L. Let me see a little of it first. Dancing is the first of girls'
virtues.
EGYPT. Indeed! And the second?
L. Dressing.
EGYPT. Now, you needn't say that! I mended that tear the first
thing before breakfast this morning.
L. I cannot otherwise express the ethical principle, Egypt;
whether you have mended your gown or not.
DORA. Now don't be tiresome. We really must hear about virtue,
please; seriously.
L. Well. I'm telling you about it, as fast as I can.
DORA. What! the first of girls' virtues is dancing?
L. More accurately, it is wishing to dance, and not wishing to
tease, nor hear about virtue.
DORA (to EGYPT). Isn't he cross?
EGYPT. How many balls must we go to in the season, to be perfectly
virtuous?
L. As many as you can without losing your color. But I did not say
you should wish to go to balls. I said you should be always
wanting to dance.
EGYPT. So we do; but everybody says it is very wrong.
L. Why, Egypt, I thought--
"There was a lady once,
That would not be a queen,--that would she not,
For all the mud in Egypt."
You were complaining the other day of having to go out a great
deal oftener than you liked.
EGYPT. Yes, so I was; but then, it isn't to dance. There's no room
to dance: it's--(Pausing to consider what it is for).
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