- Mabel Sabre: Conventions. Institutions. They're important. They're the foundation of our security, our peace of mind. I've never underrated their value.
- Nona Tyber: I had to come. Pleased?
- Mark Sabre: How do I look?
- Nona Tyber: Pleased. Almost as pleased as I am.
- Mr. Twyning: I didn't tell you before. I wanted it to come as a pleasant surprise.
- Mark Sabre: Did you? Yeah. Well, it's a surprise, all right.
- Natalie Bagshaw: How are you, Mark?
- Mark Sabre: Uh, marmalade, please.
- Natalie Bagshaw: Enjoying life?
- Mabel Sabre: Naturally. He's got me.
- Natalie Bagshaw: You mean you've got him. The poor man's so married he can scarcely move.
- Mabel Sabre: He doesn't want to move.
- Mr. Twyning: Sometimes still waters...
- [winks]
- Mr. Twyning: You know what I mean?
- Mr. Fortune: No, Twyning, I'm afraid I do not.
- Mr. Twyning: Well, that Mrs. Tybar just popped in to see him. She come out looking all stirred up like, if you know what I mean. Didn't there used to be a spot of something there?
- Mr. Twyning: I've been thinking, sir. In all our contracts, there's a whopping long paragraph that says the whole thing's null and void if we get up to any skylarking.
- Mr. Fortune: Ah, yes. The clause covering immorality. What's on your mind?
- Mr. Twyning: Sabre.
- Mark Sabre: You haven't told me what you've been doing.
- Nona Tyber: Oh, that. Oh, I've been around the world. It's a big place, a lot of people live on it. I met quite a few of 'em, liked some, didn't like others.
- Nona Tyber: Security. Peace of mind. You know, those are the very things that brought me back home, and they're going to keep me here forever. I hope.
- Nona Tyber: Is it wrong for us to tell each other what's in our hearts?
- Mark Sabre: Not if we keep it in our hearts and - never let it hurt anyone.
- Nona Tyber: Remember, a long time ago, you told me something. You said, "It sounds rather fine to say the world well lost for love, but, honor, honor's not well lost for anything."
- Mark Sabre: Did I say that? I must have been very wise then.
- Nona Tyber: I had to touch your hand to live in your world for a little while.
- Mark Sabre: My world? Where do you live?
- Nona Tyber: Oh, I don't live. I drift.
- Mark Sabre: Drift?
- Nona Tyber: The dictionary says of flotsam: "goods shipwrecked and found floating on the sea." When I read that, I crossed out "flotsam" and wrote "Nona." And don't dare say I'm feeling sorry for myself, because I am. But at least I know it.
- Mabel Sabre: Their job is to look after us. I didn't spend six solid months getting a staff together to have the whole thing upset by a war.
- Mark Sabre: Nor did Hitler.
- Nona Tyber: Sometimes I get the feeling that things are closing in.
- Mark Sabre: Shelley had something pretty comforting to say about that. Remember, "O wind, If winter comes." Give me your hand a moment, to help me hold onto the rest of those lines and believe them. "O wind, If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"
- Mark Sabre: Have you seen the paper, Low?
- Sarah, 'Low Jinks': Oh, yes, sir. Looks like war, don't it sir? But the milkman says it's going to be quite all right, sir.
- Mark Sabre: Oh, he does, does he.
- Sarah, 'Low Jinks': Oh, yes. Owing to the French having got this imaginary line.
- Mabel Sabre: Maginot line.
- Sarah, 'Low Jinks': That's it. George said we can all hide behind that till we're ready and then pop out and do 'em all in.
- Mark Sabre: Oh, well, thank you, Low. That's very reassuring.
- Mark Sabre: I have a job for Effie, if she wants it and if you approve. Friends of mine, wonderful people.
- Mr. Bright: What she needs is guidance and discipline in a God-fearing household.
- Sarah, 'Low Jinks': She's been turned out. Turned out bag and baggage by that father of her's.
- Mark Sabre: Turned out? Whatever for?
- Natalie Bagshaw: Oh, really Mark. Must you be so naive?
- Sarah, 'Low Jinks': She's going to have a baby, sir.
- Natalie Bagshaw: On the wrong side of the blanket, as they say.
- Mabel Sabre: I do think it was very funny that Miss Bright to send for you. After all, the proper thing to have done...
- Mark Sabre: Oh, for goodness sake, can't you leave the girl alone?
- Mabel Sabre: I can. Can *you*?
- Natalie Bagshaw: That's the war for you. The people that never said boo to a goose before, suddenly become oracles of wisdom.
- Mark Sabre: Come. Sit down here now and have a cup of tea. There you are. Think of all the great decisions that have been made in this world over a cup of tea.
- Natalie Bagshaw: I must say, a little of this war work goes a long way.
- Mabel Sabre: It's not as strenuous as actual nursing.
- Natalie Bagshaw: No, but actual nursing might be more fun. Some of those convalescent officers are most attractive.
- Mabel Sabre: Yes, if you could be sure of getting officers.
- Mabel Sabre: I happen to think that that pathetic child in the kitchen is nothing but an ambitious little rotter trying to better herself.