The Profligate: A Play in Four Acts

by Arthur Wing Pinero

The marriage of a simple-minded trustful school-girl to a man of whom you know either too little or too much.

Mr. Cheal.

I know a great deal of Mr. Renshaw. He comes of a very excellent family—excellent family.

Hugh Murray.

Are the members of it at hand to speak for him?

Mr. Cheal.

They are all, I hope, beyond the reach of prejudice, Mr. Murray. They are unhappily deceased.

Hugh Murray.

Then how can you weigh the dead against the living? Here are two lives to be brought together this morning or kept apart, as you will; for upon you rests the responsibility of this marriage.