Don’t. You make me feel very uncomfortable. MRS. DOT. [_Impatiently._] Oh, you’re too stupid. You’re a stock and a stone. You’re an owl. You’re a ridiculous idiot. BLENKINSOP. Temper, temper. MRS. DOT. You’ll ruin my whole life, because you’re such a perfect fool that you can’t make love to a woman. [_She breaks away from him and begins to cry. He walks up and down, then looks at her with a smile. He makes a sign to_ MISS MACGREGOR _that_ MRS. DOT _cannot see_. BLENKINSOP. [_In a different voice._] Dot, this little game of ours has lasted long enough. MRS. DOT. [_Sobbing in her handkerchief._] Yes, it has. I’m sick to death of the whole thing. BLENKINSOP. You asked me to play a part, and you didn’t know that it might be deadly earnest. MRS. DOT. Fiddlesticks! BLENKINSOP. I have a secret that I can no longer keep from you. MRS. DOT. Well, tell it to the horse-marines. BLENKINSOP. Dot, I love you! MRS. DOT. Oh, don’t be so silly. BLENKINSOP. But I tell you I’m not joking. MRS. DOT. Thank heaven for that. I’m weary of your bad jokes. BLENKINSOP. The thing started as a bad joke, but it has ended in something very different. A change has come over me, and I’m ashamed. MRS. DOT. [_Looking up._] Eh? BLENKINSOP. Don’t you see that I’m a different man? Dot, it’s you who’ve changed me. MRS. DOT. I really believe he’s waking up. BLENKINSOP. If I was shy and awkward, it’s because I wouldn’t give in to myself. I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t understand. MRS. DOT. That’s much better. There really is a ring of emotion in your voice. BLENKINSOP. How shouldn’t there be, when I’m saying at last what has trembled on the tip of my tongue for ten days? MRS. DOT. [_Delighted._] There! That’s just the tone I want. Talk with that quiver in your voice when you ask me to pass you the mustard at dinner. BLENKINSOP. I lie awake at night thinking of you, and when I fall asleep I seem to hold you in my arms. MRS. DOT. That’s splendid. Why couldn’t you say all this before? BLENKINSOP. Dot, Dot, don’t torture me. Don’t you see I mean it. MRS. DOT. What! BLENKINSOP. I’m not jesting now. I wish to heaven I were. MRS. DOT. [_Forcing a laugh._] My dear James, you’re really piling it on too much. BLENKINSOP. You must be mad or blind. Can’t you feel that I love you? MRS. DOT. Don’t be so absurd. You know you’re only--you’re only pulling my leg. BLENKINSOP. Oh, I’ve been a perfect ass. I should never have consented to play this ghastly trick. If you only knew what tortures I’ve suffered! MRS. DOT. He isn’t really serious, Aunt Eliza? AUNT ELIZA. [_Smiling._] Upon my soul, it looks very much like it. BLENKINSOP. What did you expect? You’ve played on my heart-strings as though they were an instrument that had no feeling. You’ve put a caress into every tone of your voice. MRS. DOT. [_Ruefully._] Of course, I am fascinating. I can’t deny that. BLENKINSOP.