Reputations mislead and appearances deceive in Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s The Gay Lord Quex. Sophy, a spirited young manicurist, is suspicious of her foster sister, Muriel’s, fiancé: the Marquess of Quex, a notorious philanderer who claims to have reformed his ways for the sake of his intended. Sophy loves Muriel too much to allow her to be taken in by such a scandalous man, not when a better option presents itself in the form of a young, handsome captain. She tasks herself with proving Quex’s deceit, only to discover that the scoundrel may not be who she believed.
The Gay Lord Quex guide sections