ay that to me now, Hal!

HENRY. But why not?

OCEANA. This is not the time for such a thought. You know it!

HENRY. Dearest...

OCEANA. [Passionately.] Ah, don't put it all on me! Don't make it too
hard for me!

HENRY. But if I only knew...

OCEANA. You will know before long. Ah, Hal, see how I'm situated. I've
broken all the laws. I've no precedent to help me... I have to work it
all out for myself. I shall have to bear the scorn of the world; and oh,
think if I had to bear the scorn of my own conscience! Don't you see?

HENRY. Yes, I see. But...

OCEANA. I have chosen a certain course. I have forced myself to be calm,
to think it out in the cold light of reason, to decide what is right for
me to do. And now I must keep to my resolution. You would not want our
love to lead me into shame!

HENRY. No!

OCEANA. Do you read Nietzsche, Henry?

HENRY. He is a mere name to me.

OCEANA. I will give you some lines of Nietzsche's. "Canst thou give
thyself thy good and thine evil, and hang thy will above thee as thy
law? Canst thou be thine own judge, and avenger of thy law? Fearful is
it to be alone with the judge and the avenger of thy law. So is a stone
flung out into empty space and into the icy breath of isolation."

HENRY. That's all right... but if you expect Letitia to face this
problem in any such way, you will be sadly disappointed.

OCEANA. That's none of my affair. All I have to do is to give her a
chance. If she cannot face the facts, she has passed sentence upon
herself.

HENRY. [Laughs.] All right, my dear. It will certainly be a scene to
watch!

OCEANA. You think she will come?

HENRY. Oh, she'll certainly come.

OCEANA. And she won't bring her mother?

HENRY. I can't tell about that.

OCEANA. If she does, we'll simply have to send her down to the village
... I won't talk in Aunt Sophronia's presence.

HENRY. I was perfectly explicit on that point. [Takes paper from table.]
Here's the telegram: "Come to the bungalow immediately, upon a matter of
extreme urgency. Do not bring your mother."

OCEANA. Certainly that is clear enough.

HENRY. And bewildering enough. But I suppose they are prepared for
anything by now.

OCEANA. It's past the time. [Looking from window.] We should be able to
see a sleigh.

HENRY. No, the road turns behind that hillock there.

OCEANA. But look!

HENRY. What?

OCEANA. There's some one coming afoot.

HENRY. Where?

OCEANA. Round that side! By the pa