[_A second time left alone in the room, CRAIG now looks at those various things with which he and Bernice have lived. When he can no longer do this he goes to the passage way at the front of the staircase._ CRAIG Abbie! [_After a moment’s wait ABBIE comes slowly in._] When Miss Margaret came, you were about to tell me something. My wife--left a message for me? ABBIE Yes. No--I don’t know. [_Wildly._] She killed herself! CRAIG [_Falling back._] _What_--are--you--saying? ABBIE She--did it herself. Took her life. Now I’ve told you! You know now! CRAIG [_Roughly taking hold of her._] What’s this you’re saying? What’s this lie you’re trying to--[_Letting go of her--in horror, imploringly._] Abbie! _Tell me it isn’t true._ ABBIE It’s true. I’m telling you. It’s true. She--didn’t want to live any longer--so she took something--ended her life. That’s all. That’s all I can tell you. Nobody knows. Not her father--nobody. I thought I ought to tell you. Now I’ve told you! Let me go. I’ve told you--I-- [_She breaks from him and rushes out. CRAIG does not move. MARGARET comes from Bernice, without looking at CRAIG, opens the door to go outside._ CRAIG [_Scarcely able to call to her._] Margaret. MARGARET [_Not turning._] I’ll be back soon. CRAIG [_Wildly._] You can’t go away leaving me alone with this! I tell you I can’t _stand_ it. You’re going to the woods to think of Bernice! Well I’ll tell you one thing. You never _knew_ Bernice. You thought she didn’t love me. You think I didn’t matter. But Bernice _killed_ herself because she loved me so! MARGARET What--are--you--saying? CRAIG Abbie just told me. No one knows. Not her father--only Abbie. MARGARET It is _not_ true. CRAIG Yes. Abbie was with her. Oh, Margaret, she loved me like _that_. MARGARET And you killed her! CRAIG No--Oh, don’t say that! I didn’t _know_. MARGARET [_After trying to take it in._] I knew Bernice. She was life. She came from the whole of life. You are asking me to believe that because of--some little thing in her own life-- CRAIG But it wasn’t a little thing. _That’s_ what we didn’t know. I was _everything_ to Bernice. More than all that life we felt--[_Some one is heard above._] I think Laura’s coming down. Laura mustn’t know. I had to have you know. Nobody else. Not Laura. LAURA [_On the stairs._] Oh, Margaret, you have come? MARGARET I was just going out. [_As LAURA comes nearer._] I’m going to take a walk! [_She goes out._ LAURA