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(0, 1) 6 |
Hullo! |
(0, 1) 7 |
Morley. |
(0, 1) 8 |
Glad to see you. |
(0, 1) 9 |
You're as welcome as the sign of a "pub" to a thirsty man. |
(0, 1) 10 |
Have you got a new play for me? |
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(Morley) There's nothing new under the sun, Branscombe. |
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(Morley) I've got something for you, but I haven't the courage to call it a play. |
(0, 1) 13 |
What is it then─a dirge or a comic song? |
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(Morley) A hotch-potch written to your order; a fret-work of silliness, with more fret than sense. |
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(Morley) A hotch-potch written to your order; a fret-work of silliness, with more fret than sense. |
(0, 1) 15 |
It sounds good. |
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(Morley) I'm sorry you think so. |
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(Morley) I wish you would produce that other little play of mine, "The Real Thing." |
(0, 1) 18 |
That sentimental oozing from a sickly soul, with four people in it? |
(0, 1) 19 |
Never! |
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(Morley) It's strong, emotional, human. |
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(Morley) It's strong, emotional, human. |
(0, 1) 21 |
Managers wouldn't look at it. |
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(Morley) They are not all such fools as you think. |
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(Morley) They don't all shout the parrot-cry, "Comedy, comedy, and nothing but comedy." |
(0, 1) 24 |
No─some of 'em shout "Drivel," and the rest shout "Farce," or "Amen." |
(0, 1) 25 |
You've got to mix the wildly improbable with the infinitely ridiculous, put it into my serious mouth, and it'll come out in golden drops of mirth. |
(0, 1) 26 |
Let's see the hotch-potch. |
(0, 1) 27 |
If it's a monologue for me, it's all right. |
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(Morley) {Tosses MS. to BRANSCOMBE.} |
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(Morley) There it is, written down to your level. |
(0, 1) 30 |
Tut! tut! you're always in the clouds. |
(0, 1) 31 |
I can make anything go down with a gurgle, if it's written round my personality. |
(0, 1) 32 |
The public, bless 'em! come to see me, not the play. |
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(Morley) True! you are more substantial than the play, and an intellectual appeal has no chance in a physical competition. |
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(Morley) True! you are more substantial than the play, and an intellectual appeal has no chance in a physical competition. |
(0, 1) 34 |
All right, old man, don't get cynical. |
(0, 1) 35 |
It isn't natural at your time of life. |
(0, 1) 36 |
You can take it from me that the great B.P. don't want emotions and tears, but action and laughter. |
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(Morley) Then why the deuce don't you caper about the stage with a set of dummies, and leave real plays for fools to perform? |
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(0, 1) 39 |
Not a bad idea! |
(0, 1) 40 |
Can you suggest a few details for such a masterpiece? |
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(Morley) {Savagely.} |
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(Morley) Tie a bladder to a stick, belabour a fellow in an ass's skin, and drive home the moral on a big drum. |
(0, 1) 44 |
A cheap orchestra, by jove! |
(0, 1) 45 |
Why, they'd roar themselves hoarse at such a show. |
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(Morley) There are some people who laugh at the stolid glint in the eye of a pig; who's world is his stomach and whose life is a grunt. |
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(0, 1) 48 |
My dear old chap, people must have bacon, and they must laugh; and if they don't find drama to their taste, why on earth shouldn't they have pigs and squeals? |
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(Morley) They don't want pig. |
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(Morley) You don't even try to make it up into decent sausage. |
(0, 1) 52 |
Who's responsible, I'd like to know? |
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(Morley) Just a few misguided men, who think the British Public has no morals, men who only have a nose for filth. |
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(Morley) I wish to the lord we had a real Censor. |
(0, 1) 56 |
My dear Morley, draw it mild. |
(0, 1) 57 |
Don't let the pot boil over, or you'll scald yourself. |
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(Morley) I'll have my say, if I die for it. |
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(Morley) I'll have my say, if I die for it. |
(0, 1) 59 |
You are too altruistic for this sinful world, my son. |
(0, 1) 60 |
The wise man smokes shag when he can't rise to a cigar. |
(0, 1) 61 |
Take my tip, and make the best of pig. |
(0, 1) 62 |
Break out in A Monologue for me, fling sentiment to the dogs, and there you are. |
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(Morley) I can't do it. |
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(Morley) Write an Epistle to the Public; declaim it from the stage, with antics to suit the words, and see what'll come of it. {Throws himself into a chair.} |
(0, 1) 70 |
I'll do it! |
(0, 1) 71 |
I'll give 'em Branscombe up to date! |
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(0, 1) 73 |
Look here! if I got on that chair, and held up my leg by the hem of my trousers, and the thing ripped {imitates ripping cloth} they'd scream themselves hoarse. |
(0, 1) 74 |
The curious thing is, if you did it, they wouldn't laugh at all, because yeu couldn't put your soul into it. |
(0, 1) 75 |
It's personality does it. |
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(Morley) A unique personality to put his soul into the leg of his trousers. |
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(0, 1) 79 |
You're getting on! |
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(Morley) A play must have balance, Branscombe, and the balance of a man on one leg is precarious, to say the least of it. |
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(Morley) A play must have balance, Branscombe, and the balance of a man on one leg is precarious, to say the least of it. |
(0, 1) 81 |
It would give you a balance at the bank, and that's the only balance that matters. |
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(Morley) What about self-respect─reputation? |
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(0, 1) 84 |
in the flat of his hand.} |
(0, 1) 85 |
Reputation! |
(0, 1) 86 |
You talk about reputation─you─who dare to cut me up─me─into the fourth part of a quartette. |
(0, 1) 87 |
Have I climbed to fame to be smothered, overlain, by this quadrigenarious quartette? |
(0, 1) 88 |
I'll show you how to write a play. |
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(Morley) It won't be worth the bray of an ass when you have done with it. |
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(Morley) It won't be worth the bray of an ass when you have done with it. |
(0, 1) 90 |
Apologise, you brute! |
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(Morley) Well, it will be worth the bray of an ass, and that's about all. |
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(0, 1) 95 |
What do you think of that for a bit of critic's work? |
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(Morley) {Glancing at the play.} |
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(Morley) The soul has been struck out of it, and there's only flesh left. |
(0, 1) 99 |
The bigger the folly, the bigger the laugh. |
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(Morley) The world lives to laugh now and cry later on. |
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(Morley) The world lives to laugh now and cry later on. |
(0, 1) 101 |
It's good to laugh 'till you cry. |
(0, 1) 102 |
Give me the book. |
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(0, 1) 104 |
Here we are! |
(0, 1) 105 |
I'll do the big part, and you throw in interjections, to keep me going. |
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(Morley) But there's a girl in it. |
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(Morley) If you do, there'!l be something unprintable said. |
(0, 1) 109 |
Good! |
(0, 1) 110 |
That'll tickle the gallery. |
(0, 1) 111 |
Here, sit down and take notes in shorthand. |
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(0, 1) 113 |
We'll give her a line or two to keep her quiet. |
(0, 1) 114 |
H'm! |
(0, 1) 115 |
~ |
(0, 1) 116 |
I'm a Judge, about to sentence a prisoner for larceny. |
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(0, 1) 118 |
Notice the attitude and the judicial cough. |
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(0, 1) 120 |
Eleanor Rachel Smart. |
(0, 1) 121 |
No, that won't do. |
(0, 1) 122 |
She musn't be smart at the very start. |
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(Morley) For Heaven's sake! don't make bad jokes. |
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(Morley) For Heaven's sake! don't make bad jokes. |
(0, 1) 124 |
Our best judge does it─poor "darling"!─ahem! |
(0, 1) 125 |
Always gas, dear boy, when there's a vacuum to be filled. |
(0, 1) 126 |
It catches the B.P. under the fifth rib, gastric gurgle, you know. |
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(Morley) Oh, get on, and don't drag in physiology; there's enough beastliness in plays without that. |
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(Morley) Oh, get on, and don't drag in physiology; there's enough beastliness in plays without that. |
(0, 1) 128 |
Fastidious youth! |
(0, 1) 129 |
Attention! |
(0, 1) 130 |
Scene one:─Prisoner at the bar, you are accused of stealing {fumbles with the pages} stealing─ |
(0, 1) 131 |
There's no reference here to the article purloined. |
(0, 1) 132 |
The indictment is bad in law, worse than the offence in morals. |
(0, 1) 133 |
The Johnnie who fuddled it up ought to be sentenced to six months in the bubbly bottle division, lemonade side. |
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(Morley) Do be serious! |
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(Morley) The girl {points to page} there is accused of stealing bank notes from her employer's safe. |
(0, 1) 136 |
Rot! |
(0, 1) 137 |
If the safe was safe, she couldn't steal 'em. |
(0, 1) 138 |
No, it was a gold locket; from her lover, heart shaped, of course. |
(0, 1) 139 |
He gave it her as a pledge of something or other. |
(0, 1) 140 |
They quarrelled, and he forgot. |
(0, 1) 141 |
Portia defends herself─through me─and turns the tables on the unsafe safe-maker and the lost memory mortal, and gets compensation from the government. |
(0, 1) 142 |
Work in a joke about pledges─my Uncle's pawn-ticket─see? |
(0, 1) 143 |
I can make a lot out of that. |
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(Morley) I thought "Uncle" usually made the profit. |
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(Morley) I thought "Uncle" usually made the profit. |
(0, 1) 145 |
What's the odds, so long as I make the jokes? |
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(Morley) You can't joke in a Court of Law. |
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(Morley) You can't joke in a Court of Law. |
(0, 1) 147 |
You can do anything in a Court of Mono-law-g, dear boy. |
(0, 1) 148 |
You can commit a judge for contempt of court; make the jury sing comic songs; criticise the critics; and make every fellow see himself as he ought not to be. |
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(Morley) You seem to have got your ideas from the funny man in the bar of a pub on Saturday night. |
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(Morley) You seem to have got your ideas from the funny man in the bar of a pub on Saturday night. |
(0, 1) 150 |
The spirit speaks─what! |
(0, 1) 151 |
"Hi, waiter! |
(0, 1) 152 |
Three pen'oth o' gin 'ot: an' I'll toss yer who pyes." |
(0, 1) 153 |
I get my laugh, hurry back to the Seat of Justice, dab my nose with red, and let the gin speak. |
(0, 1) 154 |
A pal at the back throws a cabbage at me, by way of fraternal greeting, and the court missionary presents the peeress in the dock with a red rose, peppered with snuff, the emblem of tears. |
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(Morley) Branscombe, old chap, your mind is wandering. |
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(Morley) Branscombe, old chap, your mind is wandering. |
(0, 1) 156 |
Lottery-tottery; but what matter? |
(0, 1) 157 |
The peeress in the dock sniffs the snuff in the red rose, gets into wild hysterics, and the court missionary swears by all the demons of ruddy ruin─ |
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(Morley) Stop, stop! |
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(Morley) Missionaries don't swear. |
(0, 1) 160 |
My missionary does. |
(0, 1) 161 |
He's not a common missionary. |
(0, 1) 162 |
The noble judge comforts the pretty peeress and encourages her to hold the snuffy rose under the missionary's nose, until he dies sneezing. |
(0, 1) 163 |
Talk about poetical justice! |
(0, 1) 164 |
What do you say to that? |
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(Morley) It's the most crazy thing ever imagined out of Bedlam. |
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(Morley) It's the most crazy thing ever imagined out of Bedlam. |
(0, 1) 166 |
What's crazy to you will be a craze to the B.P. |
(0, 1) 167 |
Don't be jealous! |
(0, 1) 168 |
You shall have all the credit, and it'll make you infamous! |
(0, 1) 169 |
Observe. |
(0, 1) 170 |
Nobody speaks but me in this monologue. |
(0, 1) 171 |
The missionary and the maid move only when I pull the strings. |
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(Morley) {Laughing.} |
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(Morley) lf I didn't know you, I should say you'd got acute "D.T.'s." |
(0, 1) 174 |
The B.P. understand D.T.'s; they don't understand the higher ethics. |
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(0, 1) 176 |
Pshaw! |
(0, 1) 177 |
The beastly thing has got tangled up. |
(0, 1) 178 |
It was you chippin' in that spoiled it all. |
(0, 1) 179 |
Never mind! it'll stand for all time as a mighty intellectual effort. |
(0, 1) 180 |
Give me a whiskey and soda and help yourself. |
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(0, 1) 182 |
We've done a jolly good morning's work. |
(0, 1) 183 |
We deserve a drink. |
(0, 1) 184 |
Here's success to The Monologue! |
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(Morley) May it be buried twenty thousand fathoms deep in the dead sea! |
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(Morley) If you'd only put on "The Real Thing," and get away from your past. |
(0, 1) 188 |
Dear boy! my past is my repast, I live on it. |
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(0, 1) 190 |
There's a knock at the door. |
(0, 1) 191 |
Come in! |
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(Geraldine) {Letters in her hand.} |
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(Morley) You! |
(0, 1) 203 |
You appear to know my Secretary, Morley? |
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(Morley) Yes. |
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(Geraldine) I─I'm afraid to tell you─you would condemn me, too, and I─I couldn't bear it (sobs). |
(0, 1) 234 |
I'll leave you, Morley. |
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(0, 1) 236 |
Poor little girl! |
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(0, 1) 261 |
The Police Court? |
(0, 1) 262 |
What on earth does she mean, Morley? |
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(Morley) Hush! |
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(Geraldine) {Almost collapses.} |
(0, 1) 272 |
I say, this is very distressing, Morley. |
(0, 1) 273 |
I don't know what to─to─ |
(0, 1) 274 |
Oh, damn it! I'm going to stand by you. |
(0, 1) 275 |
Can't you see that you are torturing her? |
(0, 1) 276 |
What right have you to ask her to bare her soul to you? |
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(Morley) She─is─my─wife. |
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(Morley) She─is─my─wife. |
(0, 1) 278 |
Your wife! |
(0, 1) 279 |
Forgive me, old fellow. |
(0, 1) 280 |
I'll go; she may speak more freely when you are alone. |
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(0, 1) 282 |
Poor little girl! |
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(Morley) Stay, Branscombe. |
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(Geraldine) {Rests her head on her hand, loses herself in thought.} |
(0, 1) 293 |
Come, Miss─Mrs. Morley, we are both your friends, and we're going to see you through. |
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(0, 1) 295 |
Tell us all about it. |
(0, 1) 296 |
We'll find a way to straighten things out, you bet. |
(0, 1) 297 |
There's my hand. |
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(Geraldine) One of the missing notes and a skeleton key were found in my desk. |
(0, 1) 322 |
Ah! |
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(Morley) Some enemy must have put them there. |
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(Morley) Some enemy must have put them there. |
(0, 1) 324 |
Go on, Miss─Mrs. Morley. |
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(Geraldine) They said I had opened the safe with the skeleton key, and stolen the notes. |
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(0, 1) 369 |
Pshaw! pooh! |
(0, 1) 370 |
What a fool I am! |
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(0, 1) 373 |
A damn rotten business I call it. |
(0, 1) 374 |
Somebody ought to be shot. |
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(0, 1) 378 |
Eh! what! |
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(0, 1) 380 |
You've soon got over it! |
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(0, 1) 382 |
What the deuce is there to laugh about? |
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(Morley) My little plays generally end in a laugh. |
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(Morley) My little plays generally end in a laugh. |
(0, 1) 384 |
Your little plays! |
(0, 1) 385 |
You're funny, aren't you? |
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(Morley) {Coming down centre.} |
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(Morley) How do you like it? |
(0, 1) 391 |
Like it? |
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(0, 1) 393 |
I feel inclined to break your neck. |
(0, 1) 394 |
You've taken an unfair advantage of me. |
(0, 1) 395 |
As for you, Mrs. Morley─ |
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(Geraldine) {Coming forward quickly, with a mischievous laugh.} |
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(Geraldine) Geraldine O'Connor, if you please. |
(0, 1) 398 |
The devil!─ |
(0, 1) 399 |
I beg your pardon. |
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(Morley) Can't you stretch a point, Miss Geraldine, and make my play a little more real? |
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(Morley) It would be The Real Thing─if you were really Mrs. Morley. |
(0, 1) 403 |
If it's a match, Morley, my boy, I'll produce your play with the same cast─as a wedding present. |
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(Morley) What about a Monologue for you? |
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(0, 1) 406 |
Shut up! |
(0, 1) 407 |
Miss O'Connor, the word's with you. |
(0, 1) 408 |
Is it a bargain? |