ROSAMUND [_after a pause, during which she gazes into his face_]. I suppose it was in my character of your elder sister, that you put a certain question to me four years ago last night?
GERALD [_staggered; pulls himself together for a great resolve; after a long pause_]. Rosie! I never thought afterwards you'd take it seriously. I forgot it all. I was only a boy then. [_Speaking quicker and quicker._] But I see clearly now. I never _could_ withstand you. It's all rot about Evelyn and Madge. It's you I'm in love with; and I never guessed it! Rosie!... [_Rushes to her and impetuously flings his arms around her neck._]
JAMES [_who, during the foregoing scene, has been full of uneasy gestures; leaping with incredible swiftness from the shelter of the screen_]. Sir!
ROSAMUND [_pushing Gerald quickly away_]. Gerald!
JAMES. May I inquire, sir, what is the precise significance of this attitudinising? [_Gerald has scarcely yet abandoned his amorous pose, but now does so quickly_]. Are we in the middle of a scene from "Romeo and Juliet," or is this 9:30 A. M. in the nineteenth century? If Miss Fife had played the "Moonlight Sonata" to you, or looked at you as Madge does, there might perhaps have been some shadow of an excuse for your extraordinary and infamous conduct. But since she has performed neither of these feats of skill, I fail to grasp--I say I fail to grasp--er--
GERALD [_slowly recovering from an amazement which has rendered him mute_]. Rosie, a man concealed in your apartment! But perhaps it is the piano-tuner. I am willing to believe the best.
ROSAMUND. Let me introduce Mr. James Brett, my future husband. Jim, this is Gerald.
JAMES. I have gathered as much. [_The men bow stiffly._]
ROSAMUND [_dreamily_]. Poor, poor Gerald! [_Her tone is full of feeling. James is evidently deeply affected by it. He walks calmly and steadily to the table and picks up the revolver._]
JAMES. Sir, the fact remains that it is an engine of destruction, and that I intend to use it. Rosamund, the tone in which you uttered those three words, "Poor, poor Gerald!" convinces me, a keen observer of symptoms, that I no longer possess your love. Without your love, life to me is meaningless. I object to anything meaningless--even a word. I shall therefore venture to deprive myself of life. Good-by! [_To Gerald._] Sir, I may see you later. [_Raises the revolver to his temples._]