)
I'm sorry you wish Captain Kearney to understand that I am an
untruthful witness.
SIR HOWARD. No: but--
LADY CICELY. Very well, then: please don't say things that convey
that impression.
KEARNEY. But Sir Howard told me yesterday that Captain Brassbound
threatened to sell him into slavery.
LADY CICELY (springing up again). Did Sir Howard tell you the
things he said about Captain Brassbound's mother? (Renewed
sensation.) I told you they quarrelled, Captain Kearney. I said
so, didn't I?
REDBROOK (crisply). Distinctly. (Drinkwater opens his mouth to
corroborate.) Shut up, you fool.
LADY CICELY. Of course I did. Now, Captain Kearney, do YOU want
me--does Sir Howard want me--does ANYBODY want me to go into the
details of that shocking family quarrel? Am I to stand here in the
absence of any individual of my own sex and repeat the language of
two angry men?
KEARNEY (rising impressively). The United States navy will have no
hahnd in offering any violence to the pure instincts of womanhood.
Lady Waynflete: I thahnk you for the delicacy with which you have
given your evidence. (Lady Cicely beams on him gratefully and sits
down triumphant.) Captain Brassbound: I shall not hold you
respawnsible for what you may have said when the English bench
addressed you in the language of the English forecastle-- (Sir
Howard is about to protest.) No, Sir Howard Hallam: excuse ME.
In moments of pahssion I have called a man that myself.
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