Part 34

GERALD. Well, dear mother. You never came out after all. So we have come in to fetch you. Mother, you have not been crying? [Kneels down beside her.]

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. My boy! My boy! My boy! [Running her fingers through his hair.]

HESTER. [Coming over.] But you have two children now. You’ll let me be your daughter?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. [Looking up.] Would you choose me for a mother?

HESTER. You of all women I have ever known.

GERALD. Hallo, mother, whose glove is this? You have had a visitor. Who was it?

MRS. ARBUTHNOT. [Turning round.] Oh! no one. No one in particular. A man of no importance.

CURTAIN