Robert. No, you never can. That is why I have never been able to talk to you. Your heart is closed to all but Maurice.
Nanette. Yes, that is true. My heart has been like one of those vases of domestic use which the ancients buried with the dead in their tombs. All that was warm and beautiful in me is closed away forever with Maurice. Although I was never more to him than a familiar object which was a part of his everyday life. Only his old nurse.
Robert. How did he come to inspire such love in every one who came near him?
Nanette. Because he was young and beautiful.
Robert. But that is simply a temporary state.
Nanette. Maurice would always have been young and beautiful.
Robert. Yes, he made you believe that. When he talked with you you felt glad and young as if you'd heard music.
Nanette. He loved life.
Robert. Yet he was a coward.
Nanette. But he always dared to do what he was afraid to do.