, sir.

BOBBY. Not for you, perhaps. But youre only a footman. I'm a gentleman.

MRS GILBEY. Dont dare to speak disrespectfully to Mr Rudolph, Bobby. For
shame!

JUGGINS. [coming forward to the middle of the table] It is not
gentlemanly to regard the service of your country as disgraceful. It is
gentlemanly to marry the lady you make love to.

GILBEY. [aghast] My boy is to marry this woman and be a social outcast!

JUGGINS. Your boy and Miss Delaney will be inexorably condemned by
respectable society to spend the rest of their days in precisely the
sort of company they seem to like best and be most at home in.

KNOX. And my daughter? Whos to marry my daughter?

JUGGINS. Your daughter, sir, will probably marry whoever she makes up
her mind to marry. She is a lady of very determined character.

KNOX. Yes: if he'd have her with her character gone. But who would?
Youre the brother of a duke. Would--

BOBBY. | Whats that?
|
MARGARET. | Juggins a duke?
|
DUVALLET. | _Comment!_
|
DORA. | What did I tell you?

KNOX. Yes: the brother of a duke: thats what he is. [To Juggins] Well,
would you marry her?

JUGGINS. I was about to propose that solution of your problem, Mr Knox.

MRS GILBEY. | Well I never!
|
KNOX. | D'ye mean it?
|
MRS KNOX. | Marry Margaret!

JUGGINS. [continuing] As an idle younger son, unable to support myself,
or even to remain in the Guards in competition with the grandsons of
American millionaires, I could not have aspired to Miss Knox's hand. But
as a sober, honest, and industrious domestic servant, who has, I trust,
given satisfaction to his employer [he bows to Mr Gilbey] I feel I am a
man with a character. It is for Miss Knox to decide.

MARGARET. I got into a frightful row once for admiring you, Rudolph.

JUGGINS. I should have got into an equally frightful row myself, Miss,
had I betrayed my admiration for you. I looked forward to those weekly
dinners.

MRS KNOX. But why did a gentleman like you stoop to be a footman?

DORA. He stooped to conquer.

MARGARET. Shut up, Dora: I want to hear.

JUGGINS. I will explain; but only Mrs Knox will understand. I once
insulted a servant--rashly; for he was a sincere Christian. He rebuked
me for trifling with a girl of his own class. I told him to remember
what he was, and to whom he was speaking. He said God would remember. I
disch