_] I beg your pardon.
_By this time_ TREBELL _is in the room and has discovered the
stranger, who stands to face him without emotion or anger_,
BLACKBOROUGH'S _face wears the grimmest of smiles_, CANTELUPE _is
sorry_, FARRANT _recovers from the fit of choking which seemed
imminent and_ EDMUNDS, _dimly perceiving by now some fly in the
perfect amber of his conduct, departs. The two men still face each
other_, FARRANT _is prepared to separate them should they come to
blows, and indeed is advancing in that anticipation when_ O'CONNELL
_speaks._
O'CONNELL. I am Justin O'Connell.
TREBELL. I guess that.
O'CONNELL. There's a dead woman between us, Mr. Trebell.
_A tremor sweeps over_ TREBELL; _then he speaks simply._
TREBELL. I wish she had not died.
O'CONNELL. I am called upon by your friends to save you from the
consequences of her death. What have you to say about that?
TREBELL. I have been wondering what sort of expression the last of your care
for her would find ... but not much. My wonder is at the power over me that
has been given to something I despised.
_Only_ O'CONNELL _grasps his meaning. But he, stirred for the first
time and to his very depths, drives it home._
O'CONNELL. Yes.... If I wanted revenge I have it. She was a worthless woman.
First my life and now yours! Dead because she was afraid to bear your child,
isn't she?
TREBELL.
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