Part 20 (1/2)

OCEANA. I came here because I wished to get acquainted with him. And what chance have a man and woman to get acquainted with each other in the conventional world?

LEt.i.tIA. [Stares at her; then, faintly.] But what...

OCEANA. I wished to try him out... in body, mind and soul. I wished to know if he was the man for me.

LEt.i.tIA. [Rushes to Henry.] Oh! Have you no decency left? Have you no mercy on me? What has come over you?

HENRY. Let.i.tia...

OCEANA. Let me attend to this, Hal.

LEt.i.tIA. Hal!

OCEANA. That a woman could be married to a man for six years and continue to call him Henry, speaks volumes for the romance of their relations.h.i.+p!

LEt.i.tIA. [To Henry.] Where's your sense of shame?

OCEANA. You are taking the wrong line, Let.i.tia. No such consideration has a moment's weight with us.

LEt.i.tIA. [Catches her breath.] Since it seems that I am here at your mercy, I ask to know your pleasure?

OCEANA. The reason that we have sent for you is that I might a.s.sure myself upon two points... first, as to whether your husband still loves you, and second, as to whether you still love him.

LEt.i.tIA. You doubt that I love him?

OCEANA. So far, Let.i.tia, your actions have proceeded, not from love of him, but from hatred of me.

LEt.i.tIA. Oh! And if I fail to measure up to your tests of love...

OCEANA. [Triumphantly.] Then he is mine!

LEt.i.tIA. And the fact that he is my husband...

OCEANA. Is nothing!

LEt.i.tIA. The fact that he vowed to keep faith with me...

OCEANA. Is nothing!

LEt.i.tIA. That I am dependent upon him for support...

OCEANA. You have money of your own, Let.i.tia.

LEt.i.tIA. Do you suppose I am thinking about money! I mean his protection.

OCEANA. A person who confesses to the need of protection has written himself down an inferior. [A pause.] You see, Let.i.tia, times have changed; our ideas of marriage have charged. In the beginning a woman was a man's economic dependent; now that the man has become ashamed of that, he is made the woman's spiritual dependent. You play upon his sense of chivalry, his sympathy, his pity; and you prey upon him, you devour him alive. But the time has come when that must cease, Let.i.tia ... man will not always be a domestic appendage! And you will simply have to face this new situation. Do you still possess your husband's love? Do you really love him? Nothing else will count... none of your ”rights”... we are not afraid of man or devil.

LEt.i.tIA. [Gasps.] Oh! [Turns to HENRY.] Henry, will you tell me what all this means? Can it be that you a.s.sent to these outrageous ideas?

HENRY. I a.s.sent to them, Let.i.tia. It may be that you still love me, but you have given me few signs of it. You have been... you are.. . a selfish woman.