MANGAN. Very well then, as you're in a world where I'm appreciated and you're not, you'd best be civil to me, hadn't you? Who else is there but me? LADY UTTERWORD. There is Hastings. Get rid of your ridiculous sham democracy; and give Hastings the necessary powers, and a good supply of bamboo to bring the British native to his senses: he will save the country with the greatest ease. CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. It had better be lost. Any fool can govern with a stick in his hand. I could govern that way. It is not God's way. The man is a numskull. LADY UTTERWORD. The man is worth all of you rolled into one. What do you say, Miss Dunn? ELLIE. I think my father would do very well if people did not put upon him and cheat him and despise him because he is so good. MANGAN [contemptuously]. I think I see Mazzini Dunn getting into parliament or pushing his way into the Government. We've not come to that yet, thank God! What do you say, Mrs Hushabye? MRS HUSHABYE. Oh, I say it matters very little which of you governs the country so long as we govern you. HECTOR. We? Who is we, pray? MRS HUSHABYE. The devil's granddaughters, dear. The lovely women. HECTOR [raising his hands as before]. Fall, I say, and deliver us from the lures of Satan! ELLIE. There seems to be nothing real in the world except my father and Shakespeare. Marcus's tigers are false; Mr Mangan's millions are false; there is nothing really strong and true about Hesione but her beautiful black hair; and Lady Utterword's is too pretty to be real. The one thing that was left to me was the Captain's seventh degree of concentration; and that turns out to be-- CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. Rum. LADY UTTERWORD [placidly]. A good deal of my hair is quite genuine. The Duchess of Dithering offered me fifty guineas for this [touching her forehead] under the impression that it was a transformation; but it is all natural except the color. MANGAN [wildly]. Look here: I'm going to take off all my clothes [he begins tearing off his coat]. LADY UTTERWORD. [in consternation] { Mr. Mangan! CAPTAIN SHOTOVER { What's that? HECTOR. { Ha! Ha! Do. Do. ELLIE { Please don't. MRS HUSHABYE [catching his arm and stopping him]. Alfred, for shame! Are you mad? MANGAN. Shame! What shame is there in this house? Let's all strip stark naked. We may as well do the thing thoroughly when we're about it. We've stripped ourselves morally naked: well, let us strip ourselves physically naked as well, and see how we like it. I tell you I can't bear this. I was brought up to be respectable. I don't mind the women dyeing their hair and the men drinking: it's human nature. But it's not human nature to tell everybody about it. Every time one of you opens your mouth I go like this [he cowers as if to avoid a missile], afraid of what will come next. How are we to have any self-respect if we don't keep it up that we're better than we really are?