mrs. cheveley. [With a smile.] Then I am sure they will be perfectly right.
phipps. [Gravely.] Thank you, madam.
[mrs. cheveley goes into the drawing-room. phipps closes the door and retires. The door is then slowly opened, and mrs. cheveley comes out and creeps stealthily towards the writing-table. Suddenly voices are heard from the smoking-room. mrs. cheveley grows pale, and stops. The voices grow louder, and she goes back into the drawing-room, biting her lip.]
[Enter lord goring and lord caversham.]
lord goring. [Expostulating.] My dear father, if I am to get married, surely you will allow me to choose the time, place, and person? Particularly the person.
lord caversham. [Testily.] That is a matter for me, sir. You would probably make a very poor choice. It is I who should be consulted, not you. There is property at stake. It is not a matter for affection. Affection comes later on in married life.
lord goring. Yes. In married life affection comes when people thoroughly dislike each other, father, doesn’t it? [Puts on lord caversham’s cloak for him.]
lord caversham. Certainly, sir. I mean certainly not, sir. You are talking very foolishly to-night. What I say is that marriage is a matter for common sense.
lord goring. But women who have common sense are so curiously plain, father, aren’t they? Of course I only speak from hearsay.
lord caversham. No woman, plain or pretty, has any common sense at all, sir. Common sense is the privilege of our sex.