If you aggravate me I shall box your ears.
Dick.
When first I knew Fred he was a very rich man. You know that the Allertons are one of the oldest families in Cheshire?
Mrs. Crowley.
Yes. I think Lucy's only failing is an inordinate pride in her family. She thinks it very snobbish to have any particular respect for a peer of the realm, but only natural to look up to persons of good family.
Dick.
Ah, you see, you and I who have a quite indecent lack of ancestors, can't realise what the cult of family may be. There are families in the remote parts of England—not very rich, not very clever, and not very good-looking—who would look askance at a belted earl who came to demand their daughter's hand in marriage. They have a natural conviction that they're the salt of the earth, and in their particular corner they rule more absolutely than half the monarchs in Europe. The Allertons were like that. But Fred somehow seemed to belong to a different stock. The first thing he did was to play ducks and drakes with his fortune.
Mrs. Crowley.
But men ought to be extravagant. That's what they're there for.
Dick.