Page:Poet Lore, volume 35, 1924.pdf/500

Julia.—And you dare to tell me this! What right have I ever given to speak to me so insultingly?

John.—Not so loud, please, darling! If you won’t, you won’t, but you owe us both this much: to keep still about it. Some one may hear.

Julia—Is it possible that you are afraid of your wife? In that case I should be spared the humiliation of telling her myself . . . if she caught . . .

John.—Now, dear, now, now! Let me tell you something that will really surprise you. I am in love with you, because I am in love with her.

Julia.—What do you mean?

John—I mean it seriously. It is very simple. It is something beyond my control . . . Just look at Ann today—a mere shadow of what she was ten years ago when I married her.

Julia. You are the last one who should hold that against her.

John—I know what you mean, that I have not spared her? Suppose you are right⁠The fact remains that I carry in my heart Ann as she was ten years ago.

Julia.—And Ann as she is today has dropped out, that’s quite evident. You no longer love her.

John (Laughing).—With the best kind of love . . . platonic.

Julia—How loathesome you are⁠How do you dare to speak to me like this! You imagine I have to stay here, no matter how you choose to treat me?

John.—My dear Julia, you don’t understand! I love my Ann in you. Don’t you see what a temptation you are to me, being as you are, the living image of Ann as she was years ago when I threatened to kill myself if she did not love me? I tell you, I have to rub my eyes often to realize that you are not she. The same age, the same beauty. You are her second edition.

Julia.—You make me laugh, and what you say is not at all to my taste. Your flattery won’t turn my head⁠Moreover, you are wasting precious time with me. What about your coming election? If I were in your place I should worry a little about affairs in the city hall.

John.—Don’t laugh at me, please. Remember, I do not belong to those who let themselves be moved from their purpose. Once I make up my mind to a thing, I get it. I shall get what I am after at the polls, and here, too.