THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER
had such a nice way of speaking. But it almost makes one think evil of people when they do a thing like that. And the hotel people were so rude . . .
Chris : Oh, Margaret, Margaret! Where was I? Why did all this have to happen to you? My darling, why weren’t we together?
Margaret : You were away, Chris. You’d written, and I hadn’t had your letters.
Chris : Oh, if I'd known . . . if only I could remember. Didn’t you write to me?
Margaret : No, I . . . I didn’t like. You see, we'd quarrelled, you and I. Do you remember . . . a silly quarrel, but . . .
Chris : Yes, I remember.
[He falls on his knees beside her.
Oh, Margaret, forgive me. I was so stupid and jealous and cruel . . . do forgive me.
Margaret : Forgive you? After fifteen years, Chris?
Chris (deflated suddenly): Fifteen years? I’d forgotten. I thought it was last week. It’s the last I remember.
Margaret : It’s the last time I saw you.
Chris : Is it? Is it? Oh, Margaret . . . how cruel life can be. . . . Never to give us a chance to make it up and be happy . . . and it was all my selfish fault. Oh, my dear . . . my dear. . . .
[He buries his head in her lap.
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