Miss Ramsey, desperately: "You wish me to disgrace myself forever in your eyes. Well, I will; what does it matter now? I heard you telling Esther you were not engaged. I overheard you."
Ashley: "I fancied you must."
Miss Ramsey: "I tried to overhear! I eavesdropped! I wish you to know that."
Ashley: "And what do you wish me to do about it?"
Miss Ramsey: "I should think any self-respecting person would know. I'm not a self-respecting person." Her wandering gaze seems to fall for the first time upon the tray with the cocktails and glasses and cigarettes; she flies at the bell-button and presses it impetuously. As the maid appears: "Take these things away, Nora, please!" To Ashley when the maid has left the room: "Don't be afraid to say what you think of me!"
Ashley: "I think all the world of you. But I should merely like to ask—"
Miss Ramsey: "Oh, you can ask anything of me now!"
Ashley, with palpable insincerity: "I should like to ask why you don't respect yourself?"
Miss Ramsey: "Was that what you were going to ask? I know it wasn't. But I will tell you. Because I have been a fool."
Ashley: "Thank you. Now I will tell you what I was really going to ask. Why did you wish to drive me back to Miss Fray when you knew that I would be false to her a thousand times if I could only once be true to you?"