Part 56 (2/2)
SHE. (after a pause). Do you know what you have said?
HE. 'Can't say that I do exactly. I'm not in the best of tempers.
SHE. So I see... and feel. My true and faithful lover, where is your ”eternal constancy,” ”unalterable trust,” and ”reverent devotion”? I remember those phrases; you seem to have forgotten them. I mention a man's name--
HE. A good deal more than that.
SHE. Well, speak to him about a dance--perhaps the last dance that I shall ever dance in my life before I... before I go away; and you at once distrust and insult me.
HE. I never said a word.
SHE. How much did you imply? Guy, is this amount of confidence to be our stock to start the new life on?
HE. No, of course not. I didn't mean that. On my word of honor, I didn't. Let it pa.s.s, dear. Please let it pa.s.s.
SHE. This once--yes--and a second time, and again and again, all through the years when I shall be unable to resent it. You want too much, my Lancelot, and... you know too much.
HE. How do you mean?
SHE. That is a part of the punishment. There cannot be perfect trust between us.
HE. In Heaven's name, why not?
SHE. Hus.h.!.+ The Other Place is quite enough. Ask yourself.
HE. I don't follow.
SHE. You trust me so implicitly that when I look at another man--Never mind, Guy. Have you ever made love to a girl--a good girl?
HE. Something of the sort. Centuries ago--in the Dark Ages, before I ever met you, dear.
SHE. Tell me what you said to her.
HE. What does a man say to a girl? I've forgotten.
SHE. I remember. He tells her that he trusts her and wors.h.i.+ps the ground she walks on, and that he'll love and honor and protect her till her dying day; and so she marries in that belief. At least, I speak of one girl who was not protected.
HE. Well, and then?
SHE. And then, Guy, and then, that girl needs ten times the love and trust and honor--yes, honor--that was enough when she was only a mere wife if--if--the other life she chooses to lead is to be made even bearable. Do you understand?
HE. Even bearable! It'll he Paradise.
SHE. Ah! Can you give me all I've asked for--not now, nor a few months later, but when you begin to think of what you might have done if you had kept your own appointment and your caste here--when you begin to look upon me as a drag and a burden? I shall want it most, then, Guy, for there will be no one in the wide world but you.
HE. You're a little over-tired tonight, Sweetheart, and you're taking a stage view of the situation. After the necessary business in the Courts, the road is clear to--
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