Scene--_The Library in_ Lord Doldrummond's _house at Brighton. The scene represents a richly-furnished but somewhat oppressive room. The chairs and tables are all narrow, the lamp-shades stiff, the windows have double glasses._ Lord Doldrummond, _a man of middle-age, handsome, but with a dejected, browbeaten air, sits with a rug over his knees, reading "The Church Times." The_ Butler _announces_ "Sir Digby Soame." Sir Digby _is thin and elderly; has an easy smile and a sharp eye; dresses well; has two manners--the abrupt with men, the suave with women; smiles into his beard over his own witticisms._ _Lord Dol._ Ah, Soame, so you are here at last? _Soame._ [_Looking at his watch._] I am pretty punctual, only a few minutes late. _Lord Dol._ I am worried, anxious, irritable, and that has made the time seem long. _Soame._ Worried, anxious? And what about? Are you not well? Have you found that regularity of life ruins the constitution? _Lord Dol._ No, my dear Soame, no. But I am willing to own that the existence which my wife enjoys, and which I have learnt to endure, would not suit everyone. _Soame._ I am glad to find you more tolerant. You used to hold the very harshest and most crude opinions. I remember when we were boys, I could never persuade you to accept the admirable doctrine that a reformed rake makes the best husband! _Lord Dol._ [_Timidly._] Repentance does not require so large an income as folly! This may explain that paradox. You know, in my way, I, too, am something of a philosopher! I married very young, whereas you entered the Diplomatic Service and resolved to remain single: you wished to study women. I have lived with one for five-and-twenty years. [_Sighs._] _Soame._ Oh, I admit at once that yours is the greater achievement and was the more daring ambition. _Lord Dol._ I know all I wish to know about women, but men puzzle me extremely. So I have sent for you. I want your advice. It is Cyril who is the cause of my uneasiness. I am afraid that he is not happy. _Soame._ Cyril not happy? What is he unhappy about? You have never refused him anything? _Lord Dol._ Never! No man has had a kinder father! When he is unreasonable I merely say "You are a fool, but please yourself!" No man has had a kinder father! _Soame._ Does he complain? _Lord Dol._ He has hinted that his home is uncongenial--yet we have an excellent cook! Ah, thank heaven every night and morning, my dear Digby, that you are a bachelor. Praying for sinners and breeding them would seem the whole duty of man. I was no sooner born than my parents were filled with uneasiness lest I should not live to marry and beget an heir of my own. Now I have an heir, his mother will never know peace until she has found him a wife! _Soame._ And will you permit Lady Doldrummond to use the same method with Cyril which your mother adopted with such appalling results in your own case?