LORD WILLIAM: I was about to ask my sister, before Molly interrupted with the rather half-hearted propositions we have just been listening to—I was about to ask my sister whether she does not consider that Ann is becoming almost too much of a good thing. LADY EMILY: Too good, you mean? MRS. MARTINEAU: For this world. LADY EMILY: For our world. TIM: Ann couldn’t live in your world. It is too small. She would die for lack of exercise. MRS. MARTINEAU: She will die of exhaustion if she tries to combine Whitechapel and the County. MOLYNEUX: I regard Ninian as the most fatiguing item in the account. He has only two topics of conversation—his responsibilities and his improvements. LORD WILLIAM: And if you boil them down, they become the same thing—his pigstys. MOLYNEUX: You’re a nice unselfish boy, Tim: couldn’t you kill Ninian? LORD WILLIAM: Wait a moment, Tim. This requires serious consideration. Wouldn’t Ninian’s death leave Ann even busier than she is? LADY EMILY: And she might marry someone she loved, which would be very inconvenient for you all. MOLYNEUX: I don’t see that we profit much by the present state of affairs. TIM: Ann’s in touch with so many kinds of life. MRS. MARTINEAU: Ann is a woman of the world. TIM: But not of this age. MOLYNEUX: Ann is the only spot of repose in the twentieth century. When she sits in a chair she doesn’t fidget; when she talks to you her attention doesn’t wander to someone else. When she wants to be listened to, she lowers her voice a little. I am sure that when she goes to bed she sleeps, and that when she wakes up she is refreshed. SELINA: Mr. Molyneux, you’re quite romantic. LADY EMILY: You talk very little for a politician, Mr. Jordan. JORDAN: You all talk so well, it is a pleasure to listen. LADY EMILY: What you mean is, that we are difficult to interrupt. It is quite true. But once you cease to be discouraged by finding that what you hoped was going to be a solo is either a duet or a chorus, you will soon begin to rush in on all occasions, and ultimately you will learn to force a hearing for yourself. [_Enter ANN._ [_They all get up and help her off with her things, finally pushing her on to a sofa._ ANN: How spoilt I am. LADY EMILY: How tired you are. ANN: But being with you all will soon put that right. LORD WILLIAM: You have missed a lot, Ann. Molly and I were at our best. ANN: I hate to have missed a moment of it, but you are both always at your best. SELINA: We were all very characteristic. Aunt Emily flirted with Mr. Molyneux, and Mrs. Martineau tried to flirt with Tim; Papa balanced precariously on a tight-rope of wit over an abyss of vulgarity, and Mr. Jordan was silent. ANN: And what did you do? SELINA: I helped them to their remarks by asking questions. MRS. MARTINEAU: Selina treats everyone as if they were performing animals. Except animals. SELINA: I love animals. ANN: It all sounds delightful. What did you talk about? TIM: About you, of course.