Oh, cruel,
cruel!
GERVASE (remorsefully). Oh, forgive me, Melisande. It was horrible of
me.
MELISANDE. No, but it's true. How could any romance come into this
house? Now you know why I wanted you to take me away--away to the ends
of the earth with you.
GERVASE. Well, that's what I want to do.
MELISANDE. Ah, don't! When you're on the Stock Exchange!
GERVASE. But there's plenty of romance on the Stock Exchange. (Nodding
his head) Oh yes, you want to look out for it.
MELISANDE (reproachfully). Now you're laughing at me again.
GERVASE. My dear, I'm not. Or if I am laughing at you, then I am
laughing at myself too. And if we can laugh together, then we can be
happy together, Melisande.
MELISANDE. I want romance, I want beauty. I don't want jokes.
GERVASE. I see what it is. You don't like my knickerbockers.
MELISANDE (bewildered). Did you expect me to?
GERVASE. No. (After a pause) I think that's why I put 'em on. (She
looks at him in surprise.) You see, we had to come back to the
twentieth century some time; we couldn't go on pretending for ever.
Well, here we are--(indicating his clothes)--back. But I feel just as
romantic, Melisande. I want beauty--your beauty--just as much. (He
goes to her.
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