[Exit servant.]
lord goring. Really, I don’t want to meet my father three days running. It is a great deal too much excitement for any son. I hope to goodness he won’t come up. Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life. Mothers are different. Mothers are darlings. [Throws himself down into a chair, picks up a paper and begins to read it.]
[Enter lord caversham.]
lord caversham. Well, sir, what are you doing here? Wasting your time as usual, I suppose?
lord goring. [Throws down paper and rises.] My dear father, when one pays a visit it is for the purpose of wasting other people’s time, not one’s own.
lord caversham. Have you been thinking over what I spoke to you about last night?
lord goring. I have been thinking about nothing else.
lord caversham. Engaged to be married yet?
lord goring. [Genially.] Not yet: but I hope to be before lunch-time.
lord caversham. [Caustically.] You can have till dinner-time if it would be of any convenience to you.