



Produced by KD Weeks, ellinora, Bryan Ness and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)






------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.

Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are
referenced.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                _THE BENEFIT
                                     OF THE DOUBT_

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                    _THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR W. PINERO_
                        WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTES
                         BY MALCOLM C. SALAMAN

           Paper cover, 1_s._ 6_d._; cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ each
                                In 16mo

              VOL.      I. _THE TIMES_
                ”      II. _THE PROFLIGATE_
                ”     III. _THE CABINET MINISTER_
                ”      IV. _THE HOBBY-HORSE_
                ”       V. _LADY BOUNTIFUL_
                ”      VI. _THE MAGISTRATE_
                ”     VII. _DANDY DICK_
                ”    VIII. _SWEET LAVENDER_
                ”      IX. _THE SCHOOLMISTRESS_
                ”       X. _THE WEAKER SEX_
                ”      XI. _THE AMAZONS_

                                 Also
                            _In small 4to._

                ”     XII. _THE SECOND MRS. TANQUERAY_
                ”    XIII. _THE NOTORIOUS MRS. EBBSMITH_
                ”     XIV. _THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT_




                      _LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN_
                              _MDCCCXCVI_

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                             _THE BENEFIT_
                             _OF THE DOUBT_

                                                              _A COMEDY_
                                                         _In Three Acts_

                         _BY ARTHUR W. PINERO_

                      _LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN_
                              _MDCCCXCVI_

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   _Copyright 1895 All rights reserved
                                   Entered at Stationers’ Hall Entered
                                   at the Library of Congress,
                                   Washington, U.S.A._

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                   _This Play was produced at the Comedy
                                   Theatre, London, on Wednesday,
                                   October 16th, 1895_

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                        THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

 MRS. EMPTAGE (_a widow_)
 CLAUDE EMPTAGE (_her son_)
 JUSTINA EMPTAGE } (_her daughters_)
 THEOPHILA FRASER }
 SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD, M.P. (_her brother_)
 MRS. CLOYS (_her sister_)
 RT. REV. ANTHONY CLOYS, D.D., Bishop of St. Olpherts
 ALEXANDER FRASER—“Fraser of Locheen”
 JOHN ALLINGHAM
 OLIVE ALLINGHAM
 DENZIL SHAFTO } (_Allingham’s Friends_)
 PETER ELPHICK }
 MRS. QUINTON TWELVES
 HORTON (_a servant at Mrs. Emptage’s_)
 QUAIFE (_a servant at Mr. Allingham’s_)

_The scenes are placed at Mrs. Emptage’s house, in the neighbourhood of
    Regent’s Park, and at “The Lichens,” Mr. Allingham’s cottage at
    Epsom._

_The events of the First and Second Acts occur on the same day, those of
    the Third Act about fifteen hours afterwards._

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                  THE
                          BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT




                             THE FIRST ACT

_The Scene represents a drawing-room in_ MRS. EMPTAGE’S _house near
    Regent’s Park. At the back are double doors, opening on to a further
    drawing-room, and these face a window, over which the blinds are
    drawn, to moderate the glare of the sun, which nevertheless streams
    through them, for it is a fine afternoon in early summer. The rooms
    are furnished and decorated in a costly and tasteful fashion._

MRS. EMPTAGE _is reclining upon the settee, her eyes closed, a bottle of
    smelling-salts in her hand_. JUSTINA _is pacing the room between the
    door and the window_. MRS. EMPTAGE _is a pretty, carefully-preserved
    woman with dyed hair and “touched-up” face: she is old enough to be
    the mother of a daughter of nine-and-twenty_. JUSTINA _is of that
    age, good-looking, “smart,” and already somewhat passé. Both are
    fashionably but sombrely dressed._


                             MRS. EMPT