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Cæsar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts
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Год написания книги
2017
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Ah, here is Ronny.
Ronny
Am I too late for my cup of coffee?
Violet
No, it will be brought to you at once.
Ronny
[Shaking hands with Violet.] Good morning.
Violet
This is Mr. Parry. Mr. and Mrs. Appleby.
Ronny
How d'you do?
Arthur
Now, Ronny, don't put on your Foreign Office manner. Mr. and Mrs. Appleby are very nice people.
Mrs. Appleby
I'm glad you think that, Sir Arthur.
Arthur
Well, when you left your cards with a soup ticket from the F.O. my heart sank.
Appleby
There, my dear, I told you he wouldn't want to be bothered with us.
Arthur
You see, I expected a pompous couple who knew all about everything and were going to tell me exactly how Egypt ought to be governed. A Member of Parliament doesn't inspire confidence in the worried bosom of a Government official.
Violet
I don't know if you think you're putting Mr. and Mrs. Appleby at their ease, Arthur.
Arthur
Oh, but I shouldn't say this if I hadn't been most agreeably disappointed.
Mrs. Appleby
I never forget the days when Mr. Appleby used to light the kitchen fire himself and I used to do the week's washing every Monday morning. I don't think we've changed much since then, either of us.
Arthur
I know, and I'm really grateful to the Foreign Office for having given you your letter.
Mrs. Appleby
It's been a great treat to us to come and see you. And it's done my heart good to see Lady Little. If you don't mind my saying so she's like a spring morning and it makes one glad to be alive just to look at her.
Violet
Oh, don't!
Arthur
I'm inclined to feel very kindly to everyone who feels kindly towards her. You must enjoy yourselves in Upper Egypt and when you come back to Cairo you must let us know.
Appleby
I'm expecting to learn a good deal from my journey.
Arthur
You may learn a good deal that will surprise you. You may learn that there are races in the world that seem born to rule and races that seem born to serve; that democracy is not a panacea for all the ills of mankind, but merely one system of government like another, which hasn't had a long enough trial to make it certain whether it is desirable or not; that freedom generally means the power of the strong to oppress the weak, and that the wise statesman gives men the illusion of it but not the substance – in short, a number of things which must be very disturbing to the equilibrium of a Radical Member of Parliament.
Anne
On the other hand, you'll see our beautiful Nile and the temples.
Arthur
And perhaps they'll suggest to you that however old the world is it's ever young, and that when all's said and done the most permanent on the face of the earth is what seems the most transitory – the ideal.
Appleby
Fanny, it looks to me as though we'd bitten off as big a piece of cake as we can chew with any comfort.
Mrs. Appleby
Oh, well, we'll do our best. And though I never could do arithmetic I've always thought perhaps one might be saved without. Good-bye, Lady Little, and thank you for having us.
Violet
Good-bye.
[There are general farewells and they go to the door. Ronny opens it for them. They go out.]
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В борьбе за власть есть первые; есть вторые; и есть 6ыдло (из канала BS "Без Слёз").
- Вторые всегда стремятся стать первыми. Но ресурсы власти – у п...
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