The Philanderer | Page 3

ornaments on the mantelpiece and warming his hands.)
GRACE (Her voice a little strained). What are you going to try now?
CHARTERIS (on the hearthrug, turning to face her). Action, my dear!
Marriage!! In that she must believe. She won't be convinced by
anything short of it, because, you see, I have had some tremendous
philanderings before and have gone back to her after them.
GRACE. And so that is why you want to marry me?
CHARTERIS. I cannot deny it, my love. Yes: it is your mission to
rescue me from Julia.
GRACE (rising). Then, if you please, I decline to be made use of for
any such purpose. I will not steal you from another woman. (She begins
to walk up and down the room with ominous disquiet.)
CHARTERIS. Steal me! (Comes towards her.) Grace: I have a question
to put to you as an advanced woman. Mind! as an advanced woman.
Does Julia belong to me? Am I her owner--her master?
GRACE. Certainly not. No woman is the property of a man. A woman
belongs to herself and to nobody else.
CHARTERIS. Quite right. Ibsen for ever! That's exactly my opinion.
Now tell me, do I belong to Julia; or have I a right to belong to myself?
GRACE (puzzled). Of course you have; but--
CHARTERIS (interrupting her triumphantly). Then how can you steal
me from Julia if I don't belong to her? (Catching her by the shoulders

and holding her out at arm's length in front of him.) Eh, little
philosopher? No, my dear: if Ibsen sauce is good for the goose, it's
good for the gander as well. Besides (coaxing her) it was nothing but a
philander with Julia--nothing else in the world, I assure you.
GRACE (breaking away from him). So much the worse! I hate your
philanderings: they make me ashamed of you and of myself. (Goes to
the sofa and sits in the right hand corner of it, leaning gloomily on her
elbow with her face averted.)
CHARTERIS. Grace: you utterly misunderstand the origin of my
philanderings. (Sits down beside her.) Listen to me: am I a particularly
handsome man?
GRACE (turning to him as if astonished at his conceit). No!
CHARTERIS (triumphantly). You admit it. Am I a well dressed man?
GRACE. Not particularly.
CHARTERIS. Of course not. Have I a romantic mysterious charm
about me?--do I look as if a secret sorrow preyed on me?--am I gallant
to women?
GRACE. Not in the least.
CHARTERIS. Certainly not. No one can accuse me of it. Then whose
fault is it that half the women I speak to fall in love with me? Not mine:
I hate it: it bores me to distraction. At first it flattered me--delighted
me--that was how Julia got me, because she was the first woman who
had the pluck to make me a declaration. But I soon had enough of it;
and at no time have I taken the initiative and persecuted women with
my advances as women have persecuted me. Never. Except, of course,
in your case.
GRACE. Oh, you need not make any exception. I had a good deal of
trouble to induce you to come and see us. You were very coy.

CHARTERIS (fondly, taking her hand). With you, dearest, the coyness
was sheer coquetry. I loved you from the first, and fled only that you
might pursue. But come! let us talk about something really interesting.
(Takes her in his arms.) Do you love me better than anyone else in the
world?
GRACE. I don't think you like to be loved too much.
CHARTERIS. That depends on who the person is. You (pressing her to
his heart) cannot love me too much: you cannot love me half enough. I
reproach you every day for your coldness--your-- (Violent double
knock heard without. They start and listen, still in one another's arms,
hardly daring to breathe.) Who the deuce is calling at this hour?
GRACE. I can't imagine. (They listen guiltily. The door of the flat is
opened without. They hastily get away from one another.)
A WOMAN'S VOICE OUTSIDE. Is Mr. Charteris here?
CHARTERIS (springing up). Julia! The devil! (Stands at the left of the
sofa with his hands on it, bending forward with his eyes fixed on the
door.)
GRACE (rising also). What can she want?
THE VOICE. Never mind: I will announce myself. (A beautiful, dark,
tragic looking woman, in mantle and bonnet, appears at the door,
raging furiously.) Oh, this is charming. I have interrupted a pretty
tete-a-tete. Oh, you villain! (She comes straight at Grace. Charteris runs
across behind the sofa and stops her. She struggles furiously with him.
Grace preserves her self possession, but retreats quietly to the piano.
Julia, finding Charteris too strong for her, gives up her attempt to