, Miss West.

Rebecca. The position in which he stands to me?

Kroll. Yes. You must see that you get him to do that.

Rebecca. Then you can't rid yourself of the conviction that the
relations between us need "legalising," as you say?

Kroll. I do not wish to go any more precisely into the question. But I
certainly have observed that the conditions under which it always seems
easiest for people to abandon all their so-called prejudices are
when--ahem!

Rebecca. When it is a question of the relations between a man and a
woman, I suppose you mean?

Kroll. Yes--to speak candidly--that is what I mean.

Rebecca (walks across the room and looks out of the window). I was on
the point of saying that I wish you had been right, Mr. Kroll.

Kroll. What do you mean by that? You say it so strangely!

Rebecca. Oh, nothing! Do not let us talk any more about it. Ah, there
he is!

Kroll. Already! I will go, then.

Rebecca (turning to him). No--stay here, and you will hear something.

Kroll. Not now. I do not think I could bear to see him.

Rebecca. I beg you to stay. Please do, or you will regret it later. It
is the last time I shall ever ask you to do anything.

Kroll (looks at her in surprise, and lays his hat down). Very well,
Miss West. It shall be as you wish. (A short pause. Then ROSMER comes
in from the hall.)

Rosmer (stops at the door, as he sees KROLL). What! you here?

Rebecca. He wanted to avoid meeting you, John.

Kroll (involuntarily). "John?"

Rebecca. Yes, Mr. Kroll. John and I call each other by our Christian
names. That is a natural consequence of the relations between us.

Kroll. Was that what I was to hear if I stayed?

Rebecca. Yes, that and something else.

Rosmer (coming into the room). What is the object of your visit here
to-day?

Kroll. I wanted to make one more effort to stop you, and win you back.

Rosmer (pointing to the newspaper). After that?

Kroll. I did not write it.

Rosmer. Did you take any steps to prevent its appearing?

Kroll. That would have been acting unjustifiably towards the cause I
serve. And, besides that, I had no power to prevent it.

Rebecca (tears the newspaper into pieces, which she crumples up and
throws into the back of the stove). There! Now it is out of sight; let
it be out of mind too. Because there will be no more of that sort of
thing, John.

Kroll. Indeed, I wish you could ensure that.

Rebecca. Come, and let us sit down, dear--all three of us