again!

VERA
No, father, _your_ Vera belongs to Russia with her mother and the happy
days of childhood. But for their sakes----
[_She breaks down in emotion._]

BARON
Ah, your poor mother!

BARONESS [_Tartly_]
Alexis, I perceive I am too many!
[_She begins to go toward the door._]

BARON
No, no, Katusha. Vera will learn to love you, too.

VERA [_To BARONESS_]
What does my loving you matter? I can never return to Russia.

BARONESS [_Pausing_]
But ve can come here--often--ven you are married.

VERA [_Surprised_]
When I am married?
[_Softly, blushing_]
You know?

BARONESS [_Smiling_]
Ve know zat charming young man adores ze floor your foot treads on!

VERA [_Blushing_]
You have seen David?

BARON [_Hoarsely_]
David!
[_He clenches his fist._]

BARONESS [_Half aside, as much gestured as spoken_]
Sh! Leave it to me.
[_Sweetly._]
Oh, no, ve have not seen David.

VERA [_Looking from one to the other_]
Not seen--? Then what--whom are you talking about?

BARONESS
About zat handsome, quite adorahble Mr. Davenport.

VERA
Davenport!

BARONESS
Who combines ze manners of Europe viz ze millions of America!

VERA [_Breaks into girlish laughter_]
Ha! Ha! Ha! So Mr. Davenport has been talking to you! But you all seem
to forget one small point--bigamy is not permitted even to millionaires.

BARONESS
Ah, not boz at vonce, but----

VERA
And do you think I would take another woman's leavings? No, not even if
she were dead.

BARONESS
You are insulting!

VERA
I beg your pardon--I wasn't even thinking of you. Father, to put an end
at once to this absurd conversation, let me inform you I am already
engaged.

BARON [_Trembling, hoarse_]
By name, David.

VERA
Yes--David Quixano.

BARON
A Jew!

VERA
How did you know? Yes, he is a Jew, a noble Jew.

BARON
A Jew noble!
[_He laughs bitterly._]

VERA
Yes--even as you esteem nobility--by pedigree. In Spain his ancestors
were hidalgos, favourites at the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella; but in
the great expulsion of 1492 they preferred exile in Poland to baptism.

BARON
And you, a Revendal, would mate with an unbaptized dog?

VERA
Dog! You call my husband a dog!

BARON
Husband! God in heaven--are you married already?

VERA
No! But not being unemployed millionaires like Mr. Davenport, we hold
even our troth eternal.
[_Calmer_]
Our poverty, not your prejudice, stands in the way of our marriage. But
Dav