Arms and the Man

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Excerpt:.our conversation is to continue, Louka, you will please remember that a gentleman does not discuss the conduct of the lady he is engaged to with her maid. LOUKA. It's so hard to know what a gentleman considers right. I thought from your trying to kiss me that you had given up being so particular. SERGIUS (turning from her and striking his forehead as he comes back into the garden from the gateway). Devil! devil! LOUKA. Ha! ha! I expect one of the six of you is very like me, sir, though I am only Miss Raina's maid. (She goes back to her work at the table, taking no further notice of him.) SERGIUS (speaking to himself). Which of the six is the real man?—that's the question that torments me. One of them is a hero, another a buffoon, another a humbug, another perhaps a bit of a blackguard. (He pauses and looks furtively at Louka, as he adds with deep bitterness) And one, at least, is a coward—jealous, like all cowards. (He goes to the table.) Louka. LOUKA. Yes? SERGIUS. Who is my rival? LOUKA. You shall never get that out of me, for love or money. SERGIUS. Why? LOUKA. Never mind why. Besides, you would tell that I told you; and I should lose my place. SERGIUS (holding out his right hand in affirmation). No; on the honor of a—(He checks himself, and his hand drops nerveless as he concludes, sardonically)—of a man capable of behaving as I have been behaving for the last five minutes. Who is he? LOUKA. I don't know. I never saw him. I only heard his voice through the door of her room. SERGIUS. Damnation! How dare you? LOUKA (retreating). Oh, I mean no harm: you've no right to take up my words like that. The mistress knows all about it. And I tell you that if that gentleman ever comes here again, Miss Raina will marry him, whether he likes it or not. I know the difference between the sort of manner you and she put on before one another and the real manner. (Sergius shivers as if she had stabbed him. Then, setting his face like iron,.

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