FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  
ay to you is this: Don't let this split go on! Don't commit yourself to what you'll bitterly regret. Just tell us what's the matter. I'm sure it can be put straight. CLARE. I have nothing against my husband--it was quite unreasonable to leave him. TWISDEN. Come, that's good. CLARE. Unfortunately, there's something stronger than reason. TWISDEN. I don't know it, Mrs. Dedmond. CLARE. No? TWISDEN. [Disconcerted] Are you--you oughtn't to take a step without advice, in your position. CLARE. Nor with it? TWISDEN. [Approaching her] Come, now; isn't there anything you feel you'd like to say--that might help to put matters straight? CLARE. I don't think so, thank you. LADY DEDMOND. You must see, Clare, that---- TWISDEN. In your position, Mrs. Dedmond--a beautiful young woman without money. I'm quite blunt. This is a hard world. Should be awfully sorry if anything goes wrong. CLARE. And if I go back? TWISDEN. Of two evils, if it be so--choose the least! CLARE. I am twenty-six; he is thirty-two. We can't reasonably expect to die for fifty years. LADY DESMOND. That's morbid, Clare. TWISDEN. What's open to you if you don't go back? Come, what's your position? Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl; fair game for everybody. Believe me, Mrs. Dedmond, for a pretty woman to strike, as it appears you're doing, simply because the spirit of her marriage has taken flight, is madness. You must know that no one pays attention to anything but facts. If now--excuse me--you--you had a lover, [His eyes travel round the room and again rest on her] you would, at all events, have some ground under your feet, some sort of protection, but [He pauses] as you have not--you've none. CLARE. Except what I make myself. SIR CHARLES. Good God! TWISDEN. Yes! Mrs. Dedmond! There's the bedrock difficulty. As you haven't money, you should never have been pretty. You're up against the world, and you'll get no mercy from it. We lawyers see too much of that. I'm putting it brutally, as a man of the world. CLARE. Thank you. Do you think you quite grasp the alternative? TWISDEN. [Taken aback] But, my dear young lady, there are two sides to every contract. After all, your husband's fulfilled his. CLARE. So have I up till now. I shan't ask anything from him-- nothing--do you understand? LADY DEDMOND. But, my dear, you must live. TWISDEN. Have you ever done any sort of work?
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

TWISDEN

 
Dedmond
 

position

 
DEDMOND
 

pretty

 

straight

 
husband
 

Except

 

madness

 

pauses


attention

 
travel
 

ground

 

events

 

excuse

 

protection

 

alternative

 
contract
 

understand

 

fulfilled


difficulty

 

bedrock

 

CHARLES

 

putting

 

brutally

 
flight
 
lawyers
 

Approaching

 
advice
 

Disconcerted


oughtn
 

matters

 

beautiful

 

reason

 
bitterly
 

regret

 

commit

 

matter

 
Unfortunately
 

stronger


unreasonable

 
Neither
 

morbid

 

spirit

 

marriage

 
simply
 

Believe

 
strike
 

appears

 

DESMOND