That was thirty years ago. Things have changed since then.

COLONEL.

And they haven't improved.

GERALD.

That is a question.

COLONEL.

Oh, everything's a question nowadays! Nothing is sacred to a young man fresh from Oxford. Existence is a problem to be investigated; in my youth, it was a life to be lived; and, I thank Heaven, I lived it. Ah, the nights _I_ had!

SYLVESTER.

Would it be impertinent to inquire upon what subject my wife is engaged?

GERALD.

Our subject is the Ethics of Marriage.

SYLVESTER.

Of my marriage?

GERALD.

Of marriage in the abstract.

COLONEL.

As if people married for ethics! There is no such thing, sir. There are no ethics in marriage.

GERALD.

That is the conclusion at which we have arrived.

COLONEL.

You are only on the threshold, and yet you have arrived at a conclusion?

GERALD.

So much is obvious. It is a conclusion to which literature and the higher culture inevitably tend. The awakened conscience of woman is already alive to it.

COLONEL.

Conscience of woman! What are you talking about? I've known a good many women in my time, and they hadn't a conscience amongst 'em!

There's only one thing can awaken the conscience of woman, and that is being found out.

GERALD.

I am speaking of innocent women.

COLONEL.

I never met one.

GERALD.

Yet----

COLONEL.

Tut, tut, sir; read your Bible. Who was it had the first bite at the apple? And she's been nibbling at it ever since!

GERALD.

Well, well, uncle, you don't often come to see me; so we won't argue.

Can I prevail on you to stay to tea?

COLONEL.

To stay to _what,_ sir?

GERALD.

Tea. At five o'clock, I have a few friends coming. Mrs.

Sylvester--[_SYLVESTER puts down photograph and turns_]--Miss Bethune--Miss Vivash----

SYLVESTER.

And Dr. Mary Bevan?

GERALD.

Yes, I expect Miss Bevan.

COLONEL.

"Naked and Unashamed?"

GERALD.

They may bring Percy with them.

COLONEL.

Percy?