Leo.  If you dont stop talking in that disgraceful way about our married life, I’ll leave the room and never speak to you again.

Reginald.  Youre not going to speak to me again, anyhow, are you?  Do you suppose I’m going to visit you when you marry him?

Hotchkiss.  I hope so.  Surely youre not going to be vindictive, Rejjy.  Besides, youll have all the advantages I formerly enjoyed.  Youll be the visitor, the relief, the new face, the fresh news, the hopeless attachment:  I shall only be the husband.

Reginald [savagely] Will you tell me this, any of you? how is it that we always get talking about Hotchkiss when our business is about Edith? [He fumes up the kitchen to the tower and back to his chair].

Mrs Bridgenorth.  Will somebody tell me how the world is to go on if nobody is to get married?

Sykes.  Will somebody tell me what an honorable man and a sincere Anglican is to propose to a woman whom he loves and who loves him and wont marry him?

Leo.  Will somebody tell me how I’m to arrange to take care of Rejjy when I’m married to Sinjon.  Rejjy must not be allowed to marry anyone else, especially that odious nasty creature that told all those wicked lies about him in Court.

Hotchkiss.  Let us draw up the first English partnership deed.

Leo.  For shame, Sinjon!

The bishop.  Somebody must begin, my dear.  Ive a very strong suspicion that when it is drawn up it will be so much worse than the existing law that you will all prefer getting married.  We shall therefore be doing the greatest possible service to morality by just trying how the new system would work.

Lesbia [suddenly reminding them of her forgotten presence as she stands thoughtfully in the garden doorway] Ive been thinking.

The bishop [to Hotchkiss] Nothing like making people think:  is there, Sinjon?

Lesbia [coming to the table, on the General’s left] A woman has no right to refuse motherhood.  That is clear, after the statistics given in The Times by Mr Sidney Webb.

The general.  Mr Webb has nothing to do with it.  It is the Voice of Nature.

Lesbia.  But if she is an English lady it is her right and her duty to stand out for honorable conditions.  If we can agree on the conditions, I am willing to enter into an alliance with Boxer.

The General staggers to his feet, momentarily stupent and speechless.

Edith [rising] And I with Cecil.

Leo [rising] And I with Rejjy and St John.

The general [aghast] An alliance!  Do you mean a—­a—­a—­

Reginald.  She only means bigamy, as I understand her.

The general.  Alfred:  how long more are you going to stand there and countenance this lunacy?  Is it a horrible dream or am I awake?  In the name of common sense and sanity, let us go back to real life—­