Why Marry? - LightNovelsOnl.com
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JUDGE
She's gone to Re-Re-Rio Janeiro--I mean to Santa Barbara--wants a complete change--The Rest Cure. [_To THEODORE apart._] Lie number one.
[_Another silence. LUCY makes tea for HELEN._
HELEN
[_taking the cup_]
Well, go on!
THEODORE
Go on with what?
HELEN
[_stirring tea_]
Your discussion of marriage.
LUCY
How did you know?
HELEN
Oh, it's in the air. Everybody's talking about it nowadays.
[_She sips tea, and the others look conscious._
THEODORE
My dear, marriage is woman's only true career.
HELEN
[_raising her s.h.i.+eld of flippancy_]
So Lucy tells me, Cousin Theodore. But a woman cannot pursue her career, she must be pursued by it; otherwise she is unwomanly.
JUDGE
Ahem. As we pa.s.sed through the library a while ago, I think I saw your little sister being pursued by her career.
HELEN
Yes, uncle, but Jean is a true woman. I'm only a New Woman.
JUDGE
All the same, you'll be an old woman some day--if you don't watch out.
HELEN
Ah, yes, my life's a failure. I haven't trapped a man into a contract to support me.
LUCY
[_picks up knitting bag and does her best to look like "just an old-fas.h.i.+oned wife"_]
You ought to be ashamed! Making marriage so mercenary. Helen, dear, haven't you New Women any sentiment?
HELEN
Enough sentiment not to make a mercenary marriage, Lucy, dear.
JUDGE
Ahem! And what kind of a marriage do you expect to make?
HELEN
Not any, thank you, uncle.
JUDGE
What! You don't believe in holy matrimony?
HELEN
Only as a last extremity, uncle, like unholy divorce.
