(Irritated.) But what has all that to do with one man and one woman loving?
Knox
Suppose we loved—you and I; suppose we loosed all the reins of our love. What would happen? You remember Gorki, the Russian patriot, when he came to New York, aflame with passion for the Russian revolution. His purpose in visiting the land of liberty was to raise funds for that revolution. And because his marriage to the woman he loved was not of the essentially legal sort worshiped by the shopkeepers, and because the newspapers made a sensation of it, his whole mission was brought to failure. He was laughed and derided out of the esteem of the American people. That is what would happen to me. I should be slandered and laughed at. My power would be gone.
Margaret
And even if so—what of it? Be slandered and laughed at. We will have each other. Other men will rise up to lead the people, and leading the people is a thankless task. Life is so short. We must clutch for the morsel of happiness that may be ours.
Knox
Ah, if you knew, as I look into your eyes, how easy it would be to throw everything to the winds. But it would be theft.
Margaret
(Rebelliously.) Let it be theft. Life is so short, dear. We are the biggest facts in the world—to each other.
Knox