e
house.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [raising a strange wail in the darkness]. What a house!
What a daughter!

MRS HUSHABYE [raving]. What a father!

HECTOR [following suit]. What a husband!

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. Is there no thunder in heaven?

HECTOR. Is there no beauty, no bravery, on earth?

MRS HUSHABYE. What do men want? They have their food, their firesides,
their clothes mended, and our love at the end of the day. Why are they
not satisfied? Why do they envy us the pain with which we bring them
into the world, and make strange dangers and torments for themselves to
be even with us?

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER [weirdly chanting].

I builded a house for my daughters, and opened the doors
thereof,
That men might come for their choosing, and their betters
spring from their love;
But one of them married a numskull;

HECTOR [taking up the rhythm].

The other a liar wed;

MRS HUSHABYE [completing the stanza].

And now must she lie beside him, even as she made her bed.

LADY UTTERWORD [calling from the garden]. Hesione! Hesione! Where are
you?

HECTOR. The cat is on the tiles.

MRS HUSHABYE. Coming, darling, coming [she goes quickly into the
garden].

The captain goes back to his place at the table.

HECTOR [going out into the hall]. Shall I turn up the lights for you?

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. No. Give me deeper darkness. Money is not made in the
light.

ACT II

The same room, with the lights turned up and the curtains drawn. Ellie
comes in, followed by Mangan. Both are dressed for dinner. She strolls
to the drawing-table. He comes between the table and the wicker chair.

MANGAN. What a dinner! I don't call it a dinner: I call it a meal.

ELLIE. I am accustomed to meals, Mr Mangan, and very lucky to get them.
Besides, the captain cooked some maccaroni for me.

MANGAN [shuddering liverishly]. Too rich: I can't eat such things. I
suppose it's because I have to work so much with my brain. That's the
worst of being a man of business: you are always thinking, thinking,
thinking. By the way, now that we are alone, may I take the opportunity
to come to a little understanding with you?

ELLIE [settling into the draughtsman's seat]. Certainly. I should like
to.

MANGAN [taken aback]. Should you? That surprises me; for I thought I
noticed this afternoon that you avoided me all you could. Not for the
first time either.

ELLIE. I was very tired and upset. I wasn't