Tim: The thing that makes Mrs. Martineau dress for dinner when she is alone in the country, that prevents Jordan from buying a vote, Lord William from making a bad joke——
Mrs. Martineau: And Ann from having a lover.
Lord William: Lord bless my soul, Ann has not been prevented from having a lover. The possibility never occurred to her.
Mrs. Martineau: If it did she would reject it without a pang. Ann’s moral tidiness is unequalled.
Tim (angrily): Is that your definition of effortless radiant goodness?
Mrs. Martineau: I only meant that Ann is not exactly a Bohemian. All her meals are in the dining-room. There are no trays in her life.
Tim: That is Ninian.
Mrs. Martineau: Well, she is responsible for him, isn’t she? Husbands aren’t gifts from God like one’s relations.
Molyneux: A husband is every woman’s first big mistake.
Mrs. Martineau: Which is the next?