Why did you blush then, when he looked at you?
Clara.
I thought he was looking to see if the wart on my left cheek had got any bigger. You know I always think that when anybody stares at me, and it makes me blush. The wart seems to grow, whenever it’s looked at!
Leonard.
That may be. But it troubled me, and I said to myself: “I’ll test her this very night. If she really wants to be my wife, she knows that she’s running no risks. If she says No——”
Clara.
Oh, you spoke a wicked, wicked word, when I pushed you away, and jumped up from the seat. The moon that had shone, for my help, right into the arbour, wrapped herself cunningly in the wet clouds. I tried to hurry away, but something held me back. At first I thought it was you, but it was the rose-tree, whose thorns had caught my dress like teeth. You reviled me, until I could no longer trust my own heart. You stood before me, like one demanding a debt. And I——O God!
Leonard.
I can’t regret it. I know that it was the only way of keeping you. Your old love had opened its eyes and I could not close them fast enough.
Clara.