'No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.'
'An omen,' she said to herself; '"he would not for the world."'
She was in the best of spirits all day long. When the housework was
over and they were quiet together, she said, 'Now, my dear mother and sister, I want to know how the performance pleased you.'
'It was as good as it could be,' replied her mother, 'but I cannot
think why all plays should turn upon lovemaking. I wonder whether
the time will ever come when we shall care for a play in which there
is no courtship.'
'What a horrible heresy, mother,' said Madge.
'It may be so; it may be that I am growing old, but it seems
astonishing to me sometimes that the world does not grow a little
weary of endless variations on the same theme.'
'Never,' said Madge, 'as long as it does not weary of the thing
itself, and it is not likely to do that. Fancy a young man and a
young woman stopping short and exclaiming, "This is just what every
son of Adam and daughter of Eve has gone through before; why should
we proceed?" Besides, it is the one emotion common to the whole
world; we can all comprehend it. Once more, it reveals character.
In Hamlet and Othello, for example, what is interesting is not solely
the bare love. The natures of Hamlet and Othello are brought to
light through it as they would not have been through any other
stimulus. I am sure that no ordinary woman ever shows what she
really is, except when she is in love. Can you tell what she is from
what she calls her religion, or from her friends, or even from her
husband?'
'Would it not be equally just to say women are more alike in love
than in anything else? Mind, I do not say alike, but more alike. Is
it not the passion which levels us all?'
'Oh, mother, mother! did one ever hear such dreadful blasphemy? That
the loves, for example, of two such cultivated, exquisite creatures
as Clara and myself would be nothing different from those of the
barmaids next door?'
'Well, at anyrate, I do not want to see mychildren in love to
understand what they are--to me at least.'
'Then, if you comprehend us so completely--and let us have no more
philosophy--just tell me, should I make a good actress? Oh! to be
able to sway a thousand human beings into tears or laughter! It must
be divine.' 'No, I do not think you would,' replied Clara.