Now , Fortune , you ought to have told us downstairs that Dr. Kirke is with Mrs. Cleeve . Fortune ! Doctors ! Sir George Brodrick ? Amos ! Mr. Cleeve 's constitution , Fortune . Oh , Mr. Cleeve exaggerates our little services . Nor I . Dr Kirke , you were n't in Florence with us ; you 're only a tale-bearer . Nonsense !You know , Amos — my big brother over there — Amos and I struck up an acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Cleeve at Florence , at the Hotel d'Italie , and occasionally one of us would give Mr Cleeve his dose while Poor Mrs. Cleeve took a little rest or drive — but positively that 's all . I 've nothing more to tell , except that I 'm awfully fond of Mrs. Cleeve — Yes , I always say that if I were a man searching for a wife , I should be inclined to base my ideal on Mrs. Cleeve . You conceive a different ideal , Sir George ? Well , Sir George ? Oh , I do n't share all Mrs. Cleeve 's views , or sympathise with them , of course . But they succeed only in making me sad and sorry . Mrs. Cleeve 's opinions do n't stop me from loving the gentle , sweet woman ; admiring her for her patient , absorbing devotion to her husband ; wondering at the beautiful stillness with which she seems to glide through life —! I 'll sun myself on the balcony . Dr. Kirke , I 've heard what doctors ’ consultations consist of . After looking at the pictures , you talk about whist . Oh , Mrs Cleeve !Am I in the way ? I 'll stay for a bit , but this hat does n't take off . How well your husband is looking ! Is n't that splendid !Buon giorno , Signor Cleeve ! Come molto meglio voi state !Ha , ha ! My Italian ! They 've been two of my bad days , dear . Oh , “ God 's in his heaven ” this morning ! When the sun 's out I feel that my little boy 's bed in Ketherick Cemetery is warm and cosy . The weather 's the same all over Europe , according to the papers . Do you think it 's really going to last ? To me these chilly , showery nights are terrible . You know , I still tuck my child up at night-time ; still have my last peep at him before going to my own bed ; and it is awful to listen to these cold rains — drip , drip , upon that little green coverlet of his ! Your husband never calls you by that pet-name of yours . Why is it you have n't told me you 're a daughter of Admiral Steyning 's ? Oh , I must say what I mean ! I have often pulled myself up short in my gossips with you , conscious of a sort of wall between us .Somehow , I feel now that you have n't in the least made a friend of me . I 'm hurt . St 's stupid of me ; I can n't help it . Not —? Left — his wife ! When you say that Mr. Cleeve has left his wife , I suppose you mean to tell me that you have taken her place ? I can hardly believe you . I wo n't go quite like that . Please tell me . Oh ! Curse ? In church ? Of course , I guess your marriage was an unfortunate one . It changed you ? You spoke of yourself just now as a widow . He 's dead ? You were free then — free to begin again . You and Mr. Cleeve —? Lecturing ? Against what ? Marriage ? From what cause ? And yet , judging from what that girl said yesterday , Mr. Cleeve married quite recently ? I have often seen Mr. Cleeve 's name in the papers . His future promised to be brilliant , did n't it ? In Parliament — now ? Content ! But tell me — you do n't know how I — how I have liked you !— tell me , if Mr. Cleeve 's wife divorces him , he will marry you ? No ! But you are devoted to each other ! What , is that the meaning of “ for as long as you are together ? ” You would go your different ways if ever you found that one of you was making the other unhappy ? Your legal marriage with him might not bring further miseries . You know that it would be impossible for me , if I would do so , to deceive my brother as to all this . Amos must be wondering — When Amos and I have talked this over , perhaps — perhaps — What you 've told me is dreadful .And yet you 're not a wicked woman !In case we do n't meet again . Where is he ? Fortune is complacently smoking a cigarette in the Campo . Mr Cleeve is out , I conclude ? I do n't think I 'll wait , then . I would come . I 've given poor Amos the slip ; he believes I am buying beads for the Ketherick school-children . Of course , it 's perfectly brutal to be underhanded . But we 're leaving for home tomorrow ; I could n't resist it . The fact is , Mrs. Cleeve — oh , what do you wish me to call you ? Your story , your present life ; you , yourself — such a contradiction to what you profess ! Well , it all has a sort of fascination for me . You want to physic me , do you , after worrying my poor brain as you 've done ?“ The Rectory , Daleham , Ketherick Moor . ” Yorkshire , you know . There can be no great harm in your writing to me sometimes . AGNESNo ; under the circumstances I can n't promise that . Very well . As you please . Picture me , sometimes , in that big , hollow shell of a rectory at Ketherick , strolling about my poor dead little chap 's empty room . God bless you . Do tell me . Torturing you ? You and Mr. Cleeve ? You are afraid he will succeed ? What upsets you , then ? But do n't you and Mr. Cleeve — talk to each other ? You have met the man ? Who is he ? He has right on his side , then ? Supposing he does succeed in taking Mr. Cleeve away from you ? Yes . Oh , I can n't understand you . Agnes ! I remember what you told me of your being prepared to grant each other freedom if — What fear ? I see . Thanks : quite . I — I do n't — Why ? Oh , Mr. Cleeve , we — I — I — I — I can n't ; he — does n't know I 've — I 've — Brute !Oh , I suppose Mr. Cleeve has made me look precisely as I feel . Like people deserve to feel who do godly , mean things . Oh , I am going . The Duke ? Will he obey you ? Good-bye .You still refuse my address ? You ! Ah ! Yes ? A wooden chest , Mr. Cleeve thinks . How should I know doctor ? Half past eight . Excitement ? It is extraordinary to see her like this . No , nor is he quite the same man . Till eleven — if you will let my brother know where I am . I simply sent word , about an hour ago , that I should n't be back to dinner . Look here ! I 'll get you to tell him the truth . I called here this afternoon , unknown to Amos , to bid her good-bye . Then I pottered about , rather miserably , spending money . Coming out of Naya 's , the photographer 's , I tumbled over Mr. Cleeve , who had been looking for you , and he begged me to come round here again after I had done my shopping . Doctor , have you ever seen Amos look dreadfully stern and knit about the brows — like a bishop who is put out ? Then you will . I am going down into the kitchen to see what these people can do in the way of strong soup . Hush , please ! Charming . Thank you . It is draughty at this table . Thank you . My brother . We do n't stay at one . Yes . You should gratify it . Our quarters are rather humble ; we are in the Campo San Bartolomeo . Why not come and see our rooms ? Five — four — nought — two Yes ; that would give the people ample time to tidy and clear up after us . After our departure . My brother and I leave early tomorrow morning . That 's rather a bad man , I think . Now , dear — So you have succeeded in coming to close quarters , as you expressed it , with him . His second visit here today , I gather . His attitude towards you — his presence here under any circumstances — it 's all rather queer . However , you are easier in your mind ? Defeat him ? You will succeed in holding Mr. Cleeve , you mean ? Oh , come , I remember all you told me this afternoon .So it has already arrived , then , at a simple struggle to hold Mr. Cleeve ? What do you want — wine ? Agnes — You are dressed very beautifully . Do n't you know it ? Who made you that gown ? I should n't have credited the little woman with such excellent ideas . When he ordered it ? Oh , the whole thing came as a surprise to you ? I noticed the box this afternoon when I called . An ordinary smart woman .Well , you ought to find no difficulty in managing that . You can make yourself very charming , it appears . Do you mind my drinking from your glass ? Ugh ! Ugh !I have something to propose . Come home with me tomorrow . Ketherick . The very spot for a woman who wants to shut out things . Miles and miles of wild moorland ! For company , purple heath and moss-covered granite , in summer ; in winter , the moor-fowl and the snow glistening on top of the crags . Oh , and for open-air music , our little church owns the sweetest little peal of bells —!Ah , I can n't promise you their silence ! Indeed , I 'm very much afraid that on a still Sunday you can even hear the sound of the organ quite a long distance off . I am the organist when I 'm at home . That 's Ketherick . Will you come ? His music ? Love-music ! You 've come to fetch me , Amos ? No , dear , not yet . I want you to help me . I want you to join me in persuading Mrs. Ebbsmith — my friend , Mrs. Ebbsmith — to come to Ketherick with me . Please , Amos ! Oh —! Then , surely , you —! I suspected something of the kind .Pull yourself out of the mud ! Get up out of the mud ! You mad thing ! Your hour —? It is especially my duty , Amos . You would rather I left it — I , the virtuous , unsoiled woman ! Yes , I am a virtuous woman , Amos ; and it strikes you as odd , I suppose , my insisting upon friendship with her . But look here , both of you . I 'll tell you a secret . You never knew it , Amos my dear . I never allowed anybody to suspect it — The sort of married life mine was . It did n't last long , but it was dreadful , almost intolerable . After the first few weeks — weeks , not months !— after the first few weeks of it , my husband treated me as cruelly —— just as cruelly , I do believe , as your husband treated you .Wait ! Now then ! There was another man — one I loved — one I could n't help loving ! I could have found release with him , perhaps happiness of a kind . I resisted , came through it . They 're dead — the two are dead ! And here I am , a virtuous , reputable woman ; saved by the blessed mercy of Heaven ! There , you are not surprised any longer , Amos !“ My friend , Mrs Ebbsmith ! ”Oh ! Oh , if my little boy had been spared to me , he should have grown up tender to women — tender to women ! He should , he should —! We 'll go , Amos . This frightens you . Simple print and paper , so you pretend to regard it ; but it frightens you .I called you a mad thing just now . A week ago I did think you half-mad — a poor , ill-used creature , a visionary , a moral woman living immorally ; yet , in spite of all , a woman to be loved and pitied . But now I 'm beginning to think you 're only frail — wanton . Oh , you 're not so mad as not to know you 're wicked !And so this frightens you . That ! Agnes —!END OF THE THIRD ACT I 'll come back to you in a little while , Agnes .How are you getting on , Heppy ? We leave here at a quarter to eight in the morning ; not a minute later . Nothing at all . Besides her hand-bag , she has only the one box . Yes , nobbut that . I packed that for her at the Palazzo . Heppy , we are not going to call — my friend — “ Mrs Cleeve . ” I 'll tell you — by-and-bye . Remember , she must never , never be reminded of the name . The world 's full of unhappiness , Heppy . For what ? No , I never knew Captain Thorpe to complain of an ache or a pain . Yes , Heppy .Who 's this ? More as she used to be — so still , so gentle . She 's reading . Reading . Well , dear ! Go on ! Them — At the hotel . Quite contented with the arrangement they believed they had brought about . Where was Mr. Cleeve ? Then by this time he has discovered that Mrs. Ebbsmith has left him ? Well , well ! The Duke and the cadaverous Baronet ? Did they inquire as to her movements ? What did they say to that ? Brute ! And then ? Yes — well ? Oh , Amos —! You 're mistaken there , dear ; there was no letter . Simply four shakily-written words . “ My — hour-is-over . ” Amos ! Oh , then Mr. Cleeve now refuses to carry out his part of the shameful arrangement ? A man who prizes a woman when he has lost her . Men do n't relish , I suppose , being cast off by women . Ah —! No ! Oh , what kind of woman can this Mrs. Cleeve be ? Character ! What work for a wife ! Yes .Oh , Amos ! I — I can n't think so . Oh ! but I 'm afraid . Mrs. Ebbsmith —? Mrs. Ebbsmith —! Agnes —! Mrs Cleeve —!Mrs. Cleeve , we — my brother and I — hoped to save this woman . She was worth saving . You have utterly destroyed her .