Damn!
MRS HUSHABYE. Splendid! Oh, what a relief! I thought you were
going to be broken-hearted. Never mind me. Damn him again.
ELLIE. I am not damning him. I am damning myself for being such a
fool. [Rising]. How could I let myself be taken in so? [She
begins prowling to and fro, her bloom gone, looking curiously
older and harder].
MRS HUSHABYE [cheerfully]. Why not, pettikins? Very few young
women can resist Hector. I couldn't when I was your age. He is
really rather splendid, you know.
ELLIE [turning on her]. Splendid! Yes, splendid looking, of
course. But how can you love a liar?
MRS HUSHABYE. I don't know. But you can, fortunately. Otherwise
there wouldn't be much love in the world.
ELLIE. But to lie like that! To be a boaster! a coward!
MRS HUSHABYE [rising in alarm]. Pettikins, none of that, if you
please. If you hint the slightest doubt of Hector's courage, he
will go straight off and do the most horribly dangerous things to
convince himself that he isn't a coward. He has a dreadful trick
of getting out of one third-floor window and coming in at
another, just to test his nerve. He has a whole drawerful of
Albert Medals for saving people's lives.
ELLIE. He never told me that.
MRS HUSHABYE. He never boasts of anything he really did: he can't
bear it; and it makes him shy if anyone else does.
Pages:
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108