Mrs. Dot: A Farce

by W. Somerset Maugham

Blenkinsop.

Why should you care for Gerald? Do you think if he loved you, he would let a trifling engagement with somebody else stand in the way?

Mrs. Dot.

The fact is that men are never to be trusted.

Blenkinsop.

I can’t live without you now. I’ll give up my whole life to make you happy.

Mrs. Dot.

But I’m in love with Gerald. I’m not in love with you. I shall never be in love with you.

Blenkinsop.

You owe me something for all the agony you’ve made me endure. Dot, remember that licence. It was bought in jest, but the Archbishop of Canterbury was in earnest.