Polite laughter at the table.

SIR WILLIAM

My lady is a weak woman, but she is my mistress. She is a fool, but she has got the better of one of the best heads in Christendom. She is enormously rich, but somehow I have never been so poor, as since I married her. I thought to better myself, and she has made me miserable and killed me, and she will do as much for my successor when I'm gone.

There is a reflective silence at the table.

RODERICK

Has her ladyship a very large income?

This question causes Sir William to burst out into a yelling laugh, joined by the rest of the table, and makes Roderick blush not a little at his gaucherie.

A beautiful scene, lit by the flambeaux, held by a dozen footmen. A small orchestra, playing in a Temple of Love, some dancers, people gambling and lounging along a line of trees.

Roderick approaches the Countess.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Despite my friend's strong warning. I resolves to become acquainted with his lady. Sir William Cosgrove was dying. His widow would be a rich prize. Why should I not win her, and, with her, the means of making in the world that figure which my genius and inclination desired? When I determine, I look upon the thing as done.

RODERICK

Charming lady, tell me the truth and earn my gratitude. Have you a lover?

The countess laughs.

COUNTESS

No.

RODERICK

Have you had one?

COUNTESS

Never.

RODERICK

But, for a time... a passing fancy?

COUNTESS

Not even that.

RODERICK

How can I believe that there is not a man who has inspired desires in you?

COUNTESS

Not one.

RODERICK

Have you not a man whom you value?

COUNTESS

That man has, perhaps, not yet been born.

RODERICK

What! You have not met a man worthy of your attention?

COUNTESS

Many worthy of attention; but valuing is something more. I could value only someone whom I loved.

RODERICK

Then you have never loved? Your heart is empty.

COUNTESS

Your word "empty" makes me laugh. Is it fortunate, or unfortunate? If it is fortunate, I congratulate myself. If it is unfortunate, I do not care, for I am not aware of it.

RODERICK

It is nonetheless a misfortune, and you will know it when you love.

COUNTESS

But if, when I love, I am unhappy, I will know that my empty heart was my good fortune.

RODERICK

That is true, but it seems to me impossible that you should be unhappy in love.

COUNTESS

It is only too possible. Love requires a mutual harmony which is difficult, and it is even more difficult to make it last.

RODERICK

I agree; but God put us on earth to take that risk.

COUNTESS

A man may need to do that, and find it amusing; but a girl is bound by other laws.

RODERICK

I believe you, and I see I must hasten to leave, for otherwise I shall become the unhappiest of men.

COUNTESS

How so?

RODERICK

By loving you, with no hope of possessing you.

She laughs.

COUNTESS

You want my heart?

RODERICK

It is my only object.

COUNTESS

To make me wretched in two weeks.

RODERICK

To love you until death. To subscribe to all your commands.

COUNTESS

The amusing thing is that you deceive me without knowing, if it is true that you love me.

RODERICK

Deceiving someone without knowing it is something new for me. If I do not know it, I am innocent.

COUNTESS

But you deceive me nonetheless if I believe you, for it will not be in your power to love me when you love me no longer.

Roderick laughs and kisses her.

COUNTESS

Be so good as to tell me with whom you think you are?

RODERICK

With a woman who is completely charming, be she a princess or a woman of the lowest condition, and who, regardless of her rank, will show me some kindness, tonight.

She laughs.

COUNTESS

And if she does not choose to show you some kindness?

RODERICK

Then I will respectfully take leave of her.

COUNTESS

You will do as you please. It seems to me that such a matter can hardly be discussed until after people know each other. Do you not agree?

RODERICK

Yes -- but I am afraid of being deceived.

COUNTESS

Poor man. And, for that reason, you want to begin where people end?

RODERICK

I ask only a payment on account today -- after that, you will find me undemanding, obedient and discreet.

She laughs. He kisses her again. They exit.

Coach and four moves slowly along.

They kiss. She gently struggles as he tries to undo her dress. He stops.

RODERICK

Will we always leave it at this?

COUNTESS

Always, my dear one, never any further. Love is a child to be pacified with trifles. A full diet can only kill it.

RODERICK

I know better than you do. Love wants a more substantial fare, and if it is stubbornly withheld, it withers away.

COUNTESS

Our abstinence makes our love immortal. If I loved you a quarter of an hour ago, now I should love you even more. But I should love you less if you exhausted my joy by satisfying all my desires.

RODERICK

Let us give each other complete happiness, and let us be sure that as many times as we satisfy our desires, they will each time be born anew.

COUNTESS

My husband has convinced me of the contrary.

RODERICK

Sir William Cosgrove is a man who is dying, and yet I envy him more than any man in Christendom. He enjoys a privilege of which I am deprived. He may take you in his arms whenever he pleases, and no veil keeps his senses, his eyes, his soul from enjoying your beauty.

She silences him with her fingertips.

COUNTESS

Shall I tell you something -- I believed what was called love came after the union -- and I was surprised when my husband, making me a woman, made me know it only by pain, unaccompanied by any pleasure. I saw that my imaginings had stood me in better stead. And so we became only friends, seldom sleeping together and arousing no curiosity in each other, yet on good terms for a while, as whenever he wanted me, I was at his service, but since the offering was not seasoned with love, he found it tasteless, and seldom demanded it.

RODERICK

O, my dearest love. Enough! I beg you. Stop believing in your experience. You have never known love. My very soul is leaving me! Catch it on your lips, and give me yours!

They kiss ardently.

RODERICK (V.O.)

To make a long story short, her ladyship and I were in love six hours after we met; and after I once got into her ladyship's good graces, I found innumerable occasions to improve my intimacy, and was scarcely ever out of her company.

Action as per voice over.

RODERICK (V.O.)

I shall never forget the astonishment of Sir William Cosgrove when, on one summer evening, as he was issuing out to the play-table, in his sedan-chair, her ladyship's barouche and four came driving into the courtyard of the house which they inhabited and, in that carriage, by her ladyship's side, sat no other than "the vulgar Irish adventurer," as she was pleased to call me.