Page:The Return of the Soldier (Van Druten).djvu/33

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ACT I

Jenny : I’m sorry, but . . . oh, Frank, really . . .

[She gurgles.

Frank : Jenny, please control yourself. This is sheer hysteria.

Jenny (weakly): I’m sorry . . . but, Frank . . . you . . . you . . .

[She is near tears.

Frank : Jenny, this is very painful for me.

Jenny (controlling herself) : I know, Frank. I’m sorry. I’ll be good. Go on.

[She turns away from them and sits with her back to them, staring out of the window.

Kitty (white and tense) : What did he say?

Frank (hesitant) : Kitty . . . I hardly . . . you see . . . he has no memory of you, of having married you . . . naturally, he seemed a little . . . well, a little hostile. Oh, not personally . . . I don’t mean that . . . but the idea of a wife he didn’t know . . . it’s very dreadful. He turned away from me then, told me to go . . . became almost abusive, and so insisted that I was finally forced to leave him. I spoke to the doctor later. He said he had satisfied himself that Chris was suffering from a loss of memory extending over fifteen years, and that he thought in the circumstances, I, as his cousin, should make arrangements for his removal home.

Kitty : And where is he now? Still . . . still in Boulogne?

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