BETTY. _You_ can, because of this girl. Oh, I know, of course! You"ll come here three or four times--then you"ll drop off--you"ll feel I"m not quite the woman you want your wife to know.
WALTER. [_With genuine feeling, as he impulsively steps towards her._]
Betty, Betty, what sort of cad do you take me for? What sort of cad, or bounder? Haven"t I told you I"d never forget--never? And you think you"ll pa.s.s out of my life--that I _want_ you to? Why, good Heaven, I"ll be your best friend as long as I live. Friend--yes--what I always should have been--meant to be! And Hector. Why, Betty, I tell you, merely talking to-night, as I"ve done, has made me feel--different--sort of--lifted--a load. Because I"ve always had it--somewhere deep down in me--when I"ve thought of--him.
BETTY. [_Calmly._] Liar.
WALTER. [_Falling back._] Betty!
BETTY. Liar--yes. Why these stupid, silly lies? "Always, deep down in me!"
Where was it, this beautiful feeling, when you got me to go to your rooms?
WALTER. [_Harshly._] We needn"t--
BETTY. I liked you--I"ve said that--I liked you from the first. But I was straight enough. Liked you, of course--but I had no idea, not the slightest.... Thought it fun to play the fool, flirt just a bit. But it was you, you, _you_ who--
WALTER. [_Breaking in sulkily and stamping his foot._] Never mind about who it was.
BETTY. [_Pa.s.sionately._] Never mind! You dare!
WALTER. [_Doggedly._] Yes--I dare. And look here--since you force me to it--that"s all rot--yes, it is--just rot. Just as you like it now, hearing Hector ask me to stop with you, and kissing me the moment his back is turned--so you met me halfway, and more than halfway.
BETTY. You cur!
WALTER. That"s what a woman always says, when a man speaks the truth.
Because it _is_ the truth--and you know it. "The way I squeezed your hand!" D"you think I _meant_ to squeeze it--in a way! Why, as there"s a Heaven above me, you were as sacred to me--as my own sister!
BETTY. [_Quietly, as she sits, to right of the table._] What I"m wondering is--you see, you"re the only lover I"ve had--what I wonder is, when a man breaks off, tells a woman he"s tired of her, wants to get married--does he _always_ abuse the woman--
WALTER. [_Sulkily._] I haven"t--
BETTY. Degrade, and throw mud on, the love she has had for him?
WALTER. [_With a bitter shrug._] Love--
BETTY. [_Pa.s.sionately, as she springs to her feet._] Love, love, yes, you--cruel man! Love, what else? I adore you, don"t you know that? Live for you! would give up everything in the world--everything, everything!
And Walter, Walter! If it"s only _that_--that you want a home--well, let"s go off together. He"ll divorce us--we can get married. Don"t go away, and leave me here, alone with him! I couldn"t stand it--Walter, I couldn"t, I couldn"t!
[_She goes eagerly to him, flings her arms round his neck, and a dry sob bursts from her._
WALTER. [_Very gently._] Betty, Betty, you"ve been so brave ... Betty, dear, the horrid things I"ve said were only to make you angry, to make you feel what a brute I was, how well you"re rid of me. Oh, I"m not proud of myself! But look here, we must be sensible--we must, really.... You know, if you were divorced--if I were the co-respondent in a divorce case--I"d lose my berth, get the sack--
BETTY. [_Clinging to him._] We could go to Australia--anywhere--
WALTER. I"ve no money.
BETTY. [_With a sudden movement, raising her head and leaving him._] And Mary Gillingham has lots?
WALTER. It"s not for her money that I--
BETTY. [_With a start._] You love her?
WALTER. [_Dropping his head, and speaking under his breath._] Yes.
BETTY. [_Wringing her hands._] You do, you do?
WALTER. Yes, that"s the truth--I do. Oh, Betty I"m so frightfully sorry--
BETTY. [_With a groan._] Then you don"t love me any more ...
WALTER. It"s not that. But you see--
BETTY. [_Moaning._] You don"t, you don"t!
[_She stands there, crushed, overwhelmed, dry-eyed, broken moans escaping from her; suddenly she hears a key turning in the lock of the hall-door outside, and rushes to the card-table._
BETTY. Hector! Quick, quick--the cards!
[WALTER _flies to the table, and sits by her side. He seizes one pack and proceeds to shuffle it, she is dealing with the other.
All this takes only a second._ HECTOR _comes in--they both spring up._
BETTY. Hector! You"re not ill?
HECTOR. [_Kissing her._] Play postponed, my child--bit of luck! When I got to the theatre I found that the actor-manager"s car had collided with a cab outside the stage-door--he was thrown through the window--there"s a magnificent exit for you! and has been cut about a bit. Nothing serious.
But the play"s postponed for a week. Bit of luck!
WALTER. [_Sitting._] Not for him.
HECTOR. Oh _he_ has had luck enough--tons of it! I"ll get into a jacket--then we"ll have some bridge. See what progress you"ve made, Betty!
[_He hurries out, and closes the door._
BETTY. [_Producing a little mirror from her bag, looking into it, touching her hair._] We were only just in time.
WALTER. [_Eagerly, as he bends across the table._] You"re splendid--you are--splendid!
BETTY. Yes. All very nice and comfortable for you--isn"t it? [_She puts the mirror back into the bag._]
WALTER. [_Coaxingly._] Betty.
BETTY. To-morrow you"ll go to her--or to-night perhaps--
WALTER. To-night--ridiculous! At this hour!
BETTY. She"s a deceitful little cat. I saw her last week--she never told me--
WALTER. I don"t think she knew. I only proposed to-day.
BETTY. [_Flinging herself back in her chair, and opening wide eyes._]