Well, I shouldn't be surprised.
ETHEL. Didn't you have the faint little understanding of me enough to
see that their asking for money, now--would horrify me? Didn't you know
that your consenting to it, leaving me free to give it to them, would
release me--make me free to deny everything to them?
PIKE [slowly]. Well, I shouldn't be surprised if I _had_ seen that.
ETHEL [staggered]. You mean you've been saving me again from myself,
from my silliness, from my romanticism, that you've given me another
revelation of the falsity, the unreality of my attitude toward these
people, and toward life.
PIKE [placatingly]. No, no!
ETHEL [vehemently]. You'd always say that, you'd always deny it--it's
like you. You let me make a fool of myself and then you show it to me,
and after that you deny it! [Angrily.] You're always exhibiting your
superiority! Would you do that to the dream girl you told me of, to the
girl at home who plays dream songs for you in the empty house among the
beeches? Do you think _any_ girl could love a man for that? Go back to
your dream girl, your lady of the picture!
PIKE [disconsolately]. She won't be there.
ETHEL [stubbornly]. She _might_ be.
PIKE. No, there ain't any chance of that. The house will still be empty.
ETHEL [almost crying]. Are you _sure_?
PIKE [sadly].
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130