_After a pause, he returns to his reading._

CYNTHIA. [_Curious about the matter._] How did you decide it?

PHILIP. I was obliged to decide in Mrs. Phillimore's favour.
Haggerty's plea was preposterous.

CYNTHIA. Did you--did you meet the--the--former--?

PHILIP. No.

CYNTHIA. I often see her at afternoon teas.

PHILIP. How did you recognize--

CYNTHIA. Why-- [_Opening the paper._] because Mrs. Vida Phillimore's
picture appears in every other issue of most of the evening papers.
And I must confess I was curious. But, I'm sure you find it very
painful to meet her again.

PHILIP. [_Slowly, considering._] No,--would you find it so impossible
to meet Mr.--

CYNTHIA. [_Much excited and aroused._] Philip! Don't speak of him.
He's nothing. He's a thing of the past. I never think of him. I forget
him!

PHILIP. [_Somewhat sarcastic._] That's extraordinarily original of you
to forget him.

CYNTHIA. [_Gently, and wishing to drop the subject._] We each of us
have something to forget, Philip--and John Karslake is to me--Well,
he's dead!

PHILIP. As a matter of fact, my dear, he _is_ dead, or the next thing
to it--for he's bankrupt.

CYNTHIA. [_After a pause._] Bankrupt? [_Excited and moved._] Let's not
speak of him. I mean never to see him or think about him or even hear
of him! [_He assents. She reads her paper. He sips his tea and reads
his paper. She turns a page, starts and cries out._

PHILIP. God bless me!

CYNTHIA. It's a picture of--of--

PHILIP. John Karslake?

CYNTHIA. Picture of him, and one of me, and in the middle between us
"Cynthia K!"

PHILIP. "Cynthia K!"

CYNTHIA. [_Excited._] My pet riding mare! The best horse he has! She's
an angel even in a photograph! Oh! [_Reading._] "John Karslake drops a
fortune at Saratoga." [_Rises and walks up and down excitedly._ PHILIP
_takes the paper and reads._

PHILIP. [_Unconcerned, as the matter hardly touches him._]
Hem--ah--Advertises country place for sale--stables, famous mare
"Cynthia K"--favourite riding-mare of former Mrs. Karslake, who is
once again to enter the arena of matrimony with the well-known and
highly respected judge of--

CYNTHIA. [_Sensitive and much disturbed._] Don't! Don't, Philip,
please don't!

PHILIP. My dear Cynthia--take another paper--here's my _Post_! You'll
find nothing disagreeable in _The Post_.

[CYNTHIA _takes paper._

CYNTHIA. [_After reading, near the table._] It's much worse in _The
Post_. "John