EUSTASIA. Yes, darling. A wonderful, wonderful week. And now to-day we leave this dear house where we have been so happy together, and go out into the world together—— NICHOLAS (_who has not been listening to her_). A week. Except for the first day, we have had all our meals alone together. EUSTASIA (_sentimentally_). Alone, Nicholas. NICHOLAS. Four meals a day—that’s twenty-four meals. EUSTASIA. Twenty-four! NICHOLAS. And at every one of those meals you have asked me at least four times to have something more, when I had already said that I didn’t want anything more; or, in other words, you have forced me to say “No, thank you, Eustasia,” ninety-six times when there was absolutely no need for it. EUSTASIA (_hurt_). Nicholas! NICHOLAS (_inexorably_). We are both young. I am twenty-six, you are—— EUSTASIA (_hopefully_). Twenty-five. NICHOLAS (_looking at her quickly and then away again_). You are twenty-five. If all goes well, we may look to have fifty years more together. Say two thousand five hundred weeks. Multiply that by a hundred, and we see that in the course of our joint lives you will, at the present rate, force me to say “No, thank you, Eustasia,” two hundred and fifty thousand times more than is necessary. (_He relights his pipe._) EUSTASIA (_pathetically_). Nicholas! (_She applies her handkerchief._) NICHOLAS. I wondered if we couldn’t come to some arrangement about it. That’s all. EUSTASIA. You’re cruel! Cruel! (_She sobs piteously._) NICHOLAS (_doggedly_). I just wondered if we couldn’t come to some arrangement. EUSTASIA (_completely overcome_). Oh! Oh! Nicholas! My darling! (_NICHOLAS, his hands clenched, looks grimly in front of him. He winces now and then at her sobs. He tries desperately hard not to give way, but in the end they are too much for him._) NICHOLAS (_putting his arms round her_). Darling! Don’t! (_She goes on sobbing._) There! There! I’m sorry. Nicholas is sorry. I oughtn’t to have said it. Forgive me, darling. EUSTASIA (_between sobs_). It’s only because I love you so much, and w-want you to be well. And you m-must eat. NICHOLAS. Yes, yes, Eustasia, I know. It is dear of you. EUSTASIA. Ask any d-doctor. He would say you m-must eat. NICHOLAS. Yes, darling. EUSTASIA. You m-must eat. NICHOLAS (_resignedly_). Yes, darling. EUSTASIA (_sitting up and wiping her eyes_). What’s a wife for, if it isn’t to look after her husband when he’s ill, and to see that he eats? NICHOLAS. All right, dear, we won’t say anything more about it. EUSTASIA. And when you had that horrid cold and were so ill, the first day after we came here, I did look after you, didn’t I, Nicholas, and take care of you and make you well again? NICHOLAS. You did, dear. Don’t think I am not grateful. You were very kind. (_Wincing at the recollection_) Too kind.