Lesbia.  Lonely!  With her child.  The poor woman would be only too glad to have a moment to herself.  Dont be absurd, Rejjy.

Reginald.  That father is to be a wandering wretched outcast, living at his club, and seeing nobody but his friends’ wives!

Lesbia [ironically] Poor fellow!

Hotchkiss.  The friends’ wives are perhaps the solution of the problem.  You see, their husbands will also be outcasts; and the poor ladies will occasionally pine for male society.

Lesbia.  There is no reason why a mother should not have male society.  What she clearly should not have is a husband.

Soames.  Anything else, Miss Grantham?

Lesbia.  Yes:  I must have my own separate house, or my own separate part of a house.  Boxer smokes:  I cant endure tobacco.  Boxer believes that an open window means death from cold and exposure to the night air:  I must have fresh air always.  We can be friends; but we cant live together; and that must be put in the agreement.

Edith.  Ive no objection to smoking; and as to opening the windows, Cecil will of course have to do what is best for his health.

The bishop.  Who is to be the judge of that, my dear?  You or he?

Edith.  Neither of us.  We must do what the doctor orders.

Reginald.  Doctor be—!

Leo [admonitorily] Rejjy!

Reginald [to Soames] You take my tip, Anthony.  Put a clause into that agreement that the doctor is to have no say in the job.  It’s bad enough for the two people to be married to one another without their both being married to the doctor as well.

Lesbia.  That reminds me of something very important.  Boxer believes in vaccination:  I do not.  There must be a clause that I am to decide on such questions as I think best.

Leo [to the Bishop] Baptism is nearly as important as vaccination:  isnt it?

The bishop.  It used to be considered so, my dear.

Leo.  Well, Sinjon scoffs at it:  he says that godfathers are ridiculous.  I must be allowed to decide.

Reginald.  Theyll be his children as well as yours, you know.

Leo.  Dont be indelicate, Rejjy.

Edith.  You are forgetting the very important matter of money.

Collins.  Ah!  Money!  Now we’re coming to it!

Edith.  When I’m married I shall have practically no money except what I shall earn.

The bishop.  I’m sorry, Cecil.  A Bishop’s daughter is a poor man’s daughter.

Sykes.  But surely you dont imagine that I’m going to let Edith work when we’re married.  I’m not a rich man; but Ive enough to spare her that; and when my mother dies—­

Edith.  What nonsense!  Of course I shall work when I’m married.  I shall keep your house.