“Seriously, Rupert, I’m going to fight this. You’re doing wrong, you know you’re doing wrong—”
“Fight?” he said. “My dear Mary, perhaps you own half of Hepplestall’s shares? Now I’d an idea it was I.”
“Yes, it is you. It’s the man I love, and I won’t see you do this rotten thing and raise no hand to stop you.”
“There are two things that I deny. It isn’t rotten and you can’t stop me. So, won’t you just admit that you’re a woman and that you’re out of your depth? Let’s kiss and be friends.”
“When we’ve just declared war?” she smiled.
“Oh, that’s rubbish. You’ve no munitions, my dear.”
“I’ve love,” she said, “and love will find me weapons. Perhaps love won’t be particular what weapons it finds, either. If love finds poison-gas, you won’t forget there’s love behind the gas, will you? I want you to understand. You offered me something. You offered to put Mary Arden in a theater of her own. Well, it’s the dream of every actress and God knows it’s good enough for Mary Arden. To be in management, and in management where there’s lots of money to do exactly as I want!”
“And more money when this sale’s gone through,” he said eagerly.
“Yes,” she said, “it’s fine for Mary. It’s more than good enough for her. But it isn’t good enough for Mary’s Rupert. Don’t you see it? You must, you must. To be running an entertainment factory, when you might be running Hepplestall’s?”
“You know, you’re looking at the theater through the wrong end of the telescope, and at Hepplestall’s through the right. You haven’t a notion of the wonderful things I’d planned to do for you in the theater. You’ve never let me speak of them. And it isn’t running Hepplestall’s either. Not for a long time. If I just went up there and walked into the office as head of Hepplestall’s, there might be some sense in what you say, but I don’t do that. I go into the mills and spin and do all sorts of footling jobs for years. Years, I tell you,” he shouted and then it occurred to him that he was arguing and had said he would not argue. “The simple fact is that you don’t know what you’re talking about and that I do. We’ll let it rest at that, except that I’m now going for the car.”