But don't say it. BLACKMORE No? MRS. HOLROYD No, we've had enough. BLACKMORE Give me the rug. [_She hands it him, and he tucks Holroyd up._ MRS. HOLROYD You only do it to play on my feelings. BLACKMORE (_laughing shortly_) And now give me a pillow--thanks. [_There is a pause--both look at the sleeping man._ BLACKMORE I suppose you're fond of him, really. MRS. HOLROYD No more. BLACKMORE You _were_ fond of him? MRS. HOLROYD I was--yes. BLACKMORE What did you like in him? MRS. HOLROYD (_uneasily_) I don't know. BLACKMORE I suppose you really care about him, even now. MRS. HOLROYD Why are you so sure of it? BLACKMORE Because I think it is so. MRS. HOLROYD I did care for him--now he has destroyed it-- BLACKMORE I don't believe he can destroy it. MRS. HOLROYD (_with a short laugh_) Don't you? When you are married you try. You'll find it isn't so hard. BLACKMORE But what did you like in him--because he was good-looking, and strong, and that? MRS. HOLROYD I liked that as well. But if a man makes a nuisance of himself, his good looks are ugly to you, and his strength loathsome. Do you think I _care_ about a man because he's got big fists, when he is a coward in his real self? BLACKMORE Is he a coward? MRS. HOLROYD He _is_--a pettifogging, paltry one. BLACKMORE And so you've really done with him? MRS. HOLROYD I have. BLACKMORE And what are you going to do? MRS. HOLROYD I don't know. BLACKMORE I suppose nothing. You'll just go on--even if you've done with him--you'll go on with him. [_There is a long pause._ BLACKMORE But was there nothing else in him but his muscles and his good looks to attract you to him? MRS. HOLROYD Why? What does it matter? BLACKMORE What did you _think_ he was? MRS. HOLROYD Why must we talk about him? BLACKMORE Because I can never quite believe you. MRS. HOLROYD I can't help whether you believe it or not. BLACKMORE Are you just in a rage with him, because of to-night? MRS. HOLROYD I know, to-night finished it. But it was never right between us. BLACKMORE Never? MRS. HOLROYD Not once. And then to-night--no, it's too much; I can't stand any more of it. BLACKMORE I suppose he got tipsy. Then he said he wasn't a married man--vowed he wasn't, to those paper bonnets. They found out he was, and said he was frightened of his wife getting to know. Then he said they should all go to supper at his house--I suppose they came out of mischief. MRS. HOLROYD He did it to insult me. BLACKMORE Oh, he was a bit tight--you can't say it was deliberate. MRS. HOLROYD No, but it shows how he feels toward me. The feeling comes out in drink. BLACKMORE How does he feel toward you? MRS. HOLROYD He wants to insult me, and humiliate me, in every moment of his life. Now I simply despise him. BLACKMORE You really don't care any more about him? MRS. HOLROYD No. BLACKMORE (_hesitates_) And you would leave him? MRS. HOLROYD