Mrs. Martineau: Tim’s Madonna Jordan’s mistress?
Ann: It’s true.
[She is almost in tears.
Ninian: Really, Ann, it’s bad enough to have friends like that, but this hysterical self-sacrifice business is preposterous.
Molyneux: My dear child, you should remember that Mrs. Martineau always believes the worst on principle.
Ann: But I can prove to her that it’s true, that he wasn’t drunk or—with someone like that.
Ninian: Don’t be absurd. By the worst, Molyneux means your assertion that Jordan was your lover. If that story got about, someone who didn’t know you might believe it.
Ann (quite calmly): It’s true.
Lord William: It is delightful to know anyone as innocent as you are, Ann. To sit there deliberately and tell us a fifth-rate politician is your lover! Even we did not think you as ignorant of the usages of La Vie Galante.
Ann: Don’t you see it is not a question of la vie galante? It is a question of love.