[RUTH reenters Right.

RUTH.  Well, Blanche, dear, your mother’s in a calmer frame of mind, and
I must go.  Dick, can you lunch with me to-morrow?

STERLING. [Hesitating, not caring about it.] Er—­to-morrow?—­er—­

RUTH.  Oh, only for business.  I must have a new business man now to do all that he did for me, and I’m going to try to make up to you for not having been always your—­best friend, by putting my affairs in your hands.

BLANCHE. [Serious, uneasy, almost frightened.] Aunt Ruth—­

[She stops.

RUTH.  What, dear?

BLANCHE.  Nothing.

[She gives STERLING a searching, steady look and keeps her eyes upon him, trying to read his real self.

RUTH. [Continues to STERLING.] Mr. Mason is coming to me in the morning, and if you will lunch with me at one, I will then be able to give all the papers over to you.

[STERLING, who up to this time has been almost dumbfounded by this sudden good fortune, now collects himself, and speaks delightedly but with sufficient reserve of his feelings. BLANCHE does not take her eyes from STERLING’S face.

STERLING.  Aunt Ruth, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I will do my best.

BLANCHE. [Quickly.] Promise her, Dick, before me—­give her your word of honor—­you will be faithful to Aunt Ruth’s trust.

[He answers BLANCHE’S look steadily with a hard gaze of his own.

RUTH.  His acceptance of my trust is equal to that, Blanche.

BLANCHE.  It is of course, isn’t it, Dick?

STERLING.  Of course.

[BLANCHE is not content, but has to satisfy herself with this.

RUTH.  To-morrow at one, then.

[She starts to go.

[JORDAN enters Left.

JORDAN.  Mr. Warden.

RUTH.  I can’t wait.  Good-by.

[She goes out Left.

BLANCHE.  We will see Mr. Warden.

JORDAN.  Yes, madam.

[He goes out Left.

STERLING.  Blanche, go to your mother and ask her to see Ned to thank him.  I want a minute’s talk with him if you don’t mind.

BLANCHE. [Pathetically.] What difference does it make, Dick, if I do mind?

STERLING.  Don’t say that, old girl, and don’t think it.

BLANCHE.  Dick, you are honest, aren’t you?

STERLING. [Without flinching.] What a question, Blanche!

[JORDAN enters Left announcing “Mr. Warden." WARDEN enters, and JORDAN goes out.

[EDWARD WARDEN, though in reality scarcely younger than STERLING, looks at least ten years his junior.  He is good-looking, practical, a reasoning being, and self-controlled.  He is a thorough American, with the fresh and strong ideals of his race, and with the feeling of romance alive in the bottom of his heart.