LADY TORMINSTER. We shall hear from you?
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With an effort of lightness._] Certainly. And I will send
you chests of tea--best family Souchong--and jars of ginger. Also little
boxes that fit into each other. I am afraid that is all I know at present
of Chinese manufactures.
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Musing._] You will be away so long?
SIR GEOFFREY. You told me to do something. I shall learn Chinese. I
believe there are five hundred letters in the alphabet.
LADY TORMINSTER. As many as that!
SIR GEOFFREY. It is possible that I exaggerate. Well, Lady Torminster, I
think I'll say good-night.
[_He offers his hand, which she ignores. She smiles, and motions
him back to his seat._
LADY TORMINSTER. The sun is still shining in the antipodes, my dear
Geoffrey, and you are still Jack's old friend, talking to Jack's wife. Sit
down, and don't be foolish. You'll be away for years; it's possible we may
never meet again. It's possible, too, that next time we do meet you may be
married.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With iron control._] Who knows?
LADY TORMINSTER. Exactly--who knows? So there's no reason why we shouldn't
look each other squarely in the face for once, and speak out what's in us.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Sorrowfully._] Oh, Lady Torminster, what is there to say?
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Bending forward a little and smiling._] How you resent
my having told _you!_
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With a guilty start._] Resent! I!
LADY TORMINSTER. You do, and you know it. In your heart you are saying,
"All was going so well--she has spoiled it! If she _does_ love me she
shouldn't have said it--Jack's wife!"
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Sturdily._] Well--Jack's wife. Yes!
LADY TORMINSTER. Geoffrey, Jack bores me.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Aghast._] Lady Torminster!
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Clapping her hands in glee._] There! I've said it! Oh,
it's such a relief! I never have before, and I don't suppose I ever shall
again--for whom can I say it to but you? Listen--I tell you--quite _entre
nous_--he bores me shockingly!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_In positive distress._] Lady Torminster! I beg of you!
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Cheerfully._] The best fellow in all the world, and he
bores me. A heart of gold, a model husband, a perfect father--and a bore,
bore, bore! There! I assure you I feel better.
SIR GEOFFREY. I suppose there are moments when every woman says that of
every man.
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Fanning herself._] My dear Geoffrey, please send for
your soul; it has wandered off somewhere, and I don't like talking to
copybooks.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Doggedly._] You are talking to Jack's friend.
LADY TORMINSTER. Jack's friend--and mine--don't forget that! And could I
say these things about Jack to any one else, and can't you conceive what a
joy it is to say them? Besides, aren't we just now on the rim of the
world--aren't we a little more than ourselves--aren't we almost on the
other side of things? If we ever meet again, we shall look curiously at
each other, and wonder, was it all true? As it is, I am scarcely sure that
you are real. Everything is so still, so strange. Jack! He is up there, of
course, the dear boy, his big red face pressed on the pillow. Oh,
Geoffrey, when Jack brought you to me, and I was engaged--if you only
hadn't been so loyal!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Grimly._] Do you know what you are saying?
LADY TORMINSTER. I am saying the things a woman says once in a lifetime,
and feels all her life. Oh, it was all so simple! You loved me--you ...
were blind because of Jack ... And I married Jack ... I mustn't complain
... I am one of the hundreds of women who marry--Jacks.
SIR GEOFFREY. A better, finer man never lived.
LADY TORMINSTER. I dare say--in fact, I am sure. But you should see us
when we are alone, sitting there night after night, with never a word to
say to each other! You tell me you're tired of polo, and golf, and bridge.
Well, how about me? And need you be scowling so fiercely, and begrudge me
my one little wail, you who are going away?
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Angrily._] Yes, I am going away, and I shall marry a
Chinese. I shall marry the first Chinese woman I meet.
LADY TORMINSTER. This is very sudden. Why?
SIR GEOFFREY. Because, at least, not knowing the language, she won't be
able to say unkind things about me to my friends.
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Her chin on her hand, looking squarely at him._]
Geoffrey, _is_ Jack a bore?
SIR GEOFFREY. He never bores me.
LADY TORMINSTER. That's because he shot your tiger, and you rubbed his
nose. Besides, you talk about horses, and so on. And yet I heard him, for
a solid hour, telling you about a rubber he lost at bridge through his
partner making diamonds trumps when he should have made spades.
SIR GEOFFREY. He's not clever, of course--and you are. But still! Is
cleverness everything?
LADY TORMINSTER. Haven't I told you he's the very best fellow in all the
world? And do you think I'm posing, pretending that I'm misunderstood, and
the rest? You know me better. I am indulging, for once, in the luxury of
absolute candour.