Man and Superman · Act I (2/2) (6/6)

| Tanner | Bowing to the storm. I have no defence: I shall know better in future than to take any woman’s part. We have all disgraced ourselves in your eyes, I am afraid, except Ann, she befriended you. For Ann’s sake, forgive us. | | Violet | Yes: Ann has been very kind; but then Ann knew. | | Tanner | Oh! | | Miss Ramsden | Stiffly. And who, pray, is the gentleman who does not acknowledge his wife? | | Violet | Promptly. That is my business, Miss Ramsden, and not yours. I have my reasons for keeping my marriage a secret for the present. | | Ramsden | All I can say is that we are extremely sorry, Violet. I am shocked to think of how we have treated you. | | Octavius | Awkwardly. I beg your pardon, Violet. I can say no more. | | Miss Ramsden | Still loth to surrender. Of course what you say puts a very different complexion on the matter. All the same, I owe it to myself⁠— | | Violet | Cutting her short. You owe me an apology, Miss Ramsden: that’s what you owe both to yourself and to me. If you were a married woman you would not like sitting in the housekeeper’s room and being treated like a naughty child by young girls and old ladies without any serious duties and responsibilities. | | Tanner | Don’t hit us when we’re down, Violet. We seem to have made fools of ourselves; but really it was you who made fools of us. | | Violet | It was no business of yours, Jack, in any case. | | Tanner | No business of mine! Why, Ramsden as good as accused me of being the unknown gentleman. | | | Ramsden* makes a frantic demonstration; but Violet’s cool keen anger extinguishes it. | | Violet | You! Oh, how infamous! how abominable! How disgracefully you have all been talking about me! If my husband knew it he would never let me speak to any of you again. To Ramsden*. I think you might have spared me, at least. | | Ramsden | But I assure you I never⁠—at least it is a monstrous perversion of something I said that⁠— | | Miss Ramsden | You needn’t apologize, Roebuck. She brought it all on herself. It is for her to apologize for having deceived us. | | Violet | I can make allowances for you, Miss Ramsden: you cannot understand how I feel on this subject though I should have expected rather better taste from people of greater experience. However, I quite feel that you have all placed yourselves in a very painful position; and the most truly considerate thing for me to do is to go at once. Good morning. | | | She goes, leaving them staring. | | Miss Ramsden | Well, I must say⁠—! | | Ramsden | Plaintively. I don’t think she is quite fair to us. | | Tanner | You must cower before the wedding ring like the rest of us, Ramsden. The cup of our ignominy is full. |