know about life or about people like me? When did
they ever meet me, or speak to me, or let anyone tell them about me? the
fools! Would they ever have done anything for you if I hadn't paid them?
Havn't I told you that I want you to be respectable? Havn't I brought you
up to be respectable? And how can you keep it up without my money and my
influence and Lizzie's friends? Can't you see that youre cutting your own
throat as well as breaking my heart in turning your back on me?

VIVIE. I recognize the Crofts philosophy of life, mother. I heard it all
from him that day at the Gardners'.

MRS WARREN. You think I want to force that played-out old sot on you! I
don't, Vivie: on my oath I don't.

VIVIE. It would not matter if you did: you would not succeed. [Mrs
Warren winces, deeply hurt by the implied indifference towards her
affectionate intention. Vivie, neither understanding this nor concerning
herself about it, goes on calmly] Mother: you don't at all know the sort
of person I am. I don't object to Crofts more than to any other coarsely
built man of his class. To tell you the truth, I rather admire him
for being strongminded enough to enjoy himself in his own way and
make plenty of money instead of living the usual shooting, hunting,
dining-out, tailoring, loafing life of his set merely because all
the rest do it. And I'm perfectly aware that if I'd been in the same
circumstances as my aunt Liz, I'd have done exactly what she did.

I don't think I'm more prejudiced or straitlaced than you: I think
I'm less. I'm certain I'm less sentimental. I know very well that
fashionable morality is all a pretence, and that if I took your money
and devoted the rest of my life to spending it fashionably, I might be
as worthless and vicious as the silliest woman could possibly be without
having a word said to me about it. But I don't want to be worthless. I
shouldn't enjoy trotting about the park to advertize my dressmaker
and carriage builder, or being bored at the opera to shew off a
shopwindowful of diamonds.

MRS WARREN [bewildered] But--

VIVIE. Wait a moment: I've not done. Tell me why you continue your
business now that you are independent of it. Your sister, you told me,
has left all that behind her. Why don't you do the same?

MRS WARREN. Oh, it's all very easy for Liz: she likes good society, and
has the air of being a lady. Imagine _me_ in a cathedral town! Why, the
very rooks in the trees would find me out even if I c