TEKLA. Why don't you keep calm then?
ADOLPH. No, you upset me constantly by your coquetry. Why do you
play that kind of game?
TEKLA. It is no game. I want to be admired--that's all!
ADOLPH. Yes, but only by men!
TEKLA. Of course! For a woman is never admired by other women.
ADOLPH. Tell me, have you heard anything--from him--recently?
TEKLA. Not in the last sis months.
ADOLPH. Do you ever think of him?
TEKLA. No!--Since the child died we have broken off our
correspondence.
ADOLPH. And you have never seen him at all?
TEKLA. No, I understand he is living somewhere down on the West
Coast. But why is all this coming into your head just now?
ADOLPH. I don't know. But during the last few days, while I was
alone, I kept thinking of him--how he might have felt when he was
left alone that time.
TEKLA. Are you having an attack of bad conscience?
ADOLPH. I am.
TEKLA. You feel like a thief, do you?
ADOLPH. Almost!
TEKLA. Isn't that lovely! Women can be stolen as you steal
children or chickens? And you regard me as his chattel or personal
property. I am very much obliged to you!
ADOLPH. No, I regard you as his wife.
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