LADY UTTERWORD. [gratefully] Thank you, Hector. [They shake hands cordially].
- Mazzini Dunn is seen crossing the garden from starboard to port.
CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. [coming from the pantry and addressing Ellie] Your father has washed himself.
ELLIE.[quite self-possessed] He often does, Captain Shotover.
CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. A strange conversion! I saw him through the pantry window.
- Mazzini Dunn enters through the port window door, newly washed and brushed, and stops, smiling benevolently, between Mangan and Mrs Hushabye.
MRS HUSHABYE.[introducing] Mr Mazzini Dunn, Lady Ut—oh, I forgot: you've met. [Indicating Ellie] Miss Dunn.
MAZZINI. [walking across the room to take Ellie's hand, and beaming at his own naughty irony] I have met Miss Dunn also. She is my daughter. [He draws her arm through his caressingly].
MRS HUSHABYE. Of course: how stupid! Mr Utterword, my sister's— er—
RANDALL [shaking hands agreeably]. Her brother-in-law, Mr Dunn. How do you do?
MRS HUSHABYE. This is my husband.
HECTOR. We have met, dear. Don't introduce us any more. [He moves away to the big chair, and adds] Won't you sit down, Lady Utterword? [She does so very graciously].
MRS HUSHABYE. Sorry. I hate it: it's like making people show their tickets.
MAZZINI [sententiously]. How little it tells us, after all! The great question is, not who we are, but what we are.
CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. Ha! What are you?
MAZZINI [taken aback]. What am I?
