ly eat at all. Ellie
will diet him splendidly. You will be surprised when you come to know
him better: he is really the most helpless of mortals. You get quite a
protective feeling towards him.

MRS HUSHABYE. Then who manages his business, pray?

MAZZINI. I do. And of course other people like me.

MRS HUSHABYE. Footling people, you mean.

MAZZINI. I suppose you'd think us so.

MRS HUSHABYE. And pray why don't you do without him if you're all so
much cleverer?

MAZZINI. Oh, we couldn't: we should ruin the business in a year. I've
tried; and I know. We should spend too much on everything. We should
improve the quality of the goods and make them too dear. We should be
sentimental about the hard cases among the work people. But Mangan keeps
us in order. He is down on us about every extra halfpenny. We could
never do without him. You see, he will sit up all night thinking of how
to save sixpence. Won't Ellie make him jump, though, when she takes his
house in hand!

MRS HUSHABYE. Then the creature is a fraud even as a captain of
industry!

MAZZINI. I am afraid all the captains of industry are what you call
frauds, Mrs Hushabye. Of course there are some manufacturers who really
do understand their own works; but they don't make as high a rate of
profit as Mangan does. I assure you Mangan is quite a good fellow in his
way. He means well.

MRS HUSHABYE. He doesn't look well. He is not in his first youth, is he?

MAZZINI. After all, no husband is in his first youth for very long, Mrs
Hushabye. And men can't afford to marry in their first youth nowadays.

MRS HUSHABYE. Now if I said that, it would sound witty. Why can't you
say it wittily? What on earth is the matter with you? Why don't you
inspire everybody with confidence? with respect?

MAZZINI [humbly]. I think that what is the matter with me is that I am
poor. You don't know what that means at home. Mind: I don't say they
have ever complained. They've all been wonderful: they've been proud of
my poverty. They've even joked about it quite often. But my wife has had
a very poor time of it. She has been quite resigned--

MRS HUSHABYE [shuddering involuntarily!]

MAZZINI. There! You see, Mrs Hushabye. I don't want Ellie to live on
resignation.

MRS HUSHABYE. Do you want her to have to resign herself to living with a
man she doesn't love?

MAZZINI [wistfully]. Are you sure that would be worse than living with a
man she did love, if he was a footling person?