the middle of a bar._]

VERA
Thank you.
[_Taking a cup._]
Do _you_ like lemon, Mr. Davenport?

QUINCY [_Flirtatiously_]
That depends. The last I had was in Russia itself--from the fair hands
of your mother, the Baroness.

VERA [_Pained_]
Please don't say my mother, my mother is dead.

QUINCY [_Fatuously misunderstanding_]
Oh, you have no call to be ashamed of your step-mother--she's a stunning
creature; all the points of a tip-top Russian aristocrat, or Quincy
Davenport's no judge of breed! Doesn't speak English like your
father--but then the Baron is a wonder.

VERA [_Takes up teapot_]
Father once hoped to be British Ambassador--that's why _I_ had an
English governess. But you never told me you met him in _Russia_.

QUINCY
Surely! When I gave you all those love messages----

VERA [_Pouring tea quickly_]
You said you met him at Wiesbaden.

QUINCY
Yes, but we grew such pals I motored him and the Baroness back to St.
Petersburg. Jolly country, Russia--they know how to live.

VERA [_Coldly_]
I saw more of those who know how to die.... Milk and sugar?

QUINCY [_Sentimentally_]
Oh, Miss Revendal! Have you forgotten?

VERA [_Politely snubbing_]
How should I remember?

QUINCY
You don't remember our first meeting? At the Settlement Bazaar? When I
paid you a hundred dollars for every piece of sugar you put in?

VERA
Did you? Then I hope you drank syrup.

QUINCY
Ugh! I hate sugar--I sacrificed myself.

VERA
To the Settlement? How heroic of you!

QUINCY
No, not to the Settlement. To you!

VERA
Then I'll only put milk in.

QUINCY
I hate milk. But from you----

VERA
Then we _must_ fall back on the lemon.

QUINCY
I loathe lemon. But from----

VERA
Then you shall have your tea neat.

QUINCY
I detest tea, and here it would be particularly cheap and nasty. But----

VERA
Then you shall have a cake!
[_She offers plate._]

QUINCY [_Taking one_]
Would they be eatable?
[_Tasting it._]
Humph! Not bad.
[_Sentimentally_]
A little cake was all you would eat the only time you came to one of my
private concerts. Don't you remember? We went down to supper together.

VERA [_Taking his tea for herself and putting in lemon_]
I shall always remember the delicious music Herr Pappelmeister gave us.

QUINCY
How unkind of you!

VERA
Unkind?
[_She sips the tea and puts down the cup._]
To be grateful for the music?

QUINCY
You know what I mean--to forget _me_!
[_