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BROXOPP (taking her hands again). Thank you for thinking her young and pretty.

NANCY. I don’t feel very young, with a big son wanting to get married.

IRIS. He? He’s only a baby. (She blows a kiss to the picture.)

JACK (resigned). Oh, Lord!

BROXOPP. Well, Iris, if you’re as happy together as Nancy and I have been, you’ll do. Twenty-five years we have been married, and I always say that if it hadn’t been for Nancy——

NANCY (stopping him). Yes, dear.

IRIS. If it hadn’t been for Nancy, there wouldn’t have been a Jack for me to marry.

BROXOPP (joining in the general laughter). Well, that’s true. And what does Sir Roger say about it? (The laughter stops suddenly. JACK and IRIS look at each other.) Hullo, he does say something about it?

ssss1NANCY. I think we’d better sit down, darling, and——

(She leads the way to the sofa. They sit down.)

BROXOPP. Well, what is it? Jack’s been trying to get something out for the last five minutes.

IRIS. Jack, you’re a coward. I wasn’t. I told Nancy.

JACK. Oh, all right then.... Look here, Dad, you’ll think me a beast for what I’m going to say, but I want you and Mother to understand that it’s not just a sudden idea put into my head by—(he looks at IRIS and goes on) by Sir Roger, but it’s what I’ve felt for years.