Kindly accept my notice. I give it
at once because I shall have no time to lose for the peerage.

CULVER. Miss Starkey, you drive me to the old, old conclusion--all women
are alike.

MISS STARKEY. Then my leaving will cause you no inconvenience, because
you'll easily get another girl exactly like me.

CULVER. You are a heartless creature. (_In an ordinary voice_.) Did we
finish the first letter? This is the second one. (_Dictates_.) 'My dear
Lord Woking'--

MISS STARKEY. But you've just given me that one.

CULVER (_firmly_.) 'My dear Lord Woking.' Go on the same as the first
one down to 'I cannot adequately express to you my sense of the honour
in contemplation.' 'Full stop. I need hardly say that, in spite of my
feeling that I have done only too little to deserve it, I accept it with
the greatest pleasure and the greatest gratitude. Believe me, etc.'

MISS STARKEY. But--

CULVER. Don't imagine that your giving me notice has affected me in the
slightest degree. It has not. I told you I had two letters. I have not
yet decided whether to accept or refuse the title. (_Enter_ Mrs. Culver,
_back_.) Go and copy both letters and bring them in to me in a quarter
of an hour, whether I ring or not. That will give you plenty of time for
post. Now--run! (_Exit_ Miss Starkey, _back_. Culver _rises, clears his
throat, and obviously braces himself for a final effort of firmness_.
Mrs. Culver _calmly rearranges some flowers in a vase_.) Well, my dear,
I was expecting you.

MRS. CULVER (_very sweetly_), Arthur, I was wrong.

CULVER (_startled_). Good God! (Mrs. Culver _bends down to examine the
upholstery of a chair_. Culver _gives a gesture, first of triumph, and
then of apprehension_.)

MRS. CULVER (_looking straight at him_). I say I was wrong.

CULVER (_lightly, but uneasily_). Oh no! Oh no!

MRS. CULVER. Of course I don't mean wrong in my arguments about the
title. Not for a moment. I mean I was wrong not to sacrifice my own
point of view. I'm only a woman, and it's the woman's place to submit.
So I do submit. Naturally I shall always be a true wife to you, but--

CULVER. Now child, don't begin to talk like that. I don't mind _reading_
novels, but I won't have raw lumps of them thrown _at_ me.

MRS. CULVER (_with a gentle smile_), I _must_ talk like this. I shall do
everything I can to make you comfortable, and I hope nobody, and
especially not the poor children, will notice any difference in our
relations.

CUL