"You don't expect me to go down on my knees to you, do you? The cup's worth twopence."
"It isn't the value I'm thinking about, it's the carelessness."
"It's only the third thing I've broken since I've been here."
If Nora had been in a calmer mood herself she would not have been so stupid as to attempt to palliate her offense. Her offer of replacing the miserable cup only added fuel to the flame of Gertie's resentment.
"You can't do anything!" she stormed. "You're more helpless than a child of six. You're all the same, all of you."
"You're not going to abuse the whole British nation because I've broken a cup worth twopence, are you?"
"And the airs you put on. Condescending isn't the word. It's enough to try the patience of a saint."
"Oh, shut up!" said Marsh. He went over to his wife and laid a hand on her shoulder. She shook him off impatiently.
"You've never done a stroke of work in your life, and you come here and think you can teach me everything."
"I don't know about that," said Nora, in a voice which by comparison with Gertie's seemed low but which was nevertheless perfectly audible to every person in the room. "I don't know about that, but I think I can teach you manners."