obs and tears._] I'm _rotten_! Oh--I'm rotten--

[_He sobs uncontrollably._

[GEORGIANA _watches him a little while in silence. Then she goes to him
and puts her hand on his shoulder._

GEORGIANA. Steve!

STEVEN. [_Sobbing._] Yes!

GEORGIANA. I forgive you!

STEVEN. No! No!

GEORGIANA. And I'll trust you again if I have a chance.

STEVEN. [_Looking up._] Georgy, what do you mean?

[_Beginning to control his sobs._

GEORGIANA. I mean, though it's been a pretty big blow, my faith in you
isn't altogether gone yet.

STEVEN. Oh, I can't bear it! I can't bear it! But you don't mean it! No,
you can't mean it! How could you? Forgive me? Trust me again? No, no!
You couldn't--it's all over! I've thrown away my own money first, then
my wife's and her mother's--that ought to have been enough,--but I had
to go and break my word of honor to you, and lose every penny of yours!
There's no excuse for me, nor reason to forgive.

GEORGIANA. [_After a moment, very quietly, with her eyes filling._]
There's _love_, Steve!

STEVEN. Not for a man like me. I'm not worth it. [_He rises._] Not
deserving it! There's only one thing for such as me, and that is to end
it all with a bullet.

GEORGIANA. Now you're talking wildly!

STEVEN. [_In a lowered voice._] No, Georgy, I mean it! It's better for
all of you to have me out of the way; I tried to do it to-day--only, _I
was afraid_!

GEORGIANA. That would be worse than anything you have done yet. That I
would never forgive--anything but that!

[_She goes to him._

STEVEN. But the shame of my life now, the degradation, the _rot_ of it!

[_A moment's pause._

GEORGIANA. [_The idea comes to her._] Steve, I told you I'd trust you
again if I had the chance! Here is the first one, and I take it! Promise
me you'll never again even think of taking your life.

STEVEN. What's the good of my promising?

GEORGIANA. If you tell me, I'll believe you.

[_A short pause._

[STEVEN, _not looking at her, puts his hand in the pocket where the
pistol is, then takes his hand away, still not looking at her._

Look me straight in the face, Steve, and say, "I promise."

[_He hesitates only a moment, and then does so._

STEVEN. I promise.

[_He turns a little away from her, takes the pistol from his pocket, and
gives it to her._

GEORGIANA. [_Bursting into tears._] Oh, Steve!

[_She turns away and puts the pistol on the table between the windows._

STEVEN. Forgive me, Georgy, forgive m