IVY.Oh!I wouldn'thurthim.Must yu go away again?[Trembling towards her]I wish yu wer goin'to stay.And perhaps some one has seen yuThey
BEATRICE.[Hastily]No,no one.I came motoring;like this.[She moves her veil to show how it can conceal her face]And I came straight down the little lane,and through the barn,across the yard.
IVY.[Timidly]People du see a lot.
BEATRICE.[Still with that hovering smile]I know,butNow go and tell him quickly and quietly.
IVY.[Stopping at the door]Mother's pluckin'a duck.Only,please,Mrs.Strangway,if she comes in even after vu've gone,she'll know,becausebecause yu always have that particular nice scent.
BEATRICE.Thank you,my child.I'll see to that.
[Ivy looks at her as if she would speak again,then turns suddenly,and goes out.BEATRICE'S face darkens;she shivers.
Taking out a little cigarette case,she lights a cigarette,and watches the puff's of smoke wreathe shout her and die away.The frightened MERCY peers out,spying for a chance,to escape.
Then from the house STRANGWAY comes in.All his dreaminess is gone.
STRANGWAY.Thank God![He stops at the look on her face]I don't understand,though.I thought you were still out there.
BEATRICE.[Letting her cigarette fall,and putting her foot on it]
No.
STRANGWAY:You're staying?Oh!Beatrice;come!We'll get away from here at onceas far,as faranywhere you like.Oh!my darling
only come!If you knew
BEATRICE.It's no good,Michael;I've tried and tried.
STRANGWAY.Not!Then,why?Beatrice!You said,when you were right awayI've waited
BEATRICE.I know.It's cruelit's horrible.But I told you not to hope,Michael.I've done my best.All these months at Mentone,I've been wondering why I ever let you marry mewhen that feeling wasn't dead!
STRANGWAY.You can't have come back just to leave me again?
BEATRICE.When you let me go out there with mother I thoughtI did think I would be able;and I had begunand thenspring came!
STRANGWAY.Spring came here too!Never soaching!Beatrice,can't you?
BEATRICE.I've something to say.
STRANGWAY.No!No!No!
BEATRICE.You seeI'vefallen.
STBANGWAY.Ah![In a twice sharpened by pain]Why,in the name of mercy,come here to tell me that?Was he out there,then?
BEATRICE.I came straight back to him.
STRANGGWAY.To Durford?
BEATRICE.To the Crossway Hotel,miles outin my own name.They don't know me there.I told you not to hope,Michael.I've done my best;I swear it.
STRANGWAY.My God!
BEATRICE.It was your God that brought us to live near him!
STRANGWAY.Why have you come to me like this?
BEATRICE.To know what you're going to do.Are you going to divorce me?We're in your power.Don't divorce meDoctor and patientyou must knowit ruins him.He'll lose everything.He'd be disqualified,and he hasn't a penny without his work.
STRANGWAY.Why should I spare him?
BEATRICE.Michael;I came to beg.It's hard.
STRANGWAY.No;don't beg!I can't stand it.
[She shakes her head.]
BEATRICE.[Recovering her pride]What are you going to do,then?
Keep us apart by the threat of a divorce?Starve us and prison us?
Cage me up here with you?I'm not brute enough to ruin him.
STRANGWAY.Heaven!
BEATRICE.I never really stopped loving him.I neverloved you,Michael.
STRANGWAY.[Stunned]Is that true?[BEATRICE bends her head]
Never loved me?Notthat nighton the rivernot?
BEATRICE.[Under her breath]No.
STRANGWAY.Were you lying to me,then?Kissing me,andhating me?
BEATRICE.One doesn't hate men like you;but it wasn't love.
STRANGWAY.Why did you tell me it was?
BEATRICE.Yes.That was the worst thing I've ever done.
STRANGWAY.Do you think I would have married you?I would have burned first!I never dreamed you didn't.I swear it!
BEATRICE.[Very low]Forget it!
STRANGWAY.Did he try to get you away from me?[BEATRICE gives him a swift look]Tell me the truth!
BEATRICE.No.It wasIalone.Buthe loves me.
STRANGWAY.One does not easily know love,it seems.
[But her smile,faint,mysterious,pitying,is enough,and he turns away from her.]
BEATRICE.It was cruel to come,I know.For me,too.But I couldn't write.I had to know.
STRANGWAY.Never loved me?Never loved me?That night at Tregaron?
[At the look on her face]You might have told me before you went away!Why keep me all these
BEATRICE.I meant to forget him again.I did mean to.I thought I
could get back to what I was,when I married you;but,you see,what a girl can do,a woman that's been marriedcan't.
STRANGWAY.Then it was Imy kisses that![He laughs]How did you stand them?[His eyes dart at her face]Imagination helped you,perhaps!