LADY SIMS. Going already? You have been very quick.
SIR HARRY. The person doesn't suit, Emmy.
KATE. So am I, madam, but it can't be helped. Good-by, your ladyship--good-by, Sir Harry.
[_There is a suspicion of an impertinent courtesy, and she is escorted off the premises by_ TOMBES. _The air of the room is purified by her going._ SIR HARRY _notices it at once_.
LADY SIMS. [_Whose tendency is to say the wrong thing._] She seemed such a capable woman.
SIR HARRY. [_On his hearth._] I don't like her style at all.
LADY SIMS. [_Meekly._] Of course you know best.
SIR HARRY. [_Rather anxious for corroboration._] Lord, how she winced when I said I was to give you those ropes of pearls.
LADY SIMS. Did she? I didn't notice. I suppose so.
SIR HARRY. [_Frowning._] Suppose? Surely I know enough about women to know that.
SIR HARRY. [_Odd that so confident a man should ask this._] Emmy, I know you well, don't I? I can read you like a book, eh?
SIR HARRY. [_Jovially, but with an inquiring eye._] What a different existence yours is from that poor lonely wretch's.
LADY SIMS. Yes, but she has a very contented face.
SIR HARRY. [_With a stamp of his foot._] All put on. What?
LADY SIMS. [_Timidly._] I didn't say anything.
SIR HARRY. [_Snapping._] One would think you envied her.
LADY SIMS. Envied? Oh, no--but I thought she looked so alive. It was while she was working the machine.
SIR HARRY. Alive! That's no life. It is you that are alive. [_Curtly._] I'm busy, Emmy. [_He sits at his writing-table._
LADY SIMS. [_Dutifully._] I'm sorry; I'll go, Harry. [_Inconsequentially._] Are they very expensive?
[_When she has gone the possible meaning of her question startles him. The curtain hides him from us, but we may be sure that he will soon be bland again. We have a comfortable feeling, you and I, that there is nothing of_ HARRY SIMS _in us_.
_Tradition_ is reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher, Henry Holt & Company, New York City. All rights reserved. For permission to perform, address the author, in care of the publisher.
The author and publisher of this play have permitted this reprinting of copyrighted material on the understanding that the play will be used only in classroom work. No other use of the play is authorized, and permission for any other use must be secured from the holder of the acting rights.