He's dropped his work. He's dropped everything. I'm losing him, Ruth. I'll die if I lose him.
Ruth Perhaps, perhaps if you went back to the lodge, just the two of you.
No, he hates it now, everything about it. He never wants to set foot there again. And he doesn't want to go back to Boston. If I only knew what he was thinking. You've always helped me, Ruth. Help me now.
Ruth A little time, Ellen, you'll see. He's had a great loss. There's a great emptiness in his life. If he only, if he only had a child of his own.
You're looking very well, Ruth. I've never seen you so happy. Tell me, do you think Richard loves me?
Ruth Well, now, that's a silly thing to say.
Oh, I know in the beginning he loved me. But I'll tell you something funny. He never liked me.
Ruth He loved you, but he never liked you?
That's right. We've never really been friends, like you and he. He likes you. Tell me, has he found a nickname for you yet?
Ruth Well, not exactly. Sometimes he calls me 'the gal with the hoe,' to kid me about my gardening.
He used to call me 'Patchouli.' [She looks at the mirror reflection of her pregnant self] Look at me. I hate the little beast. I wish it would die.
Ruth Ellen!
Shocked, aren't you? If you were having the baby, you'd love it. Well, I never wanted it. Richard and I never needed anything else. And now this.
Ruth How can you say such wicked things?
Sometimes the truth is wicked. You're afraid of the truth, aren't you, Ruth?
Ruth No. You're the one who's afraid.
Ruth When we were kids, you used to torment me every way you could think of. You can't do that anymore.
[suspiciously]
Is it Richard?
Ruth I'm going away because I can't stand living in this house any longer. The whole place is filled with hate. Your hate.
Not hate. Love, Ruth. Richard's love for me. All these weeks, I was in the hospital helpless. You had him here in the house to yourself. But it didn't do you any good, did it? He still loves me. He loves me more than ever. That's what you can't abide. That's why you envy me, isn't it?
Ruth I don't envy you, Ellen. All my life I've tried to love you, done everything to please you. All of us have: Mother, Father and now Richard. And what have you done? With your love, you wrecked Mother's life. With your love, you pressed Father to death. With your love, you've made a shadow of Richard. No, Ellen, I don't envy you. I'm sorry for you. You're the most pitiful creature I've ever known.
