without her.

LEXY (anxiously). But, my dear Morell, if what Jimmy and Fluffy
had was scarlatina, do you think it wise--

MORELL. Scarlatina!--rubbish, German measles. I brought it into
the house myself from the Pycroft Street School. A parson is like
a doctor, my boy: he must face infection as a soldier must face
bullets. (He rises and claps Lexy on the shoulder.) Catch the
measles if you can, Lexy: she'll nurse you; and what a piece of
luck that will be for you!--eh?

LEXY (smiling uneasily). It's so hard to understand you about
Mrs. Morell--

MORELL (tenderly). Ah, my boy, get married--get married to a good
woman; and then you'll understand. That's a foretaste of what
will be best in the Kingdom of Heaven we are trying to establish
on earth. That will cure you of dawdling. An honest man feels
that he must pay Heaven for every hour of happiness with a good
spell of hard, unselfish work to make others happy. We have no
more right to consume happiness without producing it than to
consume wealth without producing it. Get a wife like my Candida;
and you'll always be in arrear with your repayment. (He pats Lexy
affectionately on the back, and is leaving the room when Lexy
calls to him.)

LEXY. Oh, wait a bit: I forgot. (Morell halts and turns with the
door knob in his hand.) Your father-in-law is coming round to see
you. (Morell shuts the door again, with a complete change of