Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts

by W. Somerset Maugham

I suppose that means that you no longer love me?

Dickie.

Of course I love you. Good heavens, I’ve told you so till I’m blue in the face.

Mrs. Fergusson.

Oh, no, you no longer love me. Men only begin to have scruples when they stop caring for you.

[Dickie gives a sigh of resignation. This is not the first scene he has had to put up with.

Mrs. Fergusson.

I’ve sacrificed everything for your sake. And now you insult me. And when I think of my poor husband bravely serving his country in a foreign land! Oh, it’s cruel, cruel!

Dickie.

But I’ve only said it made me feel low down to treat Penelope badly.