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LADY TORMINSTER. And isn't it wonderful, when you think of it--here are we two, Jack's friend and his wife, alone on a desert island--and we have confessed our love for each other, and we are able to discuss it as calmly as though it were rheumatism!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With a groan._] If only I hadn't induced you to stay!
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Smiling._] My dear friend, you didn't!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Amazed._] I didn't?
LADY TORMINSTER. Why no--of course not. I knew you were going to-morrow.
SIR GEOFFREY. How?
LADY TORMINSTER. Oh, never mind how! I knew. And I suspected you would be sitting up here to-night. So I came down, hoping to find you. I wanted this talk with you. And I extracted your confession--as though it had been a tooth.
SIR GEOFFREY. And why?
LADY TORMINSTER. Why? Because it will be something to think of, in the dull days ahead. Because I knew that you loved me, and wanted to be told. Because your life lies before you, and mine is ended. Because I love you, and insisted that you should know. You leave me now, and I have no illusions. Paolo and Francesca are merely a poet's dream. You will marry--of course you will marry--but this moment, at least, has been mine.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Stretching out yearning hands._] This moment, and every moment, in past and future!
LADY TORMINSTER. Ah, the future! Strange little syllables that hide so much! I can see you, introducing your wife to me, a little shyly--I can see myself, shaking hands with her--and with you.... My boy is seven already--time travels fast.... But it's good to know that you really have loved me, all these years....
SIR GEOFFREY. By day and by night--you, and only you!
LADY TORMINSTER. And I have loved you--ah, yes, I have loved you!... And, having said this to each other, we will not meet again--till you bring me your wife.
SIR GEOFFREY. Ah--then!
LADY TORMINSTER. I have loved you, and I love you, for the fine, upright, loyal creature that you are. I