Flora. (Persuasively.) I hope we aren't going to converse as if we were characters in a powerful novel of modern society. This is real life, you know, let's talk as if we were real people—do you mind?
Mrs. R. Haslam. Personally, I am not aware of being unreal. But you seem to be unaware that you are playing with tragic things.
Flora. As I told Cedric in the first act——
Mrs. R. Haslam. (Staggered beyond measure.) In the first act!
Flora. My dear. I'm only trying to fall in with your wish to turn this affair into a tragedy. If it is a tragedy, the first act occurred this morning. As I told Cedric this morning, we've stumbled across a question of vital principle. Is our marriage to be the most important thing in our lives, or isn't it? If it is, then nothing less than an earthquake could possibly disturb the honeymoon, because I suppose you'll admit the honeymoon is the most urgent part of matrimony. If our marriage is not to be the most important thing in our lives—all right! That's a point of view that I can understand; only—I don't want to get married. And I won't! (Pause.)
Mrs. R. Haslam. Cedric, why don't you speak?
Cedric. Nothing to say.
Mrs. R. Haslam. Your silence is excessive.
Flora. (Still persuasively.) We solemnly arrange our honeymoon. Then Cedric happens to see a newspaper and he as good as says, "Here's something more important than our honeymoon. Our honeymoon must give way to this." And after all, this terrific something is nothing whatever but a purely business matter—something to do with the works.