Two years in China--
SIR GEOFFREY. We'll hope so. Of course, it didn't matter about my telling
you, because you knew already.
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Nodding_] Yes, I knew. Although--
SIR GEOFFREY. Oh, you've done what you could! I've felt, in a hundred
subtle ways, how you almost implored me--not to. Well, there it is. I'll
write that note at once.
[_He sits at the table and begins to write._
LADY TORMINSTER. I'm sorry you are so lonely.
SIR GEOFFREY. That's my fault, too--the fault of the ridiculous class to
which we belong. I don't do anything.
LADY TORMINSTER. Why not?
SIR GEOFFREY. What would you have me do? Go into the House? Thank you,
I've been there. You spend your time on the Terrace or in the smoke-room
till a muffin-bell rings; then you gravely walk into the lobby, where an
energetic gentleman counts you as Polyphemus counted his sheep.
Philanthropy! Well, I've tried that, but it's not in my line. I'm quite a
respectable landlord, but a fellow can't live all by himself in a great
Elizabethan barrack. Town--the Season? Christian mothers invite you to
inspect their daughters' shoulders, with a view to purchase. I'm tired of
golf and polo; I'm tired of bridge. So I'll try the good sea and the open
plains; sleep in a tent and watch the stars twinkle--the stars that make
you afraid.
LADY TORMINSTER. Yes, I'm afraid of the stars.
SIR GEOFFREY. Why?
LADY TORMINSTER. You remember the Persian poet? "I too have said to the
stars and the wind, I will.
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