_Muriel_ (_simply_). So I told him you wanted to have a secret in your life--a romance. He seemed very much interested.
_Viola._ Oh, MURIEL! How could you? _How_ silly of you! I am very angry indeed.
_Muriel_ (_calmly_). Why, VIOLA? ALBERT is getting accustomed to his being grown-up, and CLAUDE to his being so young. They all like him immensely. But I think they will be glad when he goes away.
_Claude_ (_talking to_ ALAN). Yes, I felt I had something to say--and I said it--in one volume.
_Alan._ There is no mistake so fatal as to write because one has something to say.
_Claude._ How about _Robinson Crusoe_, _Don Quixote_----
_Alan._ I am afraid I never read them. I couldn't read till I was ten--and then I read dear HERBERT SPENCER.
[_He tries to join_ VIOLA _and passes_ Mrs. AVERIDGE, _who moves to leave room for him on the sofa, and smiles_.
_Alan_ (_standing by the sofa_). Weren't the flowers quite sweet on the table to-night, Mrs. AVERIDGE?
_Mrs. Averidge_ (_trying to be original_). I can't bear flowers.
_Alan._ What _do_ you like, Mrs. AVERIDGE?
_Mrs. Averidge_ (_looking out of the window_). Oh--trees, I think.
_Alan._ What! on the table! (_He escapes, and joins_ VIOLA.) Is that the moon outside, Mrs. TRAVERS?
_Viola_ (_gazing at it intensely_). I think it is.
_Muriel_ (_sitting next to_ Mrs. AVERIDGE). Isn't ALAN ROY a little dear?
_Mrs. Averidge_ (_spitefully_). So your sister seems to think. I had no idea she was so fond of children.
_Muriel._ He has such pretty ways! That new shade of blue is very fashionable, Mrs. AVERIDGE. But it's a little _trying_ to you, do you know? You don't mind my saying so, do you? [_Amenities continue._
_Mr. Averidge._ It's perfectly amazing! That boy knows everything. He talks politics----
_Claude._ He tells me he's not a Romanticist; he cares only for the Classics.
_Claude_ (_resigned_). He dismisses Symbolism with a word, smiles at Impressionism as old-fashioned, but speaks most kindly both of MILLAIS and WHISTLER. He calls them "poor dears." I _think_ that was the phrase. I won't be sure, but I think so.
_Claude_ (_to_ MURIEL). Aren't we going to have some music? How I should like you to play those chants to me again! Won't you, Miss VANE? I _love_ sacred music so.