But was it of her own free choice? Answer me frankly.

RICHARD

(Turns to him, calmly.) I played for her against all that you say or can say; and I won.

ROBERT

(Nodding again.) Yes, you won.

RICHARD

(Rises.) Excuse me for forgetting. Will you have some whisky?

ROBERT

All things come to those who wait.

(Richard goes to the sideboard and brings a small tray with the decanter and glasses to the table where he sets it down.)

RICHARD

(Sits down again, leaning back on the lounge.) Will you please help yourself?

ROBERT

(Does so.) And you? Steadfast? (Richard shakes his head.) Lord, when I think of our wild nights long ago-- talks by the hour, plans, carouses, revelry...

RICHARD

In our house.

ROBERT

It is mine now. I have kept it ever since though I don't go there often. Whenever you like to come let me know. You must come some night. It will be old times again. (He lifts his glass, and drinks.) Prosit!

RICHARD

It was not only a house of revelry; it was to be the hearth of a new life. (Musing.) And in that name all our sins were committed.

ROBERT

Sins! Drinking and blasphemy (he points) by me. And drinking and heresy, much worse (he points again) by you-- are those the sins you mean?

RICHARD

And some others.

ROBERT

(Lightly, uneasily.) You mean the women. I have no remorse of conscience. Maybe you have. We had two keys on those occasions. (Maliciously.) Have you?

RICHARD

(Irritated.) For you it was all quite natural?

ROBERT

For me it is quite natural to kiss a woman whom I like. Why not? She is beautiful for me.

RICHARD

(Toying with the lounge cushion.) Do you kiss everything that is beautiful for you?

ROBERT

Everything-- if it can be kissed. (He takes up a flat stone which lies on the table.) This stone, for instance. It is so cool, so polished, so delicate, like a woman's temple. It is silent, it suffers our passion; and it is beautiful. (He places it against his lips.) And so I kiss it because it is beautiful. And what is a woman? A work of nature, too, like a stone or a flower or a bird. A kiss is an act of homage.

RICHARD

It is an act of union between man and woman. Even if we are often led to desire through the sense of beauty can you say that the beautiful is what we desire?

ROBERT

(Pressing the stone to his forehead.) You will give me a headache if you make me think today. I cannot think today. I feel too natural, too common. After all, what is most attractive in even the most beautiful woman?

RICHARD

What?

ROBERT

Not those qualities which she has and other women have not but the qualities which she has in common with them. I mean... the commonest. (Turning over the stone, he presses the other side to his forehead.) I mean how her body develops heat when it is pressed, the movement of her blood, how quickly she changes by digestion what she eats into-- what shall be nameless. (Laughing.) I am very common today. Perhaps that idea never struck you?

RICHARD

(Drily.) Many ideas strike a man who has lived nine years with a woman.

ROBERT

Yes. I suppose they do....