Ottoline monologue (Act 4) — The Big Drum: A Comedy in Four Acts

An incurably vulgar woman. An incurably common, vulgar woman. Nobody but a woman whose vulgarity is past praying for could have conceived such a scheme as I planned and carried out with that man Clifford Titterton--nobody. This--how shall I term it?--this refinement of mine is merely on the surface. We women are like the--what's the name of the little reptile?--the chameleon, isn't it? We catch the colour of our surroundings. But what we were, we continue to be--in the grain. The vulgar-minded Ottoline Filson, who captivated, and disgusted, you in Paris is before you at this moment. The only difference is that then she was a natural person, and now she plays _les grands roles_. [_Sitting upright and pressing her temples._] Oh, I have fooled myself as well as you, Phil--deluded myself----!