human
Good-morning, Jerry,
gpt
Good-morning.
human
Hope you had a pleasant party.
gpt
I did not.
human
Mrs. Biggs says you asked her if I had a key to her flat?
gpt
I did,
human
Why not ask me, Jerry?
gpt
You were off with Christiansen!
human
But I came back in half an hour. Your impatience might have kept until then.
gpt
May I ask why you find it necessary to rent a room in that tenement house?
human
Am I on the witness stand, Jerry, or is this a friendly interest in my doings?
gpt
I have a right to know why you have such a room.
human
What right?
gpt
The right of your husband!
human
I don't know the sources of that right, Jerry, but I question it. The rights of a husband and wife, it seems to me, must be agreed on between them. I have never demanded an accounting of your time, or where you spend it.
gpt
That's a different matter. A husband has his honour to look out for.
human
Honour is the common possession of the husband and the wife, as I see it, Jerry. She looks after it, just as he does.
gpt
When a woman keeps a room and receives her lover there, it's time her husband looked into it.
human
You must explain that, Jerry.
gpt
I saw Christiansen go there this morning to meet you.
human
Jerry, you were spying?
gpt
It's my business to know, I tell you. Christiansen has given himself airs around here long enough. He can't make love to you....
human
Jerry, if it were not so ridiculous, it would be insulting! The idea of Martin Christiansen loving me is so absurd as to need no denial. We have had not one second of sentiment between us. He has never been in my room at Mrs. Biggs's since I married you. As for the room, I keep it as a place to go to work, to think, to be by myself. I pay for it myself; it is my office, if you like--my studio. If this information is a trifle disappointing, Jerry, after the fine melodrama you seem to have worked up, I'm afraid it's your own fault,