(_looking at sums_) Only one done, and that not right. Oh, this _wicked_ waste of time! You are killing me and killing yourself. When you waste your time you are wasting your life. Why _will_ you waste your time?
May I say a word? I am chiefly to blame. We were talking about the Greek gods.
Oh well, if _you_ encourage her in her laziness, I can do nothing. (_Crosses L as she speaks, then turns suddenly._) Get out of my sight, miss! It is time for you to go out now. Go away, and take off that pinafore. You are a disgrace to your father and to me. (_Gives her a final shake. Undine runs out screaming._) Oh dear! Oh dear! There! Listen to that precious daughter of yours, filling the house with her yells. (_She presses her hands over her ears._) Oh, that child will be the death of me! (_Throws herself down upon the couch._) She ought never to have been born. Her existence is a mistake and a curse.
(_sighing_) Yes, we are all mistakes from the ideal standpoint.
It makes me mad to think that I--I--should have brought such an idiot into the world!
Yes, you are an over-populated woman, dear. (_Rises up to her._) The modern woman is very easily over-populated.
You can joke about it, of course. To me it is a serious calamity. (_Weeps._)
Well, dear, at least we have not repeated our initial mistake. (_Crosses to picture._)
God forbid! I only regret that our relations were not always strictly platonic. That is the highest practical ideal of the age--modern woman being what she is.
Yes, I know you despise me in your heart. You are always sneering at me as a modern woman. What do you mean?
(_crosses to her_) I agree with Michelet: "_La femme est une malade._"
(_sits in armchair_) Oh, a sick creature too--that's the worst of it. The world spirit is moulting, and we're all sick together.
Phrases, phrases, always phrases! When I am most in earnest you put me off with a jest.
"If I laugh at any mortal thing, 'tis that I may not weep."
(_sobbing_) I know I have disappointed you; I know you are not satisfied with me; I have not made you happy.
(_starting up and pacing_) Happy? Give me life! Give me life! Happiness can take care of itself. But there is no use in crying "Give, give!" like the horse-leech. If we want impossibilities we must achieve them. (_Crosses R._)