s man, has tried
to undress himself and has failed ignominiously; whilst you, as an
idealist, have succeeded brilliantly.

MAZZINI. I hope you don't mind my being like this, Mrs Hushabye. [He
sits down on the campstool].

MRS HUSHABYE. On the contrary, I could wish you always like that.

LADY UTTERWORD. Your daughter's match is off, Mr Dunn. It seems that Mr
Mangan, whom we all supposed to be a man of property, owns absolutely
nothing.

MAZZINI. Well, of course I knew that, Lady Utterword. But if people
believe in him and are always giving him money, whereas they don't
believe in me and never give me any, how can I ask poor Ellie to depend
on what I can do for her?

MANGAN. Don't you run away with this idea that I have nothing. I--

HECTOR. Oh, don't explain. We understand. You have a couple of thousand
pounds in exchequer bills, 50,000 shares worth tenpence a dozen, and
half a dozen tabloids of cyanide of potassium to poison yourself with
when you are found out. That's the reality of your millions.

MAZZINI. Oh no, no, no. He is quite honest: the businesses are genuine
and perfectly legal.

HECTOR [disgusted]. Yah! Not even a great swindler!

MANGAN. So you think. But I've been too many for some honest men, for
all that.

LADY UTTERWORD. There is no pleasing you, Mr Mangan. You are determined
to be neither rich nor poor, honest nor dishonest.

MANGAN. There you go again. Ever since I came into this silly house I
have been made to look like a fool, though I'm as good a man in this
house as in the city.

ELLIE [musically]. Yes: this silly house, this strangely happy house,
this agonizing house, this house without foundations. I shall call it
Heartbreak House.

MRS HUSHABYE. Stop, Ellie; or I shall howl like an animal.

MANGAN [breaks into a low snivelling]!!!

MRS HUSAHBYE. There! you have set Alfred off.

ELLIE. I like him best when he is howling.

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. Silence! [Mangan subsides into silence]. I say, let
the heart break in silence.

HECTOR. Do you accept that name for your house?

CAPTAIN SHOTOVER. It is not my house: it is only my kennel.

HECTOR. We have been too long here. We do not live in this house: we
haunt it.

LADY UTTERWORD [heart torn]. It is dreadful to think how you have been
here all these years while I have gone round the world. I escaped young;
but it has drawn me back. It wants to break my heart too. But it shan't.
I have left you and it behind. It was silly of m