Elizabeth. I’ve met them. They seem to find it a very pleasant occupation.
Teddie. It’s rotten for their husbands, though.
Elizabeth. And if the husbands can’t afford it?
Teddie. Oh, then they tipple.
Elizabeth. It’s not a very alluring prospect.
Teddie. But if the woman’s the right sort she wouldn’t exchange it for any life in the world. When all’s said and done it’s we who’ve made the Empire.
Elizabeth. What sort is the right sort?
Teddie. A woman of courage and endurance and sincerity. Of course, it’s hopeless unless she’s in love with her husband.
[He is looking at her earnestly and she, raising her eyes, gives him a long look. There is silence between them.
Teddie. My house stands on the side of a hill, and the cocoanut trees wind down to the shore. Azaleas grow in my garden, and camellias, and all sorts of ripping flowers. And in front of me is the winding coast line, and then the blue sea.