No--stay here, and you will hear
something.
Kroll. Not now. I do not think I could bear to see him.
Rebecca. I beg you to stay. Please do, or you will regret it
later. It is the last time I shall ever ask you to do anything.
Kroll (looks at her in surprise, and lays his hat down). Very
well, Miss West. It shall be as you wish. (A short pause. Then
ROSMER comes in from the hall.)
Rosmer (stops at the door, as he sees KROLL). What! you here?
Rebecca. He wanted to avoid meeting you, John.
Kroll (involuntarily). "John?"
Rebecca. Yes, Mr. Kroll. John and I call each other by our
Christian names. That is a natural consequence of the relations
between us.
Kroll. Was that what I was to hear if I stayed?
Rebecca. Yes, that and something else.
Rosmer (coming into the room). What is the object of your visit
here to-day?
Kroll. I wanted to make one more effort to stop you, and win you
back.
Rosmer (pointing to the newspaper). After that?
Kroll. I did not write it.
Rosmer. Did you take any steps to prevent its appearing?
Kroll. That would have been acting unjustifiably towards the
cause I serve. And, besides that, I had no power to prevent it.
Rebecca (tears the newspaper into pieces, which she crumples up
and throws into the back of the stove). There! Now it is out of
sight; let it be out of mind too. Because there will be no more
of that sort of thing, John.
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