e; No, Gerald; I mean it.
None of you understand him. I do.

GERALD. But supposing he's already started and you miss him?

PAMELA. I'll telephone to him at his rooms. Oh, _don't_ stand there
talking--

GERALD (opening the door for her). Oh, well! But I think you're--[She
has gone.]

(He walks up and down the room absently, picking up papers and putting
them down. MASON comes in and arranges the sofa R.)

MASON. Miss Pamela gone, Master Gerald?

GERALD. She's coming back.

[Enter LADY FARRINGDON.]

LADY FARRINGDON. Oh, Gerald, I hoped you'd be here.

GERALD (kissing her). I've only just got away. I couldn't get round
to the court. (Seeing her to the sofa) You're all right, dear? [Exit
MASON.]

LADY FARRINGDON. Now you're here, Gerald. I telegraphed for Mason. She's
such a comfort. How nicely she's done the flowers! (She sits down on the
sofa.)

GERALD. I'm so glad you sent for her.

LADY FARRINGDON. I don't think your father--

[Enter SIR JAMES.]

SIR JAMES. Ah, Gerald, I had to take your mother out. She
was--ah--overcome. They have adjourned, I suppose?

GERALD. Yes. The judge is summing up directly after lunch. Bob will be
round here when he's had something to eat.

SIR JAMES (looking at his watch). Well, I suppose we ought to try and
eat something.

LADY FARRINGDON. I couldn't touch anything.

GERALD (going over to her). Poor mother!

LADY FARRINGDON. Oh, Gerald, couldn't _you_ do anything? I'm sure if
you'd gone into the witness-box, or told the judge--Oh, why didn't you
go to the Bar, and then you could have defended him. You would have been
so much better than that stupid man.

SIR JAMES. I must say I didn't at all like his tone. He's practically
making out my son to be an idiot.

GERALD. Well, it's really the only line he could take.

SIR JAMES. What do you mean? Bob is far from being an idiot.

LADY FARRINGDON. We always knew he wasn't as clever as Gerald, dear.

GERALD. You see, Bob either understood what was going on or he didn't.
If he did, then he's in it as much as Marcus. If he didn't--well, of
course we know that he didn't. But no doubt the jury will think that he
ought to have known.

SIR JAMES. The old story, a knave or a fool, eh?

GERALD. The folly was in sending him there.

SIR JAMES (angrily). That was Parkinson's fault. It was he who
recommended Marcus to me. I shall never speak to that man again. (To his
wife) Mary, if the Parkinsons call, you are out; remember