An Inspector Calls and Other Plays (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Birling: (moving) No, leave this to me. I must also have a word with my wife – tell her what's happening . (turns at the door, staring at the Inspector angrily.) We were having a nice family celebration tonight. And a nasty mess you've made of it now , haven't you? Sheila: Yes, but it didn't seem to be anything very terrible at the time. Don't you understand? And if I could help her now, I would --- Mrs Birling: I'm sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all .

Birling: ( with a marked change of tone) Well, of course, if I’d known that earlier, I wouldn't have called you officious and talked about reporting you. You understand that, don't you, Inspector? I thought that – for some reason best known to yourself – you were making the most of this tiny bit of information I could give you. I'm sorry. This makes a difference. You sure of your facts?The play was produced and performed at the Ferdowsi Theatre in Iran in late 1940s based on the translation by Bozorg Alavi. It was staged in the first season of the Edinburgh Gateway Company in 1953. [14]

Birling: Just keep quiet, Eric, and don't get excited. This girl left us nearly two years ago. Let me see – it must have been in the early autumn of nineteen-ten. Mrs Birling: (distressed) Eric, I can't believe it. There must be some mistake. You don't know what we've been saying.Mrs Birling: Well, really, I don't know. I think we've just about come to an end of this wretched business--

Mrs Birling: But I didn't know it was you – I never dreamt. Besides, you're not the type – you don't get drunk.

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Birling: Just let me finish, Eric . You've got a lot to learn yet. And I’m taking as a hard-headed , practical man of business . And I say there isn't a chance of war. The world's developing so fast that it'll make war impossible . Look at the progress we're making. In a year or two , we'll have aeroplanes that will be able to go anywhere. And look at the way the automobile's making headway – bigger and faster all the time. And then ships. Why, a friend of mine went over this new liner last week – the Titanic – she sails next week – forty-six thousand eight hundred tons – new york in five days – and every luxury – and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable . That's what you've got to keep your eye on, facts like that, progress like that – and not a few German officers taking nonsense and a few scaremongers here making a fuss about nothing. Now you three young people , just listen to this – and remember what I’m telling you now. In twenty or thirty year's time – let's say, in 1940 – you may be giving a little party like this – your son or daughter might be getting engaged – and I tell you, by that time you'll be living in a world that'll have forgotten all these capital versus labour agitations and all these silly little war scares. There'll be peace and prosperity and rapid progress everywhere – except of course in Russia, which will always be behindhand naturally . Inspector: (firmly) Yes. ( As Birling looks like interrupting explosively.) I know – he's your son and this is your house – but look at him. He needs a drink now just to see him through. Eric re-enters the house, and admits to impregnating the girl and offering her stolen money. He divulges that he stole the money from his father’s office. Gerald: no. I wasn't telling you a complete lie when I said I'd been very busy at the works all that time. We were very busy. But of course, I did see a good deal of her.

Priestley, J. B. (1947). An Inspector Calls: A Play in Three Acts (Firsted.). London: Heinemann. OCLC 59564726. Inspector: yes, a very good reason. You'll remember that Mr Croft told us – quite truthfully, I believe – that he hadn't spoken to or seen Eva Smith since last September. But Mrs Birling spoke to and saw her only two weeks ago. Birling: Oh – come, come – I’m treating Gerald like one of the family . And I'm sure he won't object. Gerald: No, it wasn't. ( he waits a moment, then in a low, troubled tone .) She told me she'd been happier than she'd ever been before – but that she knew it couldn't last – hadn't expected it to last. She didn't blame me at all. I wish to God she had now. Perhaps I'd feel better about it.Inspector: No, not entirely. A good deal happened to her after that. But you're partly to blame . Just as your father is. Inspector: That doesn't make it any the less yours. She came to you for help, at a time when no woman could have needed it more. And you not only refused it yourself but saw to it that the others refused it too. She was here alone, friendless, almost penniless, desperate. She needed not only money but advice, sympathy, friendliness. You've had children. You must have known what she was feeling. And you slammed the door in her face. Inspector: (impressively) I'm a police Inspector, Miss Birling. This afternoon a young woman drank some disinfectant, and died, after several hours of agony, tonight in the infirmary.