Mabel Chiltern monologue (Act 1) — An Ideal Husband

Lord Goring, you are always ordering me out of the room. I think it most courageous of you. Especially as I am not going to bed for hours. [_Goes over to the sofa_.] You can come and sit down if you like, and talk about anything in the world, except the Royal Academy, Mrs. Cheveley, or novels in Scotch dialect. They are not improving subjects. [_Catches sight of something that is lying on the sofa half hidden by the cushion_.] What is this? Some one has dropped a diamond brooch! Quite beautiful, isn’t it? [_Shows it to him_.] I wish it was mine, but Gertrude won’t let me wear anything but pearls, and I am thoroughly sick of pearls. They make one look so plain, so good and so intellectual. I wonder whom the brooch belongs to.