Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw (the mitten read aloud .txt) š
Download in Format:
- Author: George Bernard Shaw
Book online Ā«Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw (the mitten read aloud .txt) šĀ». Author George Bernard Shaw
the ottoman and its cushions, supply all the ornament, and are much too handsome to be hidden by odds and ends of useless things. A few good oil paintings from the exhibitions in the Grosvenor Gallery thirty years ago (the Burne Jones, not the Whistler side of them) are on the walls. The only landscape is a Cecil Lawson on the scale of a Rubens. There is a portrait of Mrs. Higgins as she was when she defied fashion in her youth in one of the beautiful Rossettian costumes which, when caricatured by people who did not understand, led to the absurdities of popular estheticism in the eighteen-seventies.
In the corner diagonally opposite the door Mrs. Higgins, now over sixty and long past taking the trouble to dress out of the fashion, sits writing at an elegantly simple writing-table with a bell button within reach of her hand. There is a Chippendale chair further back in the room between her and the window nearest her side. At the other side of the room, further forward, is an Elizabethan chair roughly carved in the taste of Inigo Jones. On the same side a piano in a decorated case. The corner between the fireplace and the window is occupied by a divan cushioned in Morris chintz.
It is between four and five in the afternoon. The door is opened violently; and Higgins enters with his hat on. Mrs. Higgins Dismayed. Henry! Scolding him. What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come. As he bends to kiss her, she takes his hat off, and presents it to him. Higgins Oh bother! He throws the hat down on the table. Mrs. Higgins Go home at once. Higgins Kissing her. I know, mother. I came on purpose. Mrs. Higgins But you mustnāt. Iām serious, Henry. You offend all my friends: they stop coming whenever they meet you. Higgins Nonsense! I know I have no small talk; but people donāt mind. He sits on the settee. Mrs. Higgins Oh! donāt they? Small talk indeed! What about your large talk? Really, dear, you mustnāt stay. Higgins I must. Iāve a job for you. A phonetic job. Mrs. Higgins No use, dear. Iām sorry; but I canāt get round your vowels; and though I like to get pretty postcards in your patent shorthand, I always have to read the copies in ordinary writing you so thoughtfully send me. Higgins Well, this isnāt a phonetic job. Mrs. Higgins You said it was. Higgins Not your part of it. Iāve picked up a girl. Mrs. Higgins Does that mean that some girl has picked you up? Higgins Not at all. I donāt mean a love affair. Mrs. Higgins What a pity! Higgins Why? Mrs. Higgins Well, you never fall in love with anyone under forty-five. When will you discover that there are some rather nice-looking young women about? Higgins Oh, I canāt be bothered with young women. My idea of a loveable woman is something as like you as possible. I shall never get into the way of seriously liking young women: some habits lie too deep to be changed. Rising abruptly and walking about, jingling his money and his keys in his trouser pockets. Besides, theyāre all idiots. Mrs. Higgins Do you know what you would do if you really loved me, Henry? Higgins Oh bother! What? Marry, I suppose? Mrs. Higgins No. Stop fidgeting and take your hands out of your pockets. With a gesture of despair, he obeys and sits down again. Thatās a good boy. Now tell me about the girl. Higgins Sheās coming to see you. Mrs. Higgins I donāt remember asking her. Higgins You didnāt. I asked her. If youād known her you wouldnāt have asked her. Mrs. Higgins Indeed! Why? Higgins Well, itās like this. Sheās a common flower girl. I picked her off the kerbstone. Mrs. Higgins And invited her to my at-home! Higgins Rising and coming to her to coax her. Oh, thatāll be all right. Iāve taught her to speak properly; and she has strict orders as to her behavior. Sheās to keep to two subjects: the weather and everybodyās healthā āFine day and How do you do, you knowā āand not to let herself go on things in general. That will be safe. Mrs. Higgins Safe! To talk about our health! about our insides! perhaps about our outsides! How could you be so silly, Henry? Higgins Impatiently. Well, she must talk about something. He controls himself and sits down again. Oh, sheāll be all right: donāt you fuss. Pickering is in it with me. Iāve a sort of bet on that Iāll pass her off as a duchess in six months. I started on her some months ago; and sheās getting on like a house on fire. I shall win my bet. She has a quick ear; and sheās been easier to teach than my middle-class pupils because sheās had to learn a complete new language. She talks English almost as you talk French. Mrs. Higgins Thatās satisfactory, at all events. Higgins Well, it is and it isnāt. Mrs. Higgins What does that mean? Higgins You see, Iāve got her pronunciation all right; but you have to consider not only how a girl pronounces, but what she pronounces; and thatās whereā ā They are interrupted by The Parlormaid, announcing guests. The Parlormaid Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill. She withdraws. Higgins Oh Lord! He rises; snatches his hat from the table; and makes for the door; but before he reaches it his mother introduces him. Mrs. and Miss Eynsford Hill are the mother and daughter who sheltered from the rain in Covent Garden. The mother is well bred, quiet, and has the habitual anxiety of straitened means. The daughter has acquired a gay air of being very much at home in society: the bravado of genteel poverty. Mrs. Eynsford Hill To Mrs. Higgins. How do you do? They shake hands. Miss Eynsford Hill How dāyou do? She shakes. Mrs. Higgins Introducing. My son Henry. Mrs. Eynsford Hill Your celebrated son! I have so longed to meet you, Professor Higgins. Higgins Glumly, making no movement in her direction. Delighted. He backs against the piano and bows brusquely. Miss EynsfordFree ebook Ā«Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw (the mitten read aloud .txt) šĀ» - read online now
Similar e-books:
Comments (0)