MISS SPAULDING: "No matter. There"s no excuse for me. I listened simply because I was a woman, and couldn"t help it; and, oh, what will he think of me?"
MISS REED: "I won"t give you away; if you really feel so badly" -
MISS SPAULDING: "Oh, DO you think you can keep from telling him, Ethel dear? Try! And I will be your slave forever!" Steps are heard on the stairs outside. "Oh, there he comes!" She dashes out of the door, and closes it after her, a moment before the maid- servant, followed by Mr. Ransom, taps at it.
III.
SCENE: Miss Reed opens the door, and receives Mr. Ransom with well- affected surprise and state, suffering him to stand awkwardly on the threshold for a moment.
SHE, coldly: "Oh!--Mr. Ransom!"
HE, abruptly: "I"ve come" -
SHE: "Won"t you come in?"
HE, advancing a few paces into the room: "I"ve come" -
SHE, indicating a chair: "Will you sit down?"
HE: "I must stand for the present. I"ve come to ask you for that money, Miss Reed, which I refused yesterday, in terms that I blush to think of. I was altogether and wholly in the wrong, and I"m ready to offer any imaginable apology or reparation. I"m ready to take the money and to sign a receipt, and then to be dismissed with whatever ignominy you please. I deserve anything--everything!"
SHE: "The money? Excuse me; I don"t know--I"m afraid that I"m not prepared to pay you the whole sum to-day."
HE, hastily: "Oh, no matter! no matter! I don"t care for the money now. I merely wish to--to a.s.sure you that I thought you were perfectly right in offering it, and to--to" -
SHE: "What?"
HE: "Nothing. That is--ah--ah" -
SHE: "It"s extremely embarra.s.sing to have people refuse their money when it"s offered them, and then come the next day for it, when perhaps it isn"t so convenient to pay it--VERY embarra.s.sing."
HE, hotly: "But I tell you I don"t want the MONEY! I never wanted it, and wouldn"t take it on any account."
SHE: "Oh! I thought you said you came to get it?"
HE: "I said--I didn"t say--I meant--that is--ah--I"--He stops, open- mouthed.
SHE, quietly: "I could give you part of the money now."
HE: "Oh, whatever you like; it"s indifferent" -
SHE: "Please sit down while I write a receipt." She places herself deliberately at the table, and opens her portfolio. "I will pay you now, Mr. Ransom, for the first six lessons you gave me--the ones before you told me that I could never learn to do anything."
HE, sinking mechanically into the chair she indicates: "Oh, just as you like!" He looks up at the ceiling in hopeless bewilderment, while she writes.
SHE, blotting the paper: "There! And now let me offer you a little piece of advice, Mr. Ransom, which may be useful to you in taking pupils hereafter."
HE, bursting out: "I never take pupils!"
SHE: "Never take pupils! I don"t understand. You took ME."
HE, confusedly: "I took you--yes. You seemed to wish--you seemed-- the case was peculiar--peculiar circ.u.mstances."
SHE, with severity: "May I ask WHY the circ.u.mstances were peculiar?
I saw nothing peculiar about the circ.u.mstances. It seemed to me it was a very simple matter. I told you that I had always had a great curiosity to see whether I could use oil paints, and I asked you a very plain question, whether you would let me study with you. Didn"t I?"
HE: "Yes."
SHE: "Was there anything wrong--anything queer about my asking you?"
HE: "No, no! Not at all--not in the least."
SHE: "Didn"t you wish me to take the lessons of you? If you didn"t, it wasn"t kind of you to let me."
HE: "Oh, I was perfectly willing--very glad indeed, very much so-- certainly!"
SHE: "If it wasn"t your CUSTOM to take pupils, you ought to have told me, and I wouldn"t have forced myself upon you."
HE, desperately: "It wasn"t forcing yourself upon me. The Lord knows how humbly grateful I was. It was like a hope of heaven!"
SHE: "Really, Mr. Ransom, this is very strange talk. What am I to understand by it? Why should you be grateful to teach me? Why should giving me lessons be like a hope of heaven?"
HE: "Oh, I will tell you!"
SHE: "Well?"
HE, after a moment of agony: "Because to be with you" -
SHE: "Yes?"
HE: "Because I wished to be with you. Because--those days in the woods, when you read, and I" -
SHE: "Painted on my pictures" -
HE: "Were the happiest of my life. Because--I loved you!"
SHE: "Mr. Ransom!"
HE: "Yes, I must tell you so. I loved you; I love you still. I shall always love you, no matter what" -
SHE: "You forget yourself, Mr. Ransom. Has there been anything in my manner--conduct--to justify you in using such language to me?"
HE: "No--no" -