Nanette. To think that Maurice should fall so low!
Diane. But I came to know things. I was determined to find love. From man to man, Nanette, I climbed up and up, picking my way, falling and getting up again. Only the truly educated can love. I loved Maurice with all the wisdom I had accumulated in years of suffering. I gave him a perfect gift I had molded in pain.
Nanette. You! What had you to give?
Diane. Then the war broke out.
Nanette. Yes, the war. Maurice was one of the first. He made up his mind at once.
Diane. No, he did not make up his mind at once.
Nanette [with a dreadful realization]. Then it was....
Diane. I made up his mind for him.
Nanette [vehemently]. You did it! It was you then! You sent Maurice to war. After they excused him! After they gave him a post at home! You sent him to his death. Oh, I hated you before, but now....
Diane. His mother and you clung to him. There was one excuse after the other. You made him believe that he was too delicate and sensitive. You used all of your influence. Madame le Bargy tried in every way to keep him. She even testified officially that Maurice was weak from birth and had dizzy spells and an unaccountable fear of the sea. And you testified under oath to a long and dangerous illness he had had in childhood.