do my duty as best I can in the teeth of your cruel criticism. I
_must_ think of her future.

Denham.

(_rises, and lights pipe_) Oh, damn the future--and the past too!
You take life too seriously. You are a born self-tormentor, too full
of anxiety to live. You have the worst form of the great malady of
the age, conscience in the agnostic form. You suffer from the new
hysteria.

Mrs. Denham.

I am not hysterical.

Denham.

Pardon me, we are all hysterical nowadays. We have lost our
self-possession. You don't kick on the hearthrug and that kind of
thing. A bucket of cold water is not "indicated" in your case.

Mrs. Denham.

It seems to me you are always throwing buckets of cold water over
me.

Denham.

For heaven's sake, go and reform the world! That is the modern
woman's true vocation--and cure. Denounce our sensuality and