Let me go.
George Winter.
Why don’t you answer? What d’you mean?
Catherine.
[Shaking herself free.] I’ll tell you what I mean. I know that if the occasion arose you wouldn’t hesitate to steal.
George Winter.
[With a laugh of relief.] Is that all?
Catherine.
For years I’ve been tortured by the horror of it. Each pearl you’ve given me—and you’ve thrust them upon me—I’ve asked myself if it was honestly come by. And that’s why I want to escape from you—not only because you’ve been odiously cruel to me, even now when you’re trying to persuade me to return to you, and because you’ve flaunted before me one vulgar intrigue after another—but because I feel that all this wealth rests on lying, and swindling, and roguery.
George Winter.