[_Passionately._] I want to be free. I’ve lived in an atmosphere of lies and hypocrisy till I can hardly breathe. Your good nature is merely a pose. Your generosity is merely an advertisement. You care for nothing but your own self-advancement. And I want to be rid of the horrible feeling that all sorts of shady things are going on around me that I don’t know. GEORGE WINTER. [_Sharply._] What d’you mean? CATHERINE. I know that you’re not honest. [_With a cry of rage_ GEORGE WINTER _seizes her by the shoulders violently. His passion for the moment is uncontrollable._ GEORGE WINTER. What d’you mean? What d’you mean? What d’you mean? CATHERINE. You’re hurting me. GEORGE WINTER. [_In his rage hardly able to articulate._] Damn you, how dare you say that to me? CATHERINE. Let me go. GEORGE WINTER. Why don’t you answer? What d’you mean? CATHERINE. [_Shaking herself free._] I’ll tell you what I mean. I know that if the occasion arose you wouldn’t hesitate to steal. GEORGE WINTER. [_With a laugh of relief._] Is that all? CATHERINE. For years I’ve been tortured by the horror of it. Each pearl you’ve given me--and you’ve thrust them upon me--I’ve asked myself if it was honestly come by. And that’s why I want to escape from you--not only because you’ve been odiously cruel to me, even now when you’re trying to persuade me to return to you, and because you’ve flaunted before me one vulgar intrigue after another--but because I feel that all this wealth rests on lying, and swindling, and roguery. GEORGE WINTER. [_Banteringly._] Well, you must confess that so far I’ve been eminently successful in not getting found out. CATHERINE. [_Taking no notice of his remark._] And now surely you have nothing more to say to me. GEORGE WINTER. [_With a bland smile._] My dear, knowing how important it is to me that you should return to the conjugal roof, you don’t imagine I have come without some means to persuade you. CATHERINE. I assure you you’re wasting your time. You’ve always told me it was valuable. GEORGE WINTER. [_In his most delightful manner._] You seem to be under the delusion it rests with you to make conditions. CATHERINE. I make no conditions. I merely announce my decision. GEORGE WINTER. [_Taking a letter from his pocket and quietly smoothing it out on a table._] I’ve never suffered from that form of snobbishness which makes many self-made men hurl their origin in the face of a British public only too anxious to pretend it thinks them the scions of a noble house. But I have never concealed from you that mine was humble. CATHERINE. [_Suspiciously._] What is that paper? GEORGE WINTER.