The Second Mrs. Tanqueray Arthur W. Pinero (free children's online books txt) đ
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epub:type="z3998:persona">Drummle
Well, well! Laughing. Ha, ha, ha!
Paula
Turning upon him. I suppose it is amusing!
Drummle
I beg pardon.
Paula
Heaven knows Iâve little enough to brag about! Iâm a bad lot, but not in mean tricks of this sort. In all my life this is the most caddish thing Iâve done. How am I to get rid of these lettersâ âthatâs what I want to know? How am I to get rid of them?
Drummle
If I were you I should take Aubrey aside and put them into his hands as soon as possible.
Paula
What! and tell him to his face that Iâ â! No, thank you. I suppose you wouldnât like toâ â
Drummle
No, no; I wonât touch âem!
Paula
And you call yourself my friend?
Drummle
Good-humouredly. No, I donât!
Paula
Perhaps Iâll tie them together and give them to his man in the morning.
Drummle
That wonât avoid an explanation.
Paula
Recklessly. Oh, then he must miss themâ â
Drummle
And trace them.
Paula
Throwing herself upon the ottoman. I donât care!
Drummle
I know you donât; but let me send him to you now, may I?
Paula
Now! What do you think a womanâs made of? I couldnât stand it, Cayley. I havenât slept for nights; and last night there was thunder, too! I believe Iâve got the horrors.
Drummle
Taking the little hand-mirror from the table. Youâll sleep well enough when you deliver those letters. Come, come, Mrs. Aubreyâ âa good nightâs rest! Holding the mirror before her face. Itâs quite time.
She looks at herself for a moment, then snatches the mirror from him.
Paula
You brute, Cayley, to show me that!
Drummle
Thenâ âmay I? Be guided by a frâ âa poor old woman! May I?
Paula
Youâll kill me, amongst you!
Drummle
What do you say?
Paula
After a pause. Very well. He nods his head and goes out rapidly. She looks after him for a moment, and calls âCayley! Cayley!â Then she again produces the letters, deliberately, one by one, fingering them with aversion. Suddenly she starts, turning her head towards the door. Ah!
Aubrey enters quickly.
Aubrey
Paula!
Paula
Handing him the letters, her face averted. There! He examines the letters, puzzled, and looks at her inquiringly. They are many days old. I stole them, I suppose to make you anxious and unhappy.
He looks at the letters again, then lays them aside on the table.
Aubrey
Gently. Paula, dear, it doesnât matter.
Paula
After a short pause. Whyâ âwhy do you take it like this?
Aubrey
What did you expect?
Paula
Oh, but I suppose silent reproaches are really the severest. And then, naturally, you are itching to open your letters.
She crosses the room as if to go.
Aubrey
Paula! She pauses. Surely, surely itâs all over now?
Paula
All over! Mockingly. Has my stepdaughter returned then? When did she arrive? I havenât heard of it!
Aubrey
You can be very cruel.
Paula
That wordâs always on a manâs lips; he uses it if his soupâs cold. With another movement as if to go. Need weâ â
Aubrey
I know Iâve wounded you, Paula. But isnât there any way out of this?
Paula
When does Ellean return? Tomorrow? Next week?
Aubrey
Wearily. Oh! Why should we grudge Ellean the little pleasure she is likely to find in Paris and in London.
Paula
I grudge her nothing, if thatâs a hit at me. But with that womanâ â!
Aubrey
It must be that woman or another. You know that at present we are unable to give Ellean the opportunity ofâ âofâ â
Paula
Of mixing with respectable people.
Aubrey
The opportunity of gaining friends, experience, ordinary knowledge of the world. If you are interested in Ellean, canât you see how useful Mrs. Cortelyonâs good offices are?
Paula
May I put one question? At the end of the London season, when Mrs. Cortelyon has done with Ellean, is it quite understood that the girl comes back to us? Aubrey is silent. Is it? Is it?
Aubrey
Let us wait till the end of the seasonâ â
Paula
Oh! I knew it. Youâre only fooling me; you put me off with any trash. I believe youâve sent Ellean away, not for the reasons you give, but because you donât consider me a decent companion for her, because youâre afraid she might get a little of her innocence rubbed off in my company? Come, isnât that the truth? Be honest! Isnât that it?
Aubrey
Yes.
There is a momentâs silence on both sides.
Paula
With uplifted hands as if to strike him. Oh!
Aubrey
Taking her by the wrists. Sit down. Sit down. He puts her into a chair; she shakes herself free with a cry. Now listen to me. Fond as you are, Paula, of harking back to your past, thereâs one chapter of it you always let alone. Iâve never asked you to speak of it; youâve never offered to speak of it. I mean the chapter that relates to the time when you wereâ âlike Ellean. She attempts to rise; he restrains her. No, no.
Paula
I donât choose to talk about that time. I wonât satisfy your curiosity.
Aubrey
My dear Paula, I have no curiosityâ âI know what you were at Elleanâs age. Iâll tell you. You hadnât a thought that wasnât a wholesome one, you hadnât an impulse that didnât tend towards good, you never harboured a notion you couldnât have gossiped about to a parcel of children. She makes another effort to rise: he lays his hand lightly on her shoulder. And this was a very few years backâ âthere are days now when you look like a schoolgirlâ âbut think of the difference between the two Paulas. Youâll have to think hard, because after a cruel life oneâs perceptions grow a thick skin. But, for Godâs sake, do think till you get these two images clearly in your mind, and then ask yourself what sort of a friend such a woman as you are today would have been for the girl of seven or eight years ago.
Paula
Rising. How dare you? I could be almost as good a friend to Ellean
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