Jack Straw: A Farce in Three Acts

by W. Somerset Maugham

Parker-Jennings.

The order of the boot.

Vincent.

I can’t think why they don’t have English waiters in a smart hotel like this instead of these damned foreigners.

Parker-Jennings.

Now then, look slippy.

[Jack Straw has fixed his eyes on Ethel. She has been looking down. She gives him a glance. He takes the coffee things and gives them to another waiter.

Ethel.

[Her voice trembling with indignation.] How can you talk like that to a man who can’t defend himself! It’s so cowardly to insult a servant who daren’t answer.

Vincent.