Why Marry? - LightNovelsOnl.com
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How do you know "the right one" hasn't come already?
[_THEODORE catches sight of HELEN. She shakes her head in silent pleading, taps a finger on her lips, and in a panic flees noiselessly across toward the door._
THEODORE
[_suppressing a laugh_]
Then don't let her go by!
[_HELEN stops at the door and makes a face at THEODORE._
ERNEST
[_affecting indifference_]
Oh, I couldn't stop her, even if I wanted to.
THEODORE
[_turning to wink at HELEN_]
How do you know? Did you ever ask her?
ERNEST
To marry me? Oh, no! She hasn't any money.
THEODORE
[_HELEN is dumfounded_]
Money! You wouldn't marry for money!
[_HELEN draws near to hear the answer._
ERNEST
You don't suppose I'd marry a woman who hadn't any? Most selfish thing a poor man can do.
[_HELEN is interested._
THEODORE
Oh, fiddlesticks! You modern young people--
ERNEST
[_interrupts_]
Make her a sort of superior servant in an inferior home--not that girl!
[_HELEN is pleased._
THEODORE
Feministic nonsense! The old-fas.h.i.+oned womanly woman----
ERNEST
Sentimental twaddle! What makes it more "womanly" to do menial work _for_ men than intellectual work with them?
[_HELEN delighted, applauds noiselessly._
THEODORE
All the same, I'll bet you wouldn't let a little thing like that stand in your way if you really cared for a woman enough to marry her.
ERNEST
[_benign and secure_]
But, as it happens, I don't. Nothing could induce me to marry.
[_HELEN raises her chin, her eyes glitter dangerously._
THEODORE
So you are going to run away to Europe like a coward?
ERNEST
[_smiles patronizingly_]
Theodore, you are such an incorrigible idealist! I have nothing to be afraid of--I simply do not care to _marry_!
