Mrs. Warland!
_Isabel_. So you really _have_ become a great man! They always remember
people's names.
_Oberville_. Were you afraid I was going to call you Isabel?
_Isabel_. Bravo! _Crescendo!_
_Oberville_. But you have changed, all the same.
_Isabel_. You must indeed have reached a dizzy eminence, since you can
indulge yourself by speaking the truth!
_Oberville_. It's your voice. I knew it at once, and yet it's different.
_Isabel_. I hope it can still convey the pleasure I feel in seeing an old
friend. (_She holds out her hand. He takes it_.) You know, I suppose, that
Mrs. Raynor is not here to receive you? She was called away this morning
very suddenly by her aunt's illness.
_Oberville_. Yes. She left a note for me. (_Absently_.) I'm sorry to hear
of Mrs. Griscom's illness.
_Isabel_. Oh, Mrs. Griscom's illnesses are less alarming than her
recoveries. But I am forgetting to offer you any tea. (_She hands him a
cup_.) I remember you liked it very strong.
_Oberville_. What else do you remember?
_Isabel_. A number of equally useless things. My mind is a store-room of
obsolete information.
_Oberville_. Why obsolete, since I am providing you with a use for it?
_Isabel_. At any rate, it's open to question whether it was worth storing
for that length of time. Especially as there must have been others more
fitted--by opportunity--to undertake the duty.
_Oberville_. The duty?
_Isabel_.
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