CAPT. G. (Aside.) At last! I wish to Goodness she'd look away. “For
having behaved”--as I have behaved, and declare that I am thoroughly and
heartily sick of the whole business, and take this opportunity of
making clear my intention of ending it, now, henceforward, and forever.
(Aside.) If any one had told me I should be such a blackguard--!
MRS. H. (Shaking a spoonful of potato chips into her plate.) That's not
a pretty joke.
CAPT. G. No. It's a reality. (Aside.) I wonder if smashes of this kind
are always so raw.
MRS. H. Really, Pip, you're getting more absurd every day.
CAPT. G. I don't think you quite understand me. Shall I repeat it?
MRS. H. No! For pity's sake don't do that. It's too terrible, even in
fur.
CAPT. G. I'll let her think it over for a while. But I ought to be
horsewhipped.
MRS. H. I want to know what you meant by what you said just now.
CAPT. G. Exactly what I said. No less.
MRS. H. But what have I done to deserve it? What have I done?
CAPT. G. (Aside.) If she only wouldn't look at me. (Aloud and very
slowly, his eyes on his plate.) D'you remember that evening in July,
before the Rains broke, when you said that the end would have to come
sooner or later--and you wondered for which of US it would come first?
MRS. H. Yes! I was only joking. And you swore that, as long as there was
breath in your body, it should never come. And I believed you.
CAPT. G. (Fingering menu-card.) Well, it has. That's all.
A long pause, during which MRS. H. bows her head and rolls the
bread-twist into little pellets; G. stares at the oleanders.
MRS. H. (Throwing back her head and laughing naturally.) They train us
women well, don't they, Pip?
CAPT. G. (Brutally, touching shirt-stud.) So far as the expression goes.
(Aside.) It isn't in her nature to take things quietly. There'll be an
explosion yet.
MRS. H. (With a shudder.) Thank you. B-but even Red Indians allow people
to wriggle when they're being tortured, I believe. (Slips fan from
girdle and fans slowly: rim of fan level with chin.)
PARTNER ON LEFT. Very close tonight, isn't it? 'You find it too much for
you?
MRS. H. Oh, no, not in the least. But they really ought to have punkahs,
even in your cool Naini Tal, oughtn't they? (Turns, dropping fan and
raising eyebrows.)
CAPT. G. It's all right. (Aside.) Here comes the storm!
MRS. H. (Her eyes on the tablecloth: fan ready in right hand.) It was
very cleverly managed, Pip, and I congratulate you. You swore--you never
contented yourself with merely Saying a thing--you swore that, as far
as lay in your power, you'd make my wretched life pleasant for me. And
you've denied me the consolation of breaking down. I should have
done it--indeed I should. A woman would hardly have thought of this
refinement, my kind, considerate friend. (Fan-guard as before.) You have
explained things so tenderly and truthfully, too! You haven't spoken or
written a word of warning, and you have let me believe in you till the
last minute. You haven't condescended to give me your reason yet. No!
A woman could not have managed it half so well. Are there many men like
you in the world?
CAPT. G. I'm sure I don't know. (To Khitmatgar.) Ohe! Simpkin do.
MRS. H. You call yourself a man of the world, don't you? Do men of the
world behave like Devils when they a woman the honor to get tired of
her?
CAPT. G. I'm sure I don't know. Don't speak so loud!
MRS. H. Keep us respectable, O Lord, whatever happens. Don't be afraid
of my compromising you. You've chosen your ground far too well, and I've
been properly brought up. (Lowering fan.) Haven't you any pity, Pip,
except for yourself?
CAPT. G. Wouldn't it be rather impertinent of me to say that I'm sorry
for you?
MRS. H. I think you have said it once or twice before. You're growing
very careful of my feelings. My God, Pip, I was a good woman once! You
said I was. You've made me what I am. What are you going to do with
me? What are you going to do with me? Won't you say that you are sorry?
(Helps herself to iced asparagus.)
CAPT. G. I am sorry for you, if you Want the pity of such a brute as I
am. I'm awf'ly sorry for you.
MRS. H. Rather tame for a man of the world. Do you think that that
admission clears you?
CAPT. G. What can I do? I can only tell you what I think of myself. You
can't think worse than that?
MRS. H. Oh, yes, I can! And now, will you tell me the reason of all
this? Remorse? Has Bayard been suddenly conscience-stricken?
CAPT. G. (Angrily, his eyes still lowered.) No! The thing has come to an
end on my side. That's all. Mafisch!
MRS. H. “That's all. Mafisch!” As though I were a Cairene Dragoman. You
used to make prettier speeches. D'you remember when you said?--
CAPT. G. For Heaven's sake don't bring that back! Call me anything you
like and I'll admit it--
MRS. H. But you don't care to be reminded of old lies? If I could
hope to hurt you one-tenth as much as you have hurt me to-night--No, I
wouldn't--I couldn't do it--liar though you are.
CAPT. G. I've spoken the truth.
MRS. H. My dear Sir, you flatter yourself. You have lied over the
reason. Pip, remember that I know you as you don't know yourself. You
have been everything to me, though you are--(Fan-guard.) Oh, what a
contemptible Thing it is! And so you are merely tired of me?
CAPT. G. Since you insist upon my repeating it--Yes.
MRS. H. Lie the first. I wish I knew a coarser word. Lie seems so
in-effectual in your case. The fire has just died out and there is no
fresh one? Think for a minute, Pip, if you care whether I despise you
more than I do. Simply Mafisch, is it?
CAPT. G. Yes. (Aside.) I think I deserve this.
MRS. H. Lie number two. Before the next glass chokes you, tell me her
name.
CAPT. G. (Aside.) I'll make her pay for dragging Minnie into the
business! (Aloud.) Is it likely?
MRS. H. Very likely if you thought that it would flatter your vanity.
You'd cry my name on the house-tops to make people turn round.
CAPT. G. I wish I had. There would have been an end to this business.
MRS. H. Oh, no, there would not--And so you were going to be virtuous
and blase', were you? To come to me and say: “I've done with you. The
incident is clo-osed.” I ought to be proud of having kept such a man so
long.
CAPT. G. (Aside.) It only remains to pray for the end of the dinner.
(Aloud.) You know what I think of myself.
MRS. H. As it's the only person in he world you ever do think of, and as
I know your mind thoroughly, I do. You want to get it all over and--Oh,
I can't keep you back! And you're going--think of it, Pip--to throw me
over for another woman. And you swore that all other women were--Pip,
my Pip! She can't care for you as I do. Believe me, she can't. Is it any
one that I know?
CAPT. G. Thank Goodness it isn't. (Aside.) I expected a cyclone, but not
an earthquake.
MRS. H. She can't! Is there anything that I wouldn't do for you--or
haven't done? And to think that I should take this trouble over you,
knowing what you are! Do you despise me for it?
CAPT. G. (Wiping his mouth to hide a smile.) Again? It's entirely a work
of charity on your part.
MRS. H. Ahhh! But I have no right to resent it.--Is she better-looking
than I? Who was it said?--
CAPT. G. No--not that!
MRS. H. I'll be more merciful than you were. Don't you know that all
women are alike?
CAPT. G. (Aside.) Then this is the exception that proves the rule.
MRS. H. All of them! I'll tell you anything you like. I will, upon
my word! They only want the admiration--from anybody--no matter
who--anybody! But there is always one man that they care for more than
any one else in the world, and would sacrifice all the others to. Oh, do
listen! I've kept the Vaynor man trotting after me like a poodle, and he
believes that he is the only man I am interested in. I'll tell you what
he said to me.
CAPT. G. Spare him. (Aside.) I wonder what his version is.
MRS. H. He's been waiting for me to look at him all through dinner.
Shall I do it, and you can see what an idiot he looks?
CAPT. G. “But what imports the nomination of this gentleman?”
MRS. H. Watch! (Sends a glance to the Vaynor man, who tries vainly to
combine a mouthful of ice pudding, a smirk of self-satisfaction, a glare
of intense devotion, and the stolidity of a British dining countenance.)
CAPT. G. (Critically.) He doesn't look pretty. Why didn't you wait till
the spoon was out of his mouth?
MRS. H. To amuse you. She'll make an exhibition of you as I've made of
him; and people will laugh at you. Oh, Pip, can't you see that? It's
as plain as the noonday Sun. You'll be trotted about and told lies, and
made a fool of like the others. I never made a fool of you, did I?
CAPT. G. (Aside.) What a clever little woman it is!
MRS. H. Well, what have you to say?
CAPT. G. I feel better.
MRS. H. Yes, I suppose so, after I have come down to your level. I
couldn't have done it if I hadn't cared for you so much. I have spoken
the truth.
CAPT. G. It doesn't alter the situation.
MRS. H. (Passionately.) Then she has said that she cares for you! Don't
believe her, Pip. It's a lie--as bad as yours to me!
CAPT. G. Ssssteady! I've a notion that a friend of yours is looking at
you.
MRS. H. He! I hate him. He introduced you to me.
CAPT. G. (Aside.) And some people would like women to assist in making
the laws. Introduction to imply condonement. (Aloud.) Well, you see, if
you can remember so far back as that, I couldn't, in' common politeness,
refuse the offer.
MRS. H. In common politeness I We have got beyond that!