Part 2 (1/2)

HUBERT _and_ OLIVIA _are alone_.

OLIVIA: That's the fifth action she's threatened to bring this week.

(_She crosses to the right window._)

HUBERT: She's a good one to talk about putting away. Crikey! She'll be found murdered one of these days.... (_Suddenly reading from his paper_) ”In India a population of three and a half hundred million is loyal to Britain; now----”

OLIVIA: Oh, Hubert! (_Good humouredly_) I thought I'd cured you of that.

HUBERT: Sorry.

OLIVIA: You've only had two weeks of her. I've had six.

_A pause. She sighs restlessly._

HUBERT: Fed up?

OLIVIA: It's such a very inadequate expression, don't you think?...

(_After a pause_) How bright the sun is to-day....

_She is pensive, far-away, smiling._

HUBERT: A penny for 'em.

OLIVIA: I was just thinking ... I often wonder on a very fine morning what it'll be like ... for night to come. And I never can. And yet it's got to.... (_Looking at his perplexed face_) It is silly, isn't it?

_DORA comes in from the kitchen with a duster and crosses towards the bedroom. She is a pretty, stupid, and rather s.l.u.ttish country girl of twenty, wearing a maid's uniform. She looks depressed_.

Who are those men, Dora?

DORA: What men, miss?

OLIVIA: Over there, behind the clearing.

DORA: Oh.... (_Peering past her_) Oh. 'Adn't seen them. What are they doing poking about in that bush?

OLIVIA (_absently_): I don't know. I saw them yesterday too, farther down the woods.

DORA (_lamely_): I expect they're looking for something.

_She goes into the bedroom._

HUBERT: She looks a bit off-colour, doesn't she?

OLIVIA: The atmosphere must be getting her down too.

HUBERT: I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to stand it myself.

Coming over here every day for another week.

OLIVIA (_smiling_): There's nothing to prevent you staying at _home_ every day for another week ... is there?