68
MURIEL SPARK
CATHERINE: So you did. We'll be quite a family, Leonora. Did you
happen to hear a noise in the night by any chance?
LEONORA: No, why? Have you been burgled?
CATHERINE: Oh, I forgot actually to thank you for your present,
Leonora. I mean, of course I intend to thank you properly when I
open it. But thank you now, in advance. Thank you very much
indeed, it's sweet of you to remember. Charlie had to rush off,
what a pity.
LEONORA: Pull yourself together, Catherine.
CATHERINE: I think I'm more together than you are. Were you
disturbed by anything at ten past one this morning? Did you get
up for any reason?
LEONORA: No. Why?
CATHERINE: Charlie fell asleep at his work. He had a peculiar dream,
a dream.
LEONORA: What makes you think I would be disturbed by Charlie's
dreams? Did he
call
out?
CATHERINE: No, he didn't. That's what I can't make out, because
you entered into his dream.
LEONORA: I'm not responsible for Charlie's dreams.
CATHERINE: He was accosted. I thought perhaps it might not have
been a dream. But I see now that
it
was a dream. I apologise.
LEONORA: I accept your apology.
CATHERINE: It seems odd that you should accept an apology for an
offence of which you don't know the nature or the details.
LEONORA: I can imagine the nature and the details.
CATHERINE:
It
must console you in the absence of the reality.
LEONORA: Catherine, do you think I've never had an opportunity to
sleep with a man?
CATHERINE: Not for a long time.
LEONORA: Why do you think so?
CATHERINE: Because of your manner and expression.
LEONORA: You're in no position to judge on that point. Obviously,
my manner and expression would be very different
if
I were about
to sleep with a man from what they are sitting here drinking
warmed-up coffee with you.
CATHERINE:
A
woman of opportunities wears a certain manner and
