It was something to catch hold of,
when things went wrong, in that dreary grind of money-making. Her eyes lit
up when they saw me. She'd ask me about things--if I coughed, she'd fuss
me--she had pretty ways, and was pleased, oh, pleased beyond words, if I
brought her home something--
MRS. WESTERN. So this isn't the first time!
HARVEY. [_With a snarl._] No, of course not! She admired that bracelet of
yours--by Jove, I said to myself, I'll get her one like it! Whatever I
brought home to _you_ you'd scarcely say thank you--and usually it went
into the drawer--I'd such shocking bad taste! _She'd_ beam! Well, as
ill-luck would have it, you took a fancy to this one. I told her she
mustn't wear hers--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Calmly and cuttingly._] Conspiring behind my back.
HARVEY. [_Raging._] Oh, if you knew what has gone on behind your back!
Not when I was with her--when I was alone! The things I've said about
you--to myself! When I thought of this miserable life that had to be
dragged on here, thought of your superior smile, your damnable cruelty--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Genuinely surprised._] Cruelty! Why?
HARVEY. What else? I'd go up to you timidly--bah, why talk of it? To you
I've been the machine that made money--money to pay for the house, and the
car, and the dressmakers' bills--a machine that had to be fed--and when
you'd done that, you'd done all. Well, there was this girl--
MRS. WESTERN. You had your children.
HARVEY. A boy of seven and a girl of five--in bed when I came home--and
_your_ children much more than mine--I'm a stranger to them! And anyhow, I
wanted something more--something human, alive--that only a woman can give.
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