What do the Radicals really care so long as
a scandal doesn't get into the papers! There's an inner circle with its eye
on us.
FARRANT. Well, what does that care as long as scandal's its own copyright?
Do you know, my dear father refused a peerage because he felt it meant
putting blinkers on his best newspaper.
BLACKBOROUGH. [_A little subtly._] Still ... now you and Horsham are
cousins, aren't you?
FARRANT. [_Off the track and explanatory._] No, no ... my wife's mother....
BLACKBOROUGH. I'm inaccurate, for I'm not one of the family circle myself.
My money gets me here and any skill I've used in making it. It wouldn't keep
me at a pinch. And Trebell ... [_He speaks through his teeth._] ... do you
think your accession to power in the party is popular at the best? Who is
going to put out a finger to make it less awkward for Horsham to stick to
you if there's a chance of your going under?
TREBELL _smiles at some mental picture he is making._
TREBELL. Can your cousins and aunts make it so awkward for you, Horsham?
HORSHAM. [_Repaying humour with humour._] I bear up against their
affectionate attentions.
TREBELL. But I quite understand how uncongenial I may be. What made you take
up with me at all?
FARRANT. Your brains, Trebell.
TREBELL. He should have enquired into my character first, shouldn't he,
Cantelupe?
CANTELUPE. [_With crushing sincerity.
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