Five Little Plays | Page 4

[_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. [_Passionately._] 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. [_Passionately, 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._] You--proposed--to-day!
WALTER. [_Very embarrassed._] Yes--I mean--
BETTY. You--proposed--to-day! And waited till she had accepted you--to tell _me_--
WALTER. [_Eagerly._] Don't be so silly--come, come, he'll be back in a minute.... And, believe me, I'm not worth making a fuss about!
BETTY. [_Looking contemptuously at him._] That's true.
WALTER. Yes, it is, worse luck! I deserve all you've said to me. And you'll be ... much better ... without me.
BETTY. Better?
WALTER. Yes, better, better--any way