Lucy
My mistress wishes that Desmond was not her husband's nephew.
Tuneless
These sentiments astonish me in a woman so careful of the proprieties.
Lucy She's proper in public, but with certain women, public morals and private morals differ as much their faces do from the time they get up and the time they go to bed.
Tuneless Everything considered, I judge that these two are perfectly matched in all the arts of conjugal hypocrisy.
Lucy They love each other, in proportion to the wealth they hope to obtain from each other.
Tuneless Yes, self-interest by itself produces more false love in some families than true love produces in all the sincere lovers in London.
Lucy I admire the wisdom of our law which permits spouses to disinherit one another. For only the hope of inheriting is the dike that can prevent a torrent of family quarrels. Go quickly. Here is my mistress. To gain her confidence, I am going to help her out of her sorrows.
(Exit Tuneless and the Maid. Enter from another direction, the
Countess and the Widow Bramble.)
Countess
Save your tears, Madame, save your tears. To tremble, to sigh, to sob.
All these demonstrations of sorrow are worse than sorrow itself.
Widow
Alas.