George Bernard Shaw a penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication

sits down on the sofa in her old place.] But I warn you that
when I am neither coaxing and kissing nor laughing, I am
just wondering how much longer I can stand living in this
cruel, damnable world. You object to the siren: well, I drop
the siren. You want to rest your wounded bosom against a
grindstone. Well [folding her arms] here is the grindstone.
ELLIE 
[sitting down beside her, appeased]. That’s better: you
really have the trick of falling in with everyone’s mood; but
you don’t understand, because you are not the sort of woman
for whom there is only one man and only one chance.
MRS HUSHABYE
. I certainly don’t understand how your
marrying that object [indicating Mangan] will console you
for not being able to marry Hector.
ELLIE
. Perhaps you don’t understand why I was quite a nice girl
this morning, and am now neither a girl nor particularly nice.
MRS HUSHABYE
. Oh, yes, I do. It’s because you have made
up your mind to do something despicable and wicked.
ELLIE
. I don’t think so, Hesione. I must make the best of
my ruined house.
MRS HUSHABYE
. Pooh! You’ll get over it. Your house isn’t
ruined.
ELLIE
. Of course I shall get over it. You don’t suppose I’m
going to sit down and die of a broken heart, I hope, or be an
old maid living on a pittance from the Sick and Indigent
Roomkeepers’ Association. But my heart is broken, all the
same. What I mean by that is that I know that what has
happened to me with Marcus will not happen to me ever
again. In the world for me there is Marcus and a lot of other
men of whom one is just the same as another. Well, if I can’t
have love, that’s no reason why I should have poverty. If
Mangan has nothing else, he has money.
MRS HUSHABYE
. And are there no young men with
money?

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89
GB Shaw
ELLIE
. Not within my reach. Besides, a young man would
have the right to expect love from me, and would perhaps
leave me when he found I could not give it to him. Rich
young men can get rid of their wives, you know, pretty
cheaply. But this object, as you call him, can expect nothing
more from me than I am prepared to give him.
MRS HUSHABYE
. He will be your owner, remember. If he
buys you, he will make the bargain pay him and not you.
Ask your father.
ELLIE 
[rising and strolling to the chair to contemplate their
subject]. You need not trouble on that score, Hesione. I have
more to give Boss Mangan than he has to give me: it is I who
am buying him, and at a pretty good price too, I think.
Women are better at that sort of bargain than men. I have
taken the Boss’s measure; and ten Boss Mangans shall not
prevent me doing far more as I please as his wife than I have
ever been able to do as a poor girl. [Stooping to the recumbent
figure]. Shall they, Boss? I think not. [She passes on to the
drawing-table, and leans against the end of it, facing the win-
dows]. I shall not have to spend most of my time wondering
how long my gloves will last, anyhow.
MRS HUSHABYE 
[rising superbly]. Ellie, you are a wicked,
sordid little beast. And to think that I actually condescended
to fascinate that creature there to save you from him! Well,
let me tell you this: if you make this disgusting match, you
will never see Hector again if I can help it.
ELLIE 
[unmoved]. I nailed Mangan by telling him that if he
did not marry me he should never see you again [she lifts
herself on her wrists and seats herself on the end of the table].
MRS HUSHABYE 
[recoiling]. Oh!
ELLIE
. So you see I am not unprepared for your playing
that trump against me. Well, you just try it: that’s all. I should
have made a man of Marcus, not a household pet.
MRS HUSHABYE 
[flaming]. You dare!
ELLIE 
[looking almost dangerous]. Set him thinking about
me if you dare.
MRS HUSHABYE
. Well, of all the impudent little fiends I
ever met! Hector says there is a certain point at which the
only answer you can give to a man who breaks all the rules is
to knock him down. What would you say if I were to box
your ears?
ELLIE 
[calmly]. I should pull your hair.
MRS HUSHABYE 
[mischievously]. That wouldn’t hurt me.

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90
Heartbreak House
Perhaps it comes off at night.
ELLIE 
[so taken aback that she drops off the table and runs to