Plays: Lady Frederick, The Explorer, A Man of Honor Part 111

Ha! ha!

[BASIL _pauses a moment, while_ JOHN _looks at him with amus.e.m.e.nt. He fills his pipe._

JOHN.

[_Lighting his pipe._] Nice gal, Hilda--ain't she?

BASIL.

[_Enthusiastically._] Oh, I think she's perfectly charming.... But what makes you say that?

JOHN.

[_Innocently._] Oh, I don't know. Pa.s.sed through my head.

BASIL.

I say, I've got something to tell you, John.

JOHN.

Well, don't be so beastly solemn about it.

BASIL.

[_Smiling._] It's a solemn thing.

JOHN.

No, it ain't. I've done it myself. It's like a high dive. When you look down at the water it fairly takes your breath away, but after you've done it--it's not so bad as you think. You're going to be married, my boy.

BASIL.

[_With a smile._] How the deuce d'you know?

JOHN.

[_Gaily._] Saw it with mine own eyes. I congratulate you, and I give you my blessing. I'll get a new frock-coat to give the lady away in.

BASIL.

You?... [_Suddenly understanding._] You're on the wrong tack, old man.

It's not your sister-in-law I'm going to marry.

JOHN.

Then why the d.i.c.kens did you say it was?

BASIL.

I never mentioned her name.

JOHN.

H'm! I've made rather more than an average a.s.s of myself, haven't I?

BASIL.

What on earth made you think ...?

JOHN.

[_Interrupting._] Oh, it was only some stupid idea of my wife's. Women are such fools, you know. And they think they're so confoundedly sharp.

BASIL.

[_Disconcerted_--_looking at him._] Has Mrs. Murray ...?

JOHN.

No, of course not! Well, who the deuce are you going to marry?

BASIL.

[_Flus.h.i.+ng._] I'm going to marry Miss Jenny Bush.

JOHN.

Never heard of her. Is it any one I know?

BASIL.

Yes, you knew her.

JOHN.

[_Searching his memory._] Bush ... Bush.... [_With a smile._] The only Jenny Bush _I've_ ever heard of was a rather pretty little barmaid in Fleet Street. Presumably you're not going to marry her.

[JOHN _has said this quite lightly, not guessing for a moment that it can have anything to do with the person_ BASIL _proposes to marry. Then, since_ BASIL _makes no answer_, JOHN _looks at him sharply: there is a silence while the two men stare at one another._

JOHN.

Basil, it's not the woman we used to know before you went out to the Cape?

BASIL.

[_Pale and nervous, but determined._] I've just told you that you used to know Jenny.