Brodie: Why not? Fox: I can't put it that way Brodie: Not at all. Are you true to me! It may mean anything. Brodie: How? Fox: She might look back over her whole life. You don't suppose she never fell in love till she met me, do you? Brodie: Well...I should like to hear about that. Fox: You would, wouldn't you? Prying into schoolgirl secrets? How was she to know that one day she would meet me? Brodie: Of course she didn't. Fox: Very well, then. Brodie So why shouldn't she tell us? Fox: I don't like putting it that way, and I won't. Brodie: What about...Maria, since you've known me have you been true to me? Fox: Ah, that's different. Maria...Since you've known me have you been true to me? ... And it's rather worse. Brodie: Worse? Fox: Think how all love affairs begin. We meet quite casually. How would we know one day we would be all into each other. Brodie: Of course you couldn't. Fox: Very well, then. Suppose when we first met she had someone to shake free of .. Can I blame her for that? Brodie: You make better excuses than ever she could. Fox: Is it fair to take such an advantage of the girl? Brodie: You're a good man, Fox. Try this...Maria...since you've loved me, have been true to me? Fox: Yes..that's better. Brodie: Right. Fox: No it won't do...it won't do Brodie: Why not? Fox: Think a minute...She's sitting in a train - a man opposite...good-looking guy... slides his foot against hers. She looks up. Brodie: Well? Fox: Think of the extraordinary subtlety of mind that has been engendered in her by his hypnotic trance. In her present unconscious state the remembrance of looking up not displeased might well be recalled as an act of infidelity. Brodie. Oh come on Fox, It's true! And the more so because she already knows my views on such a point... which are a little exaggerated. I've often warned her not to go looking at men. Brodie: And what did she say to that? Fox: Oh...ask me to imagine her doing such a thing! Brodie: Which you were imagining quite well 10 minutes ago. Fox: Suppose she was kissed under the mistletoe last Xmas?... Brodie: No....really! Fox: She may have been. Brodie: All this means is, that you won't ask her the question. Fox: Not at all. I will ask her the question. But... Brodie: Fox, it won't do. Ask a woman is she's true to you and she doesn't think of men treading at her foot or kissing her under the mistletoe. Besides, if the answer is not clear, we can make her go into details. Fox: I see. You've made up your mind I will ask her, have you? Brodie: Damn it no! It's you who wants to find things out...mot me. Fox: Yes. There's another thing to think of. Brodie: What now? Fox: What about her sub-responsible self? Brodie: What the hell is that?! Fox: Under the stimulus of certain extraordinary circumstances, I quite believe that one is not fully independent agent. Brodie: Could you put that into English? Fox: Well...imagine some room...softly curtained...dimly lit...glowing with warmth and color. Brodie: Right...I've imagined it. Fox: There she sits...she and some other man. Brodie: But what's she doing there at all? Fox: That's not the point for the moment. She is there, we'll suppose. Supper...a glass of wine...cigarettes...silence. And then a whispered word or two ... Brodie. Weaker women than her haven't been able to stand such temptation. Brodie: I should say that if you're in love with someone, you've no business to find yourself in a room like that with somebody else. Fox: But I know how things will happen. Brodie: Fox, that won't do. Here's your riddle with its answer: It's to be solved with a word. One question to find out if she's yours alone. One more to find out who shares her with you...and how big is the share. You won't ask them. You suffer agonies. What you wouldn't give to know...just to be sure. Well, the book is open and you won't even turn the page. Why? Because you might find written there that a woman you're in love with is no better than you swear all women are. You don't want the truth...you want to keep your illusions. Wake her up...and tomorrow be content with the thought that you could have found out...only you wouldn't. Fox: I...I...