The Skin Game by John Galsworthy
page 91 of 138 (65%)
page 91 of 138 (65%)
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CHLOE. Be quiet! Oh! Be quiet! [Taking from her bosom the notes and the pearls] Look! There's my savings--there's all I've got! The pearls'll fetch nearly a thousand. [Holding it out to him] Take it, and drop me out--won't you? Won't you? DAWKER. [Passing his tongue over his lips with a hard little laugh] You mistake your man, missis. I'm a plain dog, if you like, but I'm faithful, and I hold fast. Don't try those games on me. CHLOE. [Losing control] You're a beast!--a beast! a cruel, cowardly beast! And how dare you bribe that woman here to spy on me? Oh! yes, you do; you know you do. If you drove me mad, you wouldn't care. You beast! DAWKER. Now, don't carry on! That won't help you. CHLOE. What d'you call it--to dog a woman down like this, just because you happen to have a quarrel with a man? DAWKER. Who made the quarrel? Not me, missis. You ought to know that in a row it's the weak and helpless--we won't say the innocent --that get it in the neck. That can't be helped. CHLOE. [Regarding him intently] I hope your mother or your sister, if you've got any, may go through what I'm going through ever since you got on my track. I hope they'll know what fear means. I hope they'll love and find out that it's hanging on a thread, and--and-- Oh! you coward, you persecuting coward! Call yourself a man! |
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