THE PRETENDER
MARIANNE:
You really want to hear it?
JESSE:
Certainly.
MARIANNE:
You couldn't possibly.
JESSE:
Marianne!
MARIANNE:
You couldn't possibly want to hear what happened to your
wife of six months, Jesse, honey!
JESSE:
Let's have the whole story.
MARIANNE:
(with much coquetry)
Why don't you take me by the
throat and beat the truth out of me? No, you really don't want to
know.
(A pause.)
Now still less than ever. That's the only reason
I want to tell it to you.
If
you had really wanted to find out, shouted
at me, doubted me, struck me, even, I swear I think I would have
spared you, Jesse. But you spared yourself, Jesse, and so I don't see
why I should. . . .
JESSE:
I didn't ask you to hide anything.
MARIANNE:
No, but you believed whatever I told you.
JESSE:
What an accusation!
MARIANNE:
What happened to me tonight happened to you too, Jesse.
JESSE:
For God's sake, what happened?
MARIANNE:
You want the details?
JESSE:
Yes, yes, yes.
As she is about to speak, he goes up to her and covers .wer
mouth with his hand.
No, no, don't say it. Don't tell me.
MARIANNE:
I've already told you. What difference do the words make?
JESSE:
(who is controlling himself with an effort)
Words make a great
difference. As long as you don't actually tell me, I won't really know.
You mustn't tell me. There are some things I can't afford to know,
and you can't afford for me to know.
MARIANNE:
You can't change what happened by not talking about it.
JESSE:
Whatever happened, Marianne, will not have happened irre–
vocably, never to be changed, until you've said it.
MARIANNE:
(nastily)
So I felt it all along, you've just been
trying
to
protect yourself and what happens to me doesn't matter, but only
that you shouldn't hear about it, that it shouldn't be put into words.
Well, I'm going to put it into words, you can't stop me.
JESSE:
I warn you, Marianne. You've said so much already. Even so,
I beg you-drop it. I don't want to know.
MARIANNE:
You've lost any chance you ever had not to hear this story,
Jesse. Just as I told you, Young Williams caught me as I was com–
ing out of the store.
(A pause.)
What I didn't tell you is that he
