Quotes by Arthur Wing Pinero

You needn't be afraid I'd go back to--what I was. I couldn't. AUBREY. Sssh, for God's sake! We--you and I--we'll get out of this place ... what a fool I was to come here again! PAULA. You lived here with your first wife! AUBREY. We'll get out of this place and go abroad again, and begin afresh. PAULA. Begin afresh? AUBREY. There's no reason why the future shouldn't be happy for us--no reason that I can see---- PAULA. Aubrey! AUBREY. Yes? PAULA. You'll never forget this, you know. AUBREY. This? PAULA. To-night, and everything that's led up to it. Our coming here, Ellean, our quarrels--cat and dog!--Mrs. Cortelyon, the Orreyeds, this man! What an everlasting nightmare for you! AUBREY. Oh, we can forget it, if we choose. PAULA. That was always your cry. How _can_ one do it! AUBREY. Well make our calculations solely for the future, talk about the future, think about the future. PAULA. I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate. AUBREY. That's an awful belief. PAULA. To-night proves it. You must see now that, do what we will, go where we will, you'll be continually reminded of--what I was. I see it. AUBREY. You're frightened to-night; meeting this man has frightened you. But that sort of thing isn't likely to recur. The world isn't quite so small as all that. PAULA. Isn't it! The only great distances it contains are those we carry within ourselves--the distances that separate husbands and wives, for instance. And so it'll be with us. You'll do your best--oh, I know that--you're a good fellow. But circumstances will be too strong for you in the end, mark my words. AUBREY. Paula----! PAULA. Of course I'm pretty now--I'm pretty still--and a pretty woman, whatever else she may be, is always--well, endurable. But even now I notice that the lines of my face are getting deeper; so are the hollows about my eyes. Yes, my face is covered with little shadows that usen't to be there.

And you are quite prepared, my friend, to forfeit the esteem of your little parish? AUBREY. I avoid mortification by shifting from one parish to another. I give up Pall Mall for the Surrey hills; leave off varnishing my boots and double the thickness of the soles. DRUMMLE. And your skin--do you double the thickness of that also? AUBREY. I know you think me a fool, Cayley--you needn't infer that I'm a coward into the bargain. No! I know what I'm doing, and I do it deliberately, defiantly. I'm alone; I injure no living soul by the step I'm going to take; and so you can't urge the one argument which might restrain me. Of course, I don't expect you to think compassionately, fairly even, of the woman whom I--whom I am drawn to---- DRUMMLE. My dear Aubrey, I assure you I consider Mrs.--Miss Jarman--Mrs. Ray--Miss Ray--delightful. But I confess there is a form of chivalry which I gravely distrust, especially in a man of--our age. AUBREY. Thanks. I've heard you say that from forty till fifty a man is at heart either a stoic or a satyr. DRUMMLE. [_Protestingly._] Ah! now---- AUBREY. I am neither. I have a temperate, honourable affection for Mrs. Jarman. She has never met a man who has treated her well--I intend to treat her well. That's all. And in a few years, Cayley, if you've not quite forsaken me, I'll prove to you that it's possible to rear a life of happiness, of good repute, on a--miserable foundation. DRUMMLE. [_Offering his hand._] Do prove it! AUBREY. [_Taking his hand._] We have spoken too freely of--of Mrs. Jarman. I was excited--angry. Please forget it! DRUMMLE. My dear Aubrey, when we next meet I shall remember nothing but my respect for the lady who bears your name. MORSE _enters, closing the door behind him carefully._ AUBREY. What is it? MORSE. [_Hesitatingly._] May I speak to you, Sir? [_In an undertone._] Mrs. Jarman, sir. AUBREY. [_Softly to_ MORSE.] Mrs. Jarman! Do you mean she is at the lodge in her carriage?