KEN. My father! How could he do such a thing?

LAURA. It was my idea. I--I told him to do it.

KEN. You. You did that to me.

LAURA. I wanted to help you.

KEN. It takes a woman to do a thing like that.

LAURA. I loved you.

KEN. It takes love.--That's what love is. [_He goes to door._]
That's what it does to a man. [_Pause. The room is deathly quiet._]
And when I was a boy I used to wonder why some of the world's
wisest men hung out with whores.

CURTAIN




ACT III


_Same. Several hours later, about 10 P. M._ TED _is sitting in a
corner with a book, but unable to concentrate. He is wretchedly
unhappy and jumpy._

LAURA _paces back and forth._