CLARA. (Turning away again to R., Allen l.c.) Ah, you boys, you think all women are angels.
ALLEN. So they are—a good woman is an angel.
CLARA. (At Are, facing round and looking at him.) How do you know I am good? (Very low and serious. Allen drops down c. A pause. He looks in surprise and inquiry at her, not knowing what to answer.)
CLARA. Hadn’t you better make sure, Allen? (Laughing.) What do you know of my past—of even my present—of whence I came—what I am? (Laughs.) Suppose, Allen, suppose I were only an adventuress. (Takes a step.) A woman with the blood of sharpers and thieves in her veins—whose nursery was the gambling house—whose school was the Café and the Boulevards—a woman who earned her daily bread by shamelessness and cunning—a woman whose past would ever follow like a shadow the footsteps of her life—whose future must ever be a darker shadow still. Ah, Allen, take care. Cupid ties a bandage over men’s eyes. Hymen, when it is too late, plucks it off. Hadn’t you better lift a corner off the handkerchief, Allen, while we are yet upon the step without, lest beside your hearth, when the door has shut us in, you cast it loose, to find I am a stain upon your name—a shadow in your home—a blight upon your life? (Laughing.) Allen, take care—take care. (Crosses to l. Allen moves up a trifle.)
ALLEN. (Recovering from the bewilderment with which he has heard her.) Ah, it’s well for thee that it is thee, and not anyone else that talks like this about ’ee.
CLARA. Ah, but Allen, try and find out a little more about me; it’s just a whim of mine—I want to feel sure that you know me—just to please me.
ALLEN. If I couldn’t trust thee—(takes her hand)—lass, I shouldn’t love thee.
CLARA. (Crosses to R.c. Allen follows.) Ah, you are a dear good fellow, Allen, and I won’t tease you any more. And you will join the company, won’t you? And then you shall get me that dear little diamond bracelet that we looked at—do you remember it?—and you shall put it on yourself. (Allen by her side r. All this is said with every trick of fascination at her command, and now she playfully holds up her arm, from which the loose sleeve falls back, close to his face.) On that. (He drops on his knees and kisses her arm).
(Enter Deb. c.)
CLARA. (Snatches her arm away.) Deborah! (Allen rises.)