]
MAGGIE. So that settles it.
ALICK. I'm thinking that doesn't settle it.
DAVID. No, by God! [But his love for MAGGIE steadies him. There is
even a note of entreaty in his voice.] Have you nothing to say to
her, man?
JOHN. I have things to say to her, but not before you.
DAVID [sternly]. Go away, Maggie. Leave him to us.
JAMES [who thinks it is about time that he said something].
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