Ha! ha!
[BASIL _pauses a moment, while_ JOHN _looks at him with amusement. He fills his pipe._
JOHN.
[_Lighting his pipe._] Nice gal, Hilda--ain't she?
BASIL.
[_Enthusiastically._] Oh, I think she's perfectly charming.... But what makes you say that?
JOHN.
[_Innocently._] Oh, I don't know. Passed through my head.
BASIL.
I say, I've got something to tell you, John.
JOHN.
Well, don't be so beastly solemn about it.
BASIL.
[_Smiling._] It's a solemn thing.
JOHN.
No, it ain't. I've done it myself. It's like a high dive. When you look down at the water it fairly takes your breath away, but after you've done it--it's not so bad as you think. You're going to be married, my boy.
BASIL.
[_With a smile._] How the deuce d'you know?
JOHN.
[_Gaily._] Saw it with mine own eyes. I congratulate you, and I give you my blessing. I'll get a new frock-coat to give the lady away in.
BASIL.
You?... [_Suddenly understanding._] You're on the wrong tack, old man.
It's not your sister-in-law I'm going to marry.
JOHN.
Then why the dickens did you say it was?
BASIL.
I never mentioned her name.
JOHN.
H'm! I've made rather more than an average ass of myself, haven't I?
BASIL.
What on earth made you think ...?
JOHN.
[_Interrupting._] Oh, it was only some stupid idea of my wife's. Women are such fools, you know. And they think they're so confoundedly sharp.
BASIL.
[_Disconcerted_--_looking at him._] Has Mrs. Murray ...?
JOHN.
No, of course not! Well, who the deuce are you going to marry?
BASIL.
[_Flushing._] I'm going to marry Miss Jenny Bush.
JOHN.
Never heard of her. Is it any one I know?
BASIL.
Yes, you knew her.
JOHN.
[_Searching his memory._] Bush ... Bush.... [_With a smile._] The only Jenny Bush _I've_ ever heard of was a rather pretty little barmaid in Fleet Street. Presumably you're not going to marry her.
[JOHN _has said this quite lightly, not guessing for a moment that it can have anything to do with the person_ BASIL _proposes to marry. Then, since_ BASIL _makes no answer_, JOHN _looks at him sharply: there is a silence while the two men stare at one another._
JOHN.
Basil, it's not the woman we used to know before you went out to the Cape?
BASIL.
[_Pale and nervous, but determined._] I've just told you that you used to know Jenny.