Pygmalion

MRS. HIGGINS [rising] I'll order the carriage and get ready. [The men

rise, except Higgins]. I shan't be more than fifteen minutes. [As she

goes to the door Eliza comes in, hatted and buttoning her gloves]. I'm

going to the church to see your father married, Eliza. You had better

come in the brougham with me. Colonel Pickering can go on with the

bridegroom.

Mrs. Higgins goes out. Eliza comes to the middle of the room between

the centre window and the ottoman. Pickering joins her.

DOOLITTLE. Bridegroom! What a word! It makes a man realize his

position, somehow. [He takes up his hat and goes towards the door].

PICKERING. Before I go, Eliza, do forgive him and come back to us.

LIZA. I don't think papa would allow me. Would you, dad?

DOOLITTLE [sad but magnanimous] They played you off very cunning,

Eliza, them two sportsmen. If it had been only one of them, you could

have nailed him. But you see, there was two; and one of them chaperoned

the other, as you might say. [To Pickering] It was artful of you,

Colonel; but I bear no malice: I should have done the same myself. I

been the victim of one woman after another all my life; and I don't

grudge you two getting the better of Eliza. I shan't interfere. It's

time for us to go, Colonel. So long, Henry. See you in St. George's,

Eliza. [He goes out].

PICKERING [coaxing] Do stay with us, Eliza. [He follows Doolittle].

Eliza goes out on the balcony to avoid being alone with Higgins. He

rises and joins her there. She immediately comes back into the room and

makes for the door; but he goes along the balcony quickly and gets his

back to the door before she reaches it.

HIGGINS. Well, Eliza, you've had a bit of your own back, as you call

it. Have you had enough? and are you going to be reasonable? Or do you

want any more?

LIZA. You want me back only to pick up your slippers and put up with

your tempers and fetch and carry for you.

HIGGINS. I haven't said I wanted you back at all.

LIZA. Oh, indeed. Then what are we talking about?

HIGGINS. About you, not about me. If you come back I shall treat you

just as I have always treated you. I can't change my nature; and I

don't intend to change my manners. My manners are exactly the same as

Colonel Pickering's.

LIZA. That's not true. He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess.

HIGGINS. And I treat a duchess as if she was a flower girl.