chair]. Oh,
it's all right, mamma, quite right. People will think we never go
anywhere or see anybody if you are so old-fashioned.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. I daresay I am very old-fashioned; but I do hope
you won't begin using that expression, Clara. I have got accustomed to
hear you talking about men as rotters, and calling everything filthy
and beastly; though I do think it horrible and unladylike. But this
last is really too much. Don't you think so, Colonel Pickering?

PICKERING. Don't ask me. I've been away in India for several years; and
manners have changed so much that I sometimes don't know whether I'm at
a respectable dinner-table or in a ship's forecastle.

CLARA. It's all a matter of habit. There's no right or wrong in it.
Nobody means anything by it. And it's so quaint, and gives such a smart
emphasis to things that are not in themselves very witty. I find the
new small talk delightful and quite innocent.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [rising] Well, after that, I think it's time for us
to go.

Pickering and Higgins rise.

CLARA [rising] Oh yes: we have three at homes to go to still. Good-bye,
Mrs. Higgins. Good-bye, Colonel Pickering. Good-bye, Professor Higgins.

HIGGINS [coming grimly at her from the divan, and accompanying her to
the door] Good-bye. Be sure you try on that small talk at the three
at-homes. Don't be nervous about it. Pitch it in strong.

CLARA [all smiles] I will. Good-bye. Such nonsense, all this early
Victorian prudery!

HIGGINS [tempting her] Such damned nonsense!

CLARA. Such bloody nonsense!

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [convulsively] Clara!

CLARA. Ha! ha! [She goes out radiant, conscious of being thoroughly up
to date, and is heard descending the stairs in a stream of silvery
laughter].

FREDDY [to the heavens at large] Well, I ask you [He gives it up, and
comes to Mrs. Higgins]. Good-bye.

MRS. HIGGINS [shaking hands] Good-bye. Would you like to meet Miss
Doolittle again?

FREDDY [eagerly] Yes, I should, most awfully.

MRS. HIGGINS. Well, you know my days.

FREDDY. Yes. Thanks awfully. Good-bye. [He goes out].

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. Good-bye, Mr. Higgins.

HIGGINS. Good-bye. Good-bye.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL [to Pickering] It's no use. I shall never be able to
bring myself to use that word.

PICKERING. Don't. It's not compulsory, you know. You'll get on quite
well without it.

MRS. EYNSFORD HILL. Only, Clara is so down on me if I am not positively
reeking with the latest slang.