HARVEY. [_With a snarl._] No, of course not! She admired that bracelet of yours--by Jove, I said to myself, I'll get her one like it! Whatever I brought home to _you_ you'd scarcely say thank you--and usually it went into the drawer--I'd such shocking bad taste! _She'd_ beam! Well, as ill-luck would have it, you took a fancy to this one. I told her she mustn't wear hers-- MRS. WESTERN. [_Calmly and cuttingly._] Conspiring behind my back. HARVEY. [_Raging._] Oh, if you knew what has gone on behind your back! Not when I was with her--when I was alone! The things I've said about you--to myself! When I thought of this miserable life that had to be dragged on here, thought of your superior smile, your damnable cruelty-- MRS. WESTERN. [_Genuinely surprised._] Cruelty! Why? HARVEY. What else? I'd go up to you timidly--bah, why talk of it? To you I've been the machine that made money--money to pay for the house, and the car, and the dressmakers' bills--a machine that had to be fed--and when you'd done that, you'd done all. Well, there was this girl-- MRS. WESTERN. You had your children. HARVEY. A boy of seven and a girl of five--in bed when I came home--and _your_ children much more than mine--I'm a stranger to them! And anyhow, I wanted something more--something human, alive--that only a woman can give. And she gave it. Nothing between us, I swear--but just that. As Tom says, I've not been such a cur--and _you_ ought to know me well enough, after all these years!... But there is the truth--she's fond of me: she is, it's a fact. And I _needed_ that fondness--it has kept me going. And now--do you think I'll let her be thrust out into the street? [_As he says these last words he drops into a chair, facing her, and looks fiercely and doggedly at her._ MRS. WESTERN. [_Calmly._] Stop now, and listen to me. I've let you rattle on. Will you hear me for one moment? HARVEY. Go on. MRS. WESTERN. All those things you've said about me--[_With a shrug._] Well, what's the use? I suppose we're like most married people when they come to our age. I've interests of my own, that don't appeal to you-- HARVEY. Blue-books and Committees! MRS. WESTERN. I do useful work--oh yes, you may sneer--you always have sneered! If a woman tries to do something sensible with her life, instead of cuddling and kissing you all day, she's cold and cruel. We've drifted apart--well, your fault as much as mine. More, perhaps--but it's no good going into that--no good making reproaches. That's how things are--we must make the best of them. Wait, let me finish. About this girl. Granted that what you say is true--and I'm inclined to believe it-- HARVEY. [_Genuinely grateful._] At least thank you for that! MRS. WESTERN. Or at any rate it's better policy to believe it, for every one's sake-- HARVEY. [_Bitterly._] That's right--that's more like you!