72:. Victor is sleeping rough on a bench. He recognises a police constable as an old acquaintance, and reveals why he is living in such dire circumstances: stung by Diana's criticism, he has been trying for months to make a living by manual labour. In a lucky coincidence, Diana also arrives on the scene. She is now homeless and 'half-starved', having lost her job due to illness. The couple recognise each other and talk. Victor proposes again, and Diana eventually accepts. Sitting together on the bench, they celebrate their engagement with a breakfast of coffee and bread-and-butter, purchased with a shilling lent to them by the constable.
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comfortable private income of £600 per year) accompanied by his predatory aunt. She turns down a proposal of marriage from Sir Jabez. When Victor proposes, she reveals the truth about her financial circumstances in order to give him a chance to reconsider his proposal. Victor accuses her of being a disreputable 'adventuress', whereupon she indignantly retorts that, in seeking to marry a rich woman instead of actually working to support himself, he is in fact the disreputable one. The two part ways.
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Acts Two and Three take place at a mountain resort in
Switzerland. Pretending to be a wealthy widow, Diana finds herself pursued by two other holidaymakers: Sir Jabez Grinley, the wealthy owner of a chain of shops; and Victor Bretherton, an impecunious ex-guardsman (although possessing a very
61:. Act One takes place in the workers' dingy dormitory, the shopgirls prepare for bed whilst discussing their harsh working conditions. Diana discovers that she has unexpectedly inherited £300 from a distant relative, which she decides to spend on the holiday of a lifetime.
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in the title role. It proved to be a popular and commercial success, and ran for 143 performances at the
Kingsway. In 1908 and 1909 four other companies toured Britain with the play, and productions were scheduled in the United States, Australia and South Africa.
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Dymkowski, Christine (2004), "Case study: Cicely
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34:. Ostensibly a romantic comedy, it has been added to the canon of
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Hamilton's story was adapted into a 1917 silent film starring
143:, Cambridge University Press, pp. 110–126,
84:in London, on Wednesday 12 February 1908, with
16:1908 feminist novel and play by Cicely Hamilton
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68:Act Four opens on a November morning on the
171:Billington, Michael (19 February 2007).
141:The Cambridge History of British Theatre
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24:is a 1908 feminist novel and play by
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50:Diana is an underpaid worker in an
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173:"Review – Diana of Dobson's"
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28:. The play is subtitled
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