The air suits me too. And
I want to be near Hesione.
MANGAN [with growing uneasiness]. The air may suit us; but the
question is, should we suit one another? Have you thought about
that?
ELLIE. Mr Mangan, we must be sensible, mustn't we? It's no use
pretending that we are Romeo and Juliet. But we can get on very
well together if we choose to make the best of it. Your kindness
of heart will make it easy for me.
MANGAN [leaning forward, with the beginning of something like
deliberate unpleasantness in his voice]. Kindness of heart, eh? I
ruined your father, didn't I?
ELLIE. Oh, not intentionally.
MANGAN. Yes I did. Ruined him on purpose.
ELLIE. On purpose!
MANGAN. Not out of ill-nature, you know. And you'll admit that I
kept a job for him when I had finished with him. But business is
business; and I ruined him as a matter of business.
ELLIE. I don't understand how that can be. Are you trying to make
me feel that I need not be grateful to you, so that I may choose
freely?
MANGAN [rising aggressively]. No. I mean what I say.
ELLIE. But how could it possibly do you any good to ruin my
father? The money he lost was yours.
MANGAN [with a sour laugh]. Was mine! It is mine, Miss Ellie, and
all the money the other fellows lost too. [He shoves his hands
into his pockets and shows his teeth].
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