FREDDY. But, Oceana! That's a mere form.
OCEANA. No, no. It's written in the laws. All kinds of things... people don't realize it.
FREDDY. But surely... if you love a man... a decent man...
OCEANA. No decent man ought to ask a woman to sign away her self-respect.
FREDDY. [Bewildered.] But then... then... what would you do?
OCEANA. [Watches him, then laughs to herself.] Boston is such a funny place!
FREDDY. Hey?
OCEANA. Let us leave marriage out now... let us talk of love. Realize how much more serious it is to a woman than it is to a man. A man meets a woman and he finds her beautiful, and his blood begins to boil, and he says: "I adore you." And so she gives herself to him; and then, the next morning, he goes off and forgets all about it.
FREDDY. No, no!
OCEANA. I don't say you, Freddy. But it's happened that way. The woman, though... she doesn't forget. She carries a reminder. And it's not only that she has the burden of the child... the anguish of the birth... the task of suckling and rearing it. It's that she has a miniature of the man with her all the rest of her days. She has his soul there... blended with the thing she loves most of all in the world. And so, don't you see how careful she has to be, how desperately important the thing is to her? [She sits lost in thought.] I have never been in love, Freddy, not the least little bit. I have never felt that call in my blood. But some day I shall feel it; and when I do, I shall take that man as if before a court of judgment. I shall take him away with me. I shall ask myself not merely, "Is he beautiful and strong of body?" but, "Is he beautiful and strong in soul?" I would not ask that he be learned... he might not chance to be a cultured man. But he would be a man of power, he would be a man who could rule himself, he would be a soul without base alloy. And when I had satisfied myself as to that, I would have found my mate. I would say to him, "I wish you to be the father of my child." [She sits again, brooding.] I would not exact pledges of him. I would say to him, "I do not ask you to take care of me; I do not ask you to take care of my child. You may go away when you wish... that rests with you; but I wish the child." [She pauses.] Do you see?