supports for them to fall back on it does not matter." Think of your illustrious Nelson, always beaten on land, always victorious at sea, where his men could not run away. You are not dazzled and misled by false ideals of patriotic enthusiasm: your honest and sensible statesmen demand for England a two-power standard, even a three-power standard, frankly admitting that it is wise to fight three to one: whilst we, fools and braggarts as we are, declare that every Frenchman is a host in himself, and that when one Frenchman attacks three Englishmen he is guilty of an act of cowardice comparable to that of the man who strikes a woman. It is folly: it is nonsense: a Frenchman is not really stronger than a German, than an Italian, even than an Englishman. Sir: if all Frenchwomen were like your daughter--if all Frenchmen had the good sense, the power of seeing things as they really are, the calm judgment, the open mind, the philosophic grasp, the foresight and true courage, which are so natural to you as an Englishman that you are hardly conscious of possessing them, France would become the greatest nation in the world. MARGARET. Three cheers for old England! [She shakes hands with him warmly]. BOBBY. Hurra-a-ay! And so say all of us. _Duvallet, having responded to Margaret's handshake with enthusiasm, kisses Juggins on both cheeks, and sinks into his chair, wiping his perspiring brow._ GILBEY. Well, this sort of talk is above me. Can you make anything out of it, Knox? KNOX. The long and short of it seems to be that he cant lawfully marry my daughter, as he ought after going to prison with her. DORA. I'm ready to marry Bobby, if that will be any satisfaction. GILBEY. No you dont. Not if I know it. MRS KNOX. He ought to, Mr Gilbey. GILBEY. Well, if thats your religion, Amelia Knox, I want no more of it. Would you invite them to your house if he married her? MRS KNOX. He ought to marry her whether or no. BOBBY. I feel I ought to, Mrs Knox. GILBEY. Hold your tongue. Mind your own business. BOBBY. [wildly] If I'm not let marry her, I'll do something downright disgraceful. I'll enlist as a soldier. JUGGINS. That is not a disgrace, sir. BOBBY. Not for you, perhaps. But youre only a footman. I'm a gentleman. MRS GILBEY. Dont dare to speak disrespectfully to Mr Rudolph, Bobby. For shame! JUGGINS. [coming forward to the middle of the table] It is not gentlemanly to regard the service of your country as disgraceful. It is gentlemanly to marry the lady you make love to. GILBEY. [aghast] My boy is to marry this woman and be a social outcast! JUGGINS. Your boy and Miss Delaney will be inexorably condemned by respectable society to spend the rest of their days in precisely the sort of company they seem to like best and be most at home in. KNOX. And my daughter? Whos to marry my daughter? JUGGINS. Your daughter, sir, will probably marry whoever she makes up her mind to marry. She is a lady of very determined character.