Lucy
Is it possible?
Desmond
After eight days absence.
Lucy
She received you coldly?
Desmond She received me shouting, dancing. I saw her jump about with happiness.
Lucy My word, you're not wise. What! You despair because she's delighted to see you?
Desmond Delighted to see me! I cannot compare that dissipated delight with the sensitive pleasure and passion the sight of a loved one should inspire. For example, from the moment I saw her I stood immobile, seized by a languor—my heart beat, my eyes clouded. Ahh! That's the way to express passion. But she is incapable of such a solid, passionate love—which is the only kind that can content me.
Lucy If I was a man, I'd choose for my wife a woman who was always gay, never moody or sensitive.
Desmond
I want sensibility.
Lucy
In a mistress—but in a wife, shame!
Desmond
It's all an amusement.