(Clenches her hands and turns resolutely.) You see, Hal, I knew it! (He bows his head.) You can't get away from her. (She pauses.) You understand it all now... what my instinct told me. You still love her, you still belong to her. You would have gone away with me, and you would still have been thinking about her--worrying about her. It would have been tearing your soul in half. (She waits; he does not look at her; she goes on, half to convince herself.) She is not big enough to give you up. She could not say, "Oceana is young and needs you; you love Oceana, and she will make you happy. Go with her." No, she would think of the world and its conventions... she would be jealous and bitter. She would eat her heart out... she would tear herself to pieces! And that would tear you to pieces... you could never forget it. And there are the children, Hal. It's true that you love them; you think about them all the time... I know, for you speak of them. And she could take them away from you, legally... how much chance would they ever have in life, if she and her mother had the bringing up of them? Don't you see, Hal? What can we do? (LETITIA: Henry, I love you!) I want to play the game generously, Letitia; but it is all I can do not to despise you... because he loves you, and it has meant so little to you, you have done so little in return. That is the curse of this thing you call marriage. You say to yourself that you've got him... the law and the conventions will keep him for you... and so you can treat him as you please. You'll take him off with you now, and you'll set to work to get right back where you were before... yes, she will, Hal. She'll try to wheedle you into backing down from this position. She will weep and she will scold. But you stand firm... stand firm! What we did was right... it was noble and true, and if more married people did such things, it would be better for them.

Oceana Monologue from The Naturewoman

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