didn't you go to the Bar, and then you could have defended him. You
would have been so much better than that stupid man.

SIR JAMES. I must say I didn't at all like his tone. He's
practically making out my son to be an idiot.

GERALD. Well, it's really the only line he could take.

SIR JAMES. What do you mean? Bob is far from being an idiot.

LADY FARRINGDON. We always knew he wasn't as clever as Gerald,
dear.

GERALD. You see, Bob either understood what was going on or he
didn't. If he did, then he's in it as much as Marcus. If he didn't--
well, of course we know that he didn't. But no doubt the jury will
think that he ought to have known.

SIR JAMES. The old story, a knave or a fool, eh?

GERALD. The folly was in sending him there.

SIR JAMES (angrily). That was Parkinson's fault. It was he who
recommended Marcus to me. I shall never speak to that man again.
(To his wife) Mary, if the Parkinsons call, you are out; remember
that.

GERALD. He never ought to have gone into business at all. Why
couldn't you have had him taught farming or estate agency or
something?