LAURA. If I only knew where he was.
MARTIN. He's best alone, wherever he is--until he gets ready to come home.
[Silence.]
LAURA. If I knew he was all right!
MARTIN. He's all right.
[Silence, LAURA sits down apart from the others, TED rises and crosses to her. She does not look at him. He speaks haltingly.]
TED. Laura. Is there anything I can do? I am very sorry, very sorry it happened.
LAURA. [Without looking up.] What good does that do now? You did it.
TED. Yes, I did it. To say that he provoked me till I was crazed with shame and anger does not undo it. That is true.
LAURA. All right, it's true. What he told you about yourself you already knew. Everybody knew it. It was nothing but words and made no real difference in your life. But you told him something about himself that makes all the difference in the world--and has ruined his life and mine. [She rises.]