He tries to take her hand._]

VERA [_Rising_]
Aren't you forgetting yourself?

QUINCY
You mean because I'm married to that patched-and-painted creature? She's
hankering for the stage again, the old witch.

VERA
Hush! Marriages with comic opera stars are not usually domestic idylls.

QUINCY
I fell a victim to my love of music.

VERA [_Murmurs, smiling_]
Music!

QUINCY
And I hadn't yet met the right breed--the true blue blood of Europe.
I'll get a divorce.
[_Approaching her_]
Vera!

VERA [_Retreating_]
You will make me sorry I came to you.

QUINCY
No, don't say that--promised the Baron I'd always do all I could for----

VERA
You promised? You dared discuss my affairs?

QUINCY
It was your father began it. When he found I knew you, he almost wept
with emotion. He asked a hundred questions about your life in America.

VERA
His life and mine are for ever separate. He is a Reactionary, I a
Radical.

QUINCY
But he loves you dreadfully--he can't understand why you should go
slaving away summer and winter in a Settlement--you a member of the
Russian nobility!

VERA [_With faint smile_]
I might say, _noblesse oblige_. But the truth is, I earn my living that
way. It would do _you_ good to slave there too!

QUINCY [_Eagerly_]
Would they chain us together? I'd come to-morrow.
[_He moves nearer her. There is a double knock at the door._]

VERA [_Relieved_]
Here's Pappelmeister!

QUINCY
Bother Poppy--why is he so darned punctual?
[_Enter KATHLEEN from the kitchen._]

VERA [_Smiling_]
Ah, you're still here.

KATHLEEN
And why would I not be here?
[_She goes to open the door._]

PAPPELMEISTER
Mr. Quixano?

KATHLEEN
Yes, come in.
[_Enter HERR PAPPELMEISTER, a burly German figure with a leonine
head, spectacles, and a mane of white hair--a figure that makes
his employer look even coarser. He carries an umbrella, which he
never lets go. He is at first grave and silent, which makes any
burst of emotion the more striking. He and QUINCY DAVENPORT
suggest a picture of "Dignity and Impudence." His English, as
roughly indicated in the text, is extremely Teutonic._]

QUINCY
You're late, Poppy!
[_PAPPELMEISTER silently bows to VERA._]

VERA [_Smilingly goes and offers her hand._]
Proud to meet you, Herr Pappelmeister!

QUINCY
Excuse me----
[_Introducing_]
Miss Revendal!--I forgot you and Poppy hadn't been introduced--curiously
enou