good-by_--_general good-bys._

MRS. TILLMAN. [_To JINNY._] You want me to tell your father?

JINNY. Yes, it's better; it does make him jealous if he thinks I tell
you things and keep secrets from him.

TILLMAN. Good-by, Peter.

MRS. TILLMAN. Good-by, Peter.

PETER. By-by.

[_MR. and MRS. TILLMAN quickly go out Right, JINNY going to the door
with them._

JINNY. [_Coming back from doorway._] Now do tell me what it means. I
thought you were abroad indefinitely, or for the summer at least.

MRS. CULLINGHAM. So did I! I'm just as surprised to be here as you _seem
to be_! [_They sit down near each other._] Didn't you really know we
were coming?

JINNY. No! How should I?

MRS. CULLINGHAM. I don't know--I thought--

[_She hesitates, embarrassed._

[_After a pause._

JINNY. What did you think?

MRS. CULLINGHAM. Nothing, except that you must know we were coming home.

JINNY. Why--that _I_ must?

MRS. CULLINGHAM. You mustn't put me into a corner like that!

JINNY. How do you mean "corner"? How did you happen to come home like
this?

MRS. CULLINGHAM. Ruth suddenly got a cable--she didn't tell me from
whom--but she said she must go home at once.

JINNY. But her mother's never been better!

MRS. CULLINGHAM. [_Carelessly._] The cable wasn't from her mother.

JINNY. Oh, then, you know who it was from? [_No answer._] Oh, I see now
why you thought I ought to know about it; the cable was from _Jack_,
_wasn't it_?

MRS. CULLINGHAM. [_Relieved._] Yes.

JINNY. Oh, it was!

MRS. CULLINGHAM. I looked at it when she was out of the room; of course,
it was sort of by accident-- [_Very much embarrassed._] --that is,
I just happened to see--O dear, there! You know what I mean; it was
dreadful of me, but I couldn't help it.

JINNY. [_In a strained voice._] Jack and Ruth are very good friends and
he looks after some of her affairs. You know having no man in the family
complicates things.

PETER. Oh! I say!

[_Standing up, suddenly._

MRS. CULLINGHAM. What _is it_, dear?

PETER. I believe I haven't got my before-dinner tabs.

MRS. CULLINGHAM. Oh, look carefully!

PETER. [_He looks in his right-hand pocket, takes out a bottle._] Soda
mints! [_From his left-hand pocket a box._] Alkali powders! [_From third
pocket a bottle._] Charcoal tablets! [_From fourth pocket another
bottle._] Dr. Man's Positive Cure! [_From fifth pocket a box._]
Bicarbonate soda!

MRS. CULLINGHAM. There's your other side pocke