THE BISHOP. You see, when you give the devil fair play he loses his case. He has not been able to produce even the first clause of a working agreement; so I'm afraid we cant wait for him any longer. LESBIA. Then the community will have to do without my children. EDITH. And Cecil will have to do without me. LEO [getting off the chest] And I positively will not marry Sinjon if he is not clever enough to make some provision for my looking after Rejjy. [She leaves Hotchkiss, and goes back to her chair at the end of the table behind Mrs Bridgenorth]. MRS BRIDGENORTH. And the world will come to an end with this generation, I suppose. COLLINS. Cant nothing be done, my lord? THE BISHOP. You can make divorce reasonable and decent: that is all. LESBIA. Thank you for nothing. If you will only make marriage reasonable and decent, you can do as you like about divorce. I have not stated my deepest objection to marriage; and I dont intend to. There are certain rights I will not give any person over me. REGINALD. Well, I think it jolly hard that a man should support his wife for years, and lose the chance of getting a really good wife, and then have her refuse to be a wife to him. LESBIA. I'm not going to discuss it with you, Rejjy. If your sense of personal honor doesnt make you understand, nothing will. SOAMES [implacably] I'm still awaiting my instructions. They look at one another, each waiting for one of the others to suggest something. Silence. REGINALD [blankly] I suppose, after all, marriage is better than --well, than the usual alternative. SOAMES [turning fiercely on him] What right have you to say so? You know that the sins that are wasting and maddening this unhappy nation are those committed in wedlock. COLLINS. Well, the single ones cant afford to indulge their affections the same as married people. SOAMES. Away with it all, I say. You have your Master's commandments. Obey them. HOTCHKISS [rising and leaning on the back of the chair left vacant by the General] I really must point out to you, Father Anthony, that the early Christian rules of life were not made to last, because the early Christians did not believe that the world itself was going to last. Now we know that we shall have to go through with it. We have found that there are millions of years behind us; and we know that that there are millions before us. Mrs Bridgenorth's question remains unanswered. How is the world to go on? You say that that is our business--that it is the business of Providence. But the modern Christian view is that we are here to do the business of Providence and nothing else. The question is, how. Am I not to use my reason to find out why? Isnt that what my reason is for? Well, all my reason tells me at present is that you are an impracticable lunatic. SOAMEs. Does that help? HOTCHKISS. No. SOAMEs. Then pray for light.