ALEC.
[_Smiling._] Perhaps you would like me to call you Sir Robert?
BOULGER.
I should prefer that you would call me nothing at all. I have absolutely no wish to know you.
ALEC.
Which shows that your taste is as bad as your breeding.
BOULGER.
[_Angrily, walking up to him._] By God, I'll knock you down!
ALEC.
You could hardly do that when I'm already lying on my back.
BOULGER.
Look here, Mackenzie, I'm not going to let you play the fool with me. I want to know what answer you have to make to all these charges that have been brought against you.
ALEC.
Might I suggest that only Miss Allerton has the least right to receive answers to her questions? And she hasn't questioned me.
BOULGER.
I've given up trying to understand her attitude. If I were she, it would make me sick with horror to look at you. Since this morning you've rested under a direct accusation of causing George's death, and you've said nothing in self-defence.
ALEC.
Nothing.
BOULGER.
You've been given an opportunity to explain yourself, and you haven't taken it.
ALEC.
Quite true.
BOULGER.
Are you not going to deny the charge?
ALEC.
I'm not.
BOULGER.
Then I can only draw one conclusion. There appears to be no means of bringing you to justice, but at least I can refuse to know you.
ALEC.
All is over between us. And shall I return your letters and your photograph?
BOULGER.
I'm not joking.
ALEC.
It's singular that though I'm Scotch and you are English I should be able to see how ridiculous you are, while you're quite blind to your own absurdity.
DICK.
Come, Alec! Remember he's only a boy.
BOULGER.
[_To_ DICK LOMAS.] I'm perfectly able to look after myself, and I'll thank you not to interfere. [_To_ ALEC.] If Lucy's so indifferent to her brother's death that she's willing to keep up with you, that's her own affair ...
DICK.
[_Interrupting._] Come, Bobbie, don't make a scene.
BOULGER.
[_Furiously._] Leave me alone, confound you!
ALEC.
Do you think this is quite the place for an altercation? Wouldn't you gain more notoriety if you attacked me in my club or at Church parade on Sunday?
BOULGER.
It's mere shameless impudence that you should come here to-night. You're using these wretched women as a shield, because you know that as long as Lucy sticks to you there are people who won't believe the story.
ALEC.
I came for the same reason as yourself, dear boy. Because I was invited.
DICK.
Now then, Bobbie, shut up!