And if I've poisoned him I'm quite
willing to die for it--oh, quite! I would gladly take the blame of
it before the whole world.'
MRS. CRASHAW: 'Well, for pity's sake, let the man go and make
himself decent. There's your bell now.'
MRS. ROBERTS: 'Yes, do go, Edward. But--kiss me--'
MRS. CRASHAW: 'He DID kiss you, Agnes. Don't be a simpleton!'
MRS. ROBERTS: 'Did he? Well, kiss me again, then, Edward. And now
do go, dear. M-m-m-m.' The inarticulate endearments represented by
these signs terminate in a wild embrace, protracted halfway across
the room, in the height of which Mr. Willis Campbell enters.
SCENE III: MR. CAMPBELL, MRS. CRASHAW, MR. AND MRS. ROBERTS
WILLIS, pausing in contemplation: 'Hello! What's the matter?
What's she trying to get out of you, Roberts? Don't you do it,
anyway, old fellow.'
MRS. ROBERTS, in an ecstasy of satisfaction: 'Willis! Oh, you've
come in time to see him just as he is. Look at him, Willis!' In
the excess of her emotion she twitches her husband about, and with
his arm fast in her clutch, presents him in the disadvantageous
effect of having just been taken into custody. Under these
circumstances Roberts's attempt at an expression of diffident
heroism fails; he looks sneaking, he looks guilty, and his eyes fall
under the astonished regard of his brother-in-law.
WILLIS: 'What's the matter with him? What's he been doing?'
MRS.
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