Plays: Lady Frederick, The Explorer, A Man of Honour

Name: Plays: Lady Frederick, The Explorer, A Man of Honour
Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Author: Сомерсет Моэм

Автор

Сомерсет Моэм

Год написания книги

2017

<< 1 ... 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 ... 154 >>

На страницу:

Перейти

97 из 154

Настройки чтения

Размер шрифта

Высота строк

Поля

For the last three months I've been laboriously piecing together the fragments of a broken heart.

Mrs. Crowley

If you hadn't been so certain that I was going to accept you, I should never have refused. I couldn't resist the temptation of saying "No" just to see how you took it.

Dick

I flatter myself that I took it very well.

Mrs. Crowley

You didn't. You showed an entire lack of humour. You might have known that a nice woman doesn't marry a man the first time he asks her. It's making oneself too cheap. It was very silly of you to go off to Scotland as if you didn't care… How was I to know that you meant to wait three months before asking me again?

Dick

I haven't the least intention of asking you again.

Mrs. Crowley

Then why in heaven's name did you invite me to tea?

Dick

May I respectfully remind you, first, that you invited yourself …

Mrs. Crowley

[Interrupting.] You're so irrelevant.

Dick

And, secondly, that an invitation to tea is not necessarily accompanied by a proposal of marriage.

Mrs. Crowley

I'm afraid you're lamentably ignorant of the usages of good society.

Dick

I assure you it's not done in the best circles.

Mrs. Crowley

[With a little pout.] I shall be very cross with you in a minute.

Dick

Why?

Mrs. Crowley

Because you're not behaving at all prettily.

Dick

D'you know what I'd do if I were you? Propose to me.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I couldn't do anything so immodest.

Dick

I have registered a vow that I will never offer my hand and heart to any woman again.

Mrs. Crowley

On the head of your maternal grandmother?

Dick

Oh no, far more serious than that. On the grave of my maiden aunt, who left me all my money.

Mrs. Crowley

What will you say if I do?

Dick

That depends entirely on how you do it. I may remind you, however, that first you go down on your bended knees.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I waived that with you.

Dick

And then you confess you're unworthy of me.

Mrs. Crowley

Mr. Lomas, I am a widow. I am twenty-nine and extremely eligible. My maid is a treasure. My dressmaker is charming. I am clever enough to laugh at your jokes, and not so learned as to know where they come from.

Dick

Really you're very long-winded. I said it all in four words.

Mrs. Crowley