THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
- Mrs. Emptage (a widow)
- Claude Emptage (her son)
- Justina Emptage
Theophila Fraser} (her daughters) - Sir Fletcher Portwood, M.P. (her brother)
- Mrs. Cloys (her sister)
- Rt. Rev. Anthony Cloys, D.D., Bishop of St. Olpherts
- Alexander Fraser—“Fraser of Locheen”
- John Allingham
- Olive Allingham
- Denzil Shafto
Peter Elphick} (Allingham’s Friends) - Mrs. Quinton Twelves
- Horton (a servant at Mrs. Emptage’s)
- Quaife (a servant at Mr. Allingham’s)
The scenes are placed at Mrs. Emptage’s house, in the neighbourhood of Regent’s Park, and at “The Lichens,” Mr. Allingham’s cottage at Epsom.
The events of the First and Second Acts occur on the same day,[day,] those of the Third Act about fifteen hours afterwards.
THE
BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
THE FIRST ACT
The Scene represents a drawing-room in Mrs. Emptage’s house near Regent’s Park. At the back are double doors, opening on to a further drawing-room, and these face a window, over which the blinds are drawn, to moderate the glare of the sun, which nevertheless streams through them, for it is a fine afternoon in early summer. The rooms are furnished and decorated in a costly and tasteful fashion.
Mrs. Emptage is reclining upon the settee, her eyes closed, a bottle of smelling-salts in her hand. Justina is pacing the room between the door and the window. Mrs. Emptage is a pretty, carefully-preserved woman with dyed hair and “touched-up” face: she is old enough to be the mother of a daughter of nine-and-twenty. Justina is of that age, good-looking, “smart,” and already somewhat passé. Both are fashionably but sombrely dressed.