THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER
Kitty (defiantly, after a pause) : This is only just in time. I packed the things myself this morning, because I was going to make a bonfire of them.
Jenny : Kitty!
Doctor (silkily) : Why were you going to do that, Mrs. Baldry?
Kitty (to Jenny, in a low vicious tone) : I spoke of it to you, Jenny, the other day, about dismantling the room. I didn’t really mean it then. I love the room. I only said it because you hurt me, hinting that I was callous about Chris. I made myself talk as I did; you goaded me to it. But these last days . . . when he didn’t belong to me any more . . . then I made up my mind to finish with the past . . . absolutely.
Doctor (very quietly) : What were your exact relations with your husband, Mrs. Baldry?
Kitty : We were husband and wife. . . .
[Something catches in her throat, and she turns and walks quickly out of the room.
Margaret (after a pause) : It’s all so dreadful. . . .
Doctor (to Jenny) : Was the marriage ever a happy one?
Jenny (with a shrug) : You mustn’t ask me.
Margaret : She’s very beautiful. I’m sure Chris was always kind.
98
