“You cannot! You cannot!” His hands shook. The tears fell down his cheeks unresisted by him. His knees weakened under him. He fell back into his chair and buried his head in his hands upon the table. His great body shook with intense grief, and Clarinda pitied him, but her mind did not change.
“I am going, Peter. I am going away now, today. The maid is packing for me. Goodbye Peter.”
Peter moaned. “No—no—no! I can’t bear it! You can’t go! I won’t let you! It is impossible!”
“It is done, Peter.”
Clarinda turned and went slowly towards the door. Her hand fell gently upon the knob. Quietly she opened it. As Peter saw her go, he sprang from his chair. He held his arms outstretched towards her. The door came open slowly. Quietly Clarinda passed from the room, and the door closed softly behind her.
Peter screamed in his anguish. His soul was torn and he fell inert upon the floor. The dark took him, and his eyes closed.
STAGE THREE
Dear Peter:
I knew it would come. But I wished to put it off until the chance for a change was impossible. I’ve waited years for the time. I had planned in my mind how I should do this thing I am about to do, with infinite care. Each step was watched and taken even as the blind walk, even when I left the house I intended to do this thing.
I wonder if you have ever read, “The Woman in White”? And if in the reading you remember Count Fosco? You know he is the only fat villain in any book. One thing he did I want to draw to your mind. It is the most trivial thing in the whole book. You know, if you have read the book, that after he was discovered and the things he had done were set before him in all their hideousness, he sat down and wrote his confessions. They covered innumerable sheets. The description by Collins of how he gradually became buried in the pages is wonderfully drawn. You could see him, Fosco, with the perspiration pouring down his fat face, and his hand holding the pen flying over the sheets. I shall be Fosco buried in sheets. That will, however, be my only likeness to him, for I do not consider myself a villain. I am merely a woman.