MOTHER. Oh! He was always my son-in-law. He had a kind heart under his
rough manner.

LADY. Yes. I only called him a werewolf in his role as my husband
and master. As long as I knew he was at peace, and on the way to
find consolation, I was content. But now he'll torment me like a bad
conscience.

MOTHER. Have you a conscience?

LADY. I never used to have one. But my eyes have been opened since I
read my husband's works, and I know the difference between good and
evil.

MOTHER. But he forbade you to read them, and never foresaw you wouldn't
obey him.

LADY. Who can foresee all the results of any action?

MOTHER. Have you more bad news in your pocket, Pandora?

LADY. The worst of all! Think of it, Mother, his divorced wife's going
to marry again.

MOTHER. That ought to be reassuring, to you and to him.

LADY. Didn't you know it was his worst nightmare? That his wife would
marry again and his children have a stepfather?

MOTHER. If he can bear that alone, I shall think him a strange man.

LADY. You believe he's too sensitive? But didn't he say himself that
an educated man of the world at the end of the nineteenth century never
lets himself be put out of countenance!

MOTHER. It's easy to say so; but when things really happen....

LADY. Yet there was a gift at the bottom of Pandora's box that was no
misfortune. Look, Mother! A portrait of his six-year-old son.

MOTHER (looking at the picture). A lovely child.

LADY. It does one good to see such a charming and expressive picture.
Tell me, do you think my child will be as beautiful? Well, what do you
say? Answer, or I'll be unhappy! I love this boy already, but I feel I'd
hate him if my child's not as lovely as he. Yes, I'm jealous already.

MOTHER. When you came here after your unlucky honeymoon, I'd hoped you'd
have got over the worst. But now I see it was only a foretaste of what
was to come.

LADY. I'm ready for anything; and I don't think this knot can ever be
undone. It must be cut!

MOTHER. But you're only making more difficulties for yourself by
suppressing his letters.

LADY. In days gone by, when I went through life like a sleep-walker,
everything seemed easy to me, but I begin to be uncertain now he's
started to waken thoughts in me. (She puts the letters into the
post-bag.) Here he is. 'Sh!

MOTHER. One thing more. Why do you let him wear that suit of your first
husband's?

LADY. I like torturing and humiliating him. I've persuaded h