I’ve been telling myself that since the...

I’ve been telling myself that since the night we heard the child say it. I lie in bed night after night praying that it isn't true. But I know about it now. It’s there. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But I did love you. I do love you. I resented your marriage; maybe because I wanted you; maybe I wanted you all these years; I couldn’t call it by a name but maybe it’s been there ever since I first knew you-- [...] I never felt that way about anybody but you. I’ve never loved a man--I never knew why before. Maybe it’s that. [...] It’s funny, it’s all mixed up. There’s something in you and you don’t do anything about it because you don’t know it's there. Suddenly a little girl gets bored and tells a lie--and there, that night, you see it for the first time, and you say to yourself, did she see it, did she sense it--? [...] She found the one lie with the ounce of truth. I guess they always do. I’ve ruined your life and I’ve ruined my own. I swear I didn’t know it, I swear I didn’t mean it--- . Oh, I feel so God-damned sick and dirty--I can’t stand it anymore.

Hellman. Lillian. The Children’s Hour, Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1934, pp. 66-67.