Dick. Quite a new motive, isn’t it? Only been done about a thousand times.
Dr. (rises; looks at Dick, who turns away) These interruptions are distracting. (sits)
Mrs. D. (wakes) Silence! (goes to sleep again)
Sir H. Please go on.
Alma. He is at work upon a play, in which a faithless lover is a leading character.
Ned. That is my play!
Dick. Of course it is! I knew Blake couldn’t be original.
Alma. The lover writes to tell his second love how much better he likes her than his first, and the sheet of paper on which the letter is written, the author, in the old untidy way, leaves lying about the house.
Dick. It’s all been done! Wife finds the letter—thinks it’s genuine—and leaves home to slow music.
Alma. End of Act the first.