of that night, when all arrayed themselves so pitilessly against me? When a gesture from you might have saved me! And you saw me sink without stretching a finger to the woman who had felt the beating of your heart. No, you made your choice then—the world without me. I make my choice now—the wide, wide, world without you.
Ray. I have been bitterly punished, for we are never so humiliated as when we despise ourselves. But, by the Heaven above us both, I love you Laura, I have never ceased to love you.
Laura. I thank you. I know how to construe the love which you deny in the face of society, to offer me behind its back.
Ray. Will you drive me mad! I tell you Laura, your misery, your solitude is as nothing to the anguish I have suffered. The maniac who in his mental darkness, stabs to the heart the friend he loved, never felt in returning reason the remorse my error has earned me. Every day it says to me: "You have been false to the heart that loved you, and you shall account for it to your conscience all your life. You shall find that the bitterest drops in the cup of sorrow, are the tears of the woman you have forsaken." And it is true. O, forgive me—have pity on me.
Laura. (Moved.) I forgive you. Yes, and I pity you—and, so good-bye, forever.
Ray. Of course, lam nothing to you now. That is some comfort to me. I have only to be sorry on my own account. But, I come to you on behalf of others.
Laura. Whom?
Ray. My mother and Pearl. They ask for you. For them I have sought you, to urge you to return to them.
Laura. Dear little Pearl.
Ray. Yes, she has been quite ill.
Laura. She has been ill?
Ray. Think of those two hearts which you have caused to suffer and do not drive me from you. It is not only wealth, luxury and refinement which you have surrendered—you have also cast away those greater riches: loving and devoted friends. But they shall persuade you themselves. Yes, I'll go and bring them to you, you cannot resist their entreaties.
Laura. No, no, they must not come here. They must never know where I hide my shame, and you must never reveal it.
Ray. I promise it, if you will go to them with me. Think, they will insist on coming unless you do.
Laura. Poor Pearl! If I go with you, you promise not to detain me—to permit me to come back, and to trouble me and my poor life no more?
Ray. I promise; but I know you will release me from it when you see them. I will get a carriage. So that no one will meet you. Wait for me, I shall not be long. It is agreed?
Laura. (Smiling.) Yes, it is agreed.
[Enter Peachblossom, D. F. with a sheet of paper, foolscap, and some enormous envelopes.
Peach. (L. H.) Here they are.
Ray. C. That's a good girl, keep them till I come back. In half an hour, Laura, be ready.
