La Sinistra

Dark Romantic - a december/january web weave

Kitty Fane: For God’s sake, Walter, will you stop punishing me? Do you absolutely despise me?

Walter Fane: No. I despise myself.

Kitty Fane: Why?

- I don’t think it has to be so complicated and gloomy. And I think what you’re doing, for instance, is incredibly noble.

- You used to feel contempt for me. Don’t you still?

- Oh, Walter. I can’t believe that you with all your cleverness should have such little sense of proportion. We humans are more complex than your silly little microbes. We’re unpredictable. We make mistakes and we disappoint.

- Yes, we certainly do.

- I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m not the perfect young woman that you want me to be. I’m just ordinary. I never tried to pretend that I was anything else.

- No, you certainly didn’t.

- I like theater and dancing and... playing tennis. I like games. I like men who play games. God forgive me. That’s the way I was brought up.

- I play a pretty fierce hand of bridge.

- Oh, well, that’s bloody exciting. And you, dragged me around all those interminable galleries in Venice blathering on about the miracle of the canals and the flashing of the lagoon system or some such nonsense. Honesetly, I’d been much happier playing golf at Sandwich.

- I suppose you’re right. It was silly of us to look for qualities in each other that we never had.

- Yes. Yes, it was. Walter? Why didn’t you break down that door when you knew I was in there with Charlie? You might have at least tried to trash him.

- He wasn’t worth it. Or maybe I’m just to pride to fight.

The Painted Veil - 2006

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- Kitty. Kitty.

- Are you awake? Are you feeling better?