MRS HUSHABYE. I see. Your marriage was a safety match.
MAZZINI. What a very witty application of the expression I used! I should never have thought of it.
Ellie comes in from the garden, looking anything but happy.
MRS HUSHABYE [rising]. Oh! here is Ellie at last. [She goes behind the sofa].
ELLIE [on the threshold of the starboard door]. Guinness said you wanted me: you and papa.
MRS HUSHABYE. You have kept us waiting so long that it almost came to—well, never mind. Your father is a very wonderful man [she ruffles his hair affectionately]: the only one I ever met who could resist me when I made myself really agreeable. [She comes to the big chair, on Mangan's left]. Come here. I have something to show you. [Ellie strolls listlessly to the other side of the chair]. Look.
ELLIE [contemplating Mangan without interest]. I know. He is only asleep. We had a talk after dinner; and he fell asleep in the middle of it.
MRS HUSHABYE. You did it, Ellie. You put him asleep.
MAZZINI [rising quickly and coming to the back of the chair]. Oh, I hope not. Did you, Ellie?
ELLIE [wearily]. He asked me to.
MAZZINI. But it's dangerous. You know what happened to me.
ELLIE [utterly indifferent]. Oh, I daresay I can wake him. If not, somebody else can.
MRS HUSHABYE. It doesn't matter, anyhow, because I have at last persuaded your father that you don't want to marry him.
ELLIE [suddenly coming out of her listlessness, much vexed]. But why did you do that, Hesione? I do want to marry him. I fully intend to marry him.
