DAN: Yes….
OLIVIA: Getting up at seven, mending my stockings or washing them, having breakfast with a vixenish old woman and spending the rest of the day with her, in a dreary house in the middle of a wood, and going to bed at eleven…. I'm plain, I haven't got any money, I'm shy, and I haven't got any friends.
DAN (teasing): Don't you like the old lady?
OLIVIA: I could kill her.
A pause. She realises what she has said.
DAN (with a laugh): Oh, no, you couldn't!… Not many people have it in them to kill people…. Oh, no!
She looks at him. A pause. He studies the palms of his hands, chuckling to himself.
OLIVIA: And what was there to your life at the Tallboys?
DAN: My life? Well…. The day don't start so good, with a lot of stuck-up boots to clean, and a lot of silly high heels all along the passage waitin' for a polish, and a lot of spoons to clean that's been in the mouths of gapin' fools that looks through me as if I was a dirty window hadn't been cleaned for years…. (Throwing his stub into the fire in a sudden crescendo of fury) Orders, orders, orders; go here, do this, don't do that, you idiot, open the door for me, get a move on—I was never meant to take orders, never!… Down in the tea-place there's an old white beard wigglin'. "Waiter, my tea's stone cold." (Furiously) I'm not a waiter, I'm a millionaire, and everybody's under me!… And just when I think I got a bit o' peace…. (His head in his hands) … there's somebody … lockin' the bedroom door … (raising his head) … won't let me get out; talk, talk, talk, won't fork out with no more money, at me, at me, at me, won't put no clothes on, calls me everythin', lie on the floor and screams and screams, so nothin' keeps that mouth shut only … (A pause.) It's rainin' out of the window, and the leaves is off the trees … oh, Lord … I wish I could hear a bit o' music … (smiling, slowly) … And I do, inside o' myself! And I have a drop of drink … and everything's fine (Excited) And when it's the night …
OLIVIA (with a cry): Go on!