FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148  
149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  
tairs, filled by a very comfortable leather lounge. A small light is on each side above, and in the middle, over the couch hangs a painting of a very old, very dignified gentleman, period 1860. Outside the music is heard in a fox-trot. ROSALIND is seated on the lounge and on her left is HOWARD GILLESPIE, a vapid youth of about twenty-four. He is obviously very unhappy, and she is quite bored. GILLESPIE: (Feebly) What do you mean I've changed. I feel the same toward you. ROSALIND: But you don't look the same to me. GILLESPIE: Three weeks ago you used to say that you liked me because I was so blase, so indifferent--I still am. ROSALIND: But not about me. I used to like you because you had brown eyes and thin legs. GILLESPIE: (Helplessly) They're still thin and brown. You're a vampire, that's all. ROSALIND: The only thing I know about vamping is what's on the piano score. What confuses men is that I'm perfectly natural. I used to think you were never jealous. Now you follow me with your eyes wherever I go. GILLESPIE: I love you. ROSALIND: (Coldly) I know it. GILLESPIE: And you haven't kissed me for two weeks. I had an idea that after a girl was kissed she was--was--won. ROSALIND: Those days are over. I have to be won all over again every time you see me. GILLESPIE: Are you serious? ROSALIND: About as usual. There used to be two kinds of kisses: First when girls were kissed and deserted; second, when they were engaged. Now there's a third kind, where the man is kissed and deserted. If Mr. Jones of the nineties bragged he'd kissed a girl, every one knew he was through with her. If Mr. Jones of 1919 brags the same every one knows it's because he can't kiss her any more. Given a decent start any girl can beat a man nowadays. GILLESPIE: Then why do you play with men? ROSALIND: (Leaning forward confidentially) For that first moment, when he's interested. There is a moment--Oh, just before the first kiss, a whispered word--something that makes it worth while. GILLESPIE: And then? ROSALIND: Then after that you make him talk about himself. Pretty soon he thinks of nothing but being alone with you--he sulks, he won't fight, he doesn't want to play--Victory! (Enter DAWSON RYDER, twenty-six, handsome, wealthy, faithful to his own, a bore perhaps, but steady and sure of success.) RYDER: I believe this is my dance, Rosalind. ROSALIND: Well, Dawson, so you recognize me. Now I know I haven't
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148  
149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
ROSALIND
 

GILLESPIE

 

kissed

 

moment

 

lounge

 
deserted
 
twenty
 

decent

 
nineties
 

engaged


kisses

 

recognize

 
bragged
 

Dawson

 
success
 

Pretty

 
thinks
 
steady
 

faithful

 

wealthy


handsome

 

Victory

 

DAWSON

 

Rosalind

 

interested

 

Leaning

 

forward

 

confidentially

 

whispered

 

nowadays


HOWARD

 
seated
 

unhappy

 

changed

 

Feebly

 
leather
 

filled

 
comfortable
 

middle

 
gentleman

period
 

Outside

 
dignified
 
painting
 

Coldly

 

jealous

 
follow
 

natural

 
Helplessly
 

indifferent