The Schoolmistress (play)

Pinero's first farce for the Court Theatre, The Magistrate (1885) had been a considerable success, running for 363 performances, and rescuing the management from financial difficulties caused by earlier, unsuccessful productions.

This telegram falls into the hands of a pupil, Peggy Hesslerigge, who uses it as a lever to induce Queckett to include her schoolfellows, Gwendoline Hawkins and Ermyntrude Johnson, in his invitation.

Queckett is reluctantly obliged to spend on the party with its unexpectedly large guest list the money left with him by his wife to pay the rent, the fire insurance, and the servants' wages.

Mallory arrives, and brings with him his friend Rear-Admiral Rankling; and, as Dinah and her young husband are also present, it is fortunate that the Admiral has been too long at sea to be able to recognise his daughter.

[4] The Pall Mall Gazette commented that many of the audience must have gone home with aching sides, and thought the plot more farcical than Pinero had attempted before, and considered the piece among the cleverest and best-acted farces for a good many years.