Part 31 (2/2)

CLARA. It's full of people from Kansas and Wyoming Territory come to hear the Opera!

RUTH. A little western blood wouldn't hurt our New York life a bit!

CLARA. Ah! Got you there! The west is the place where the divorces come from!

MRS. HUNTER. [_Laughs._] What's the matter with Providence? I think Rhode Island tips the scales pretty even for the east!

BLANCHE. Please go, mother; please leave me for a little while.

MRS. HUNTER. Oh, very well, good-by! [LEONARD _enters Right with a Christmas parcel, which he places on the table Right._] Dear me, have you had all these Christmas presents and not opened them?

BLANCHE. It is only little Richard in this house who is celebrating Christmas to-day.

MRS. HUNTER. It's a terrible affair; I only hope the newspapers won't get hold of it. [_To_ LEONARD.] If any women come here asking for _me_ who look like ladies, don't let 'em in! They ain't my friends; they're reporters.

[LEONARD _bows and goes out._

CLARA. I'm awfully sorry, Blanche, I honestly am; but I think you'll have only yourself to blame if you don't strike out now and throw d.i.c.k over. Good-by!

[MRS. HUNTER _and_ CLARA _go out Right._

BLANCHE. I wish _they_ wouldn't advise me to do what I _want_ to.

RUTH. Ah!

BLANCHE. But who do I harm by it? Surely, it wouldn't be for _his_ good to be brought up under the influence of his father!

RUTH. If he saw you patiently bearing a cross for the sake of duty, can you imagine a stronger force for good on the boy's character? What an example _you_ will set him! What a chance for a mother!

BLANCHE. But my own life, my own happiness?

RUTH. Ah, my dear, that's just it! The watchword of our age is self! We are all for ourselves; the twentieth century is to be a glorification of selfishness, the Era of Egotism! Forget yourself, and what would you do?

The dignified thing. You would live quietly _beside_ your husband if not _with_ him. And your son would be worthy of such a mother!

BLANCHE. And I?

RUTH. You would be _glad_ in the end.

BLANCHE. Perhaps--

RUTH. Surely! Blanche, for twenty years Mr. Mason and I have loved each other.

[BLANCHE _is astonished. There is a pause._

[RUTH _smiles while she speaks, though her voice breaks._]

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