[LUCAS enters the room. He is a handsome, intellectual-looking young
man of about eight-and-twenty.]

LUCAS. [To AGNES, excitedly.] Have you heard what they say of me?

AGNES. [Smiling.] Yes.

LUCAS. How good of you, Sir George, to break up your little holiday for
the sake of an anxious, fidgety fellow. [To Agnes.] Isn't it?

AGNES. Sir George has rendered us a great service.

LUCAS. [Going to KIRKE, brightly.] Yes, and proved how ungrateful I've
been to you, doctor.

KIRKE. Don't apologise. People who don't know when they're well are the
mainstay of my profession. [Offering snuff-box.] Here--[LUCAS takes a
pinch of snuff, laughingly.]

AGNES. [In a low voice to SIR GEORGE.] He has been terribly hipped at
times. [Taking up the vase of flowers from the table.] Your visit will
have made him another man. [She goes to a table, puts down the vase
upon the tray, and commences to cut and arrange the fresh flowers she
finds there.]

LUCAS. [Seeing that AGNES is out of hearing.] Excuse me, Kirke--just
for one moment. [To SIR GEORGE.] Sir George--[KIRKE joins AGNES.] You
still go frequently to Great Cumberland Place?