Jack and Algernon: the cigarette case

AlgernonHow are you, my dear Ernest? What brings you up to town?

JackOh, pleasure, pleasure! What else should bring one anywhere? Eating as usual, I see, Algy!

Algernon[Stiffly.] I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o’clock. Where have you been since last Thursday?

Jack[Sitting down on the sofa.] In the country.

AlgernonWhat on earth do you do there?

Jack[Pulling off his gloves.] When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

AlgernonAnd who are the people you amuse?

Jack[Airily.] Oh, neighbours, neighbours.

AlgernonGot nice neighbours in your part of Shropshire?

JackPerfectly horrid! Never speak to one of them.

AlgernonHow immensely you must amuse them! [Goes over and takes sandwich.] By the way, Shropshire is your county, is it not?

JackEh? Shropshire? Yes, of course. Hallo! Why all these cups? Why cucumber sandwiches? Why such reckless extravagance in one so young? Who is coming to tea?

AlgernonOh! merely Aunt Augusta and Gwendolen.

JackHow perfectly delightful!

AlgernonYes, that is all very well; but I am afraid Aunt Augusta won’t quite approve of your being here.

JackMay I ask why?

AlgernonMy dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you.

JackI am in love with Gwendolen. I have come up to town expressly to propose to her.

AlgernonI thought you had come up for pleasure? . . . I call that business.

JackHow utterly unromantic you are!

AlgernonI really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.

JackI have no doubt about that, dear Algy. The Divorce Court was specially invented for people whose memories are so curiously constituted.

AlgernonOh! there is no use speculating on that subject. Divorces are made in Heaven—[Jack puts out his hand to take a sandwich. Algernon at once interferes.] Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered specially for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it.]

JackWell, you have been eating them all the time.

AlgernonThat is quite a different matter. She is my aunt. [Takes plate from below.] Have some bread and butter. The bread and butter is for Gwendolen. Gwendolen is devoted to bread and butter.

Jack[Advancing to table and helping himself.] And very good bread and butter it is too.

AlgernonWell, my dear fellow, you need not eat as if you were going to eat it all. You behave as if you were married to her already. You are not married to her already, and I don’t think you ever will be.

JackWhy on earth do you say that?

AlgernonWell, in the first place girls never marry the men they flirt with. Girls don’t think it right.

JackOh, that is nonsense!

AlgernonIt isn’t. It is a great truth. It accounts for the extraordinary number of bachelors that one sees all over the place. In the second place, I don’t give my consent.

JackYour consent!

AlgernonMy dear fellow, Gwendolen is my first cousin. And before I allow you to marry her, you will have to clear up the whole question of Cecily. [Rings bell.]

JackCecily! What on earth do you mean? What do you mean, Algy, by Cecily! I don’t know any one of the name of Cecily.

[Enter Lane.]

AlgernonBring me that cigarette case Mr. Worthing left in the smoking-room the last time he dined here.

LaneYes, sir. [Lane goes out.]

JackDo you mean to say you have had my cigarette case all this time? I wish to goodness you had let me know. I have been writing frantic letters to Scotland Yard about it. I was very nearly offering a large reward.