C
NATHANIEL. I wanted to apologize…for that remark.
MARGARET. Which one?
NATHANIEL. That you couldn’t speak for the feelings of women, being in a sex by yourself.
MARGARET. There’s man, there’s woman, and there is Margaret Fuller.
NATHANIEL. I’m sorry.
MARGARET. You know I don’t mind your insults, Mr. Hawthorne. If you would only keep them simple enough so that Sophia doesn’t have to have them incessantly explained.
NATHANIEL. I didn’t mean it as an insult exactly, but I could see that you were hurt.
MARGARET. You are mistaken.
NATHANIEL. Damn it, Margaret—there is not one woman in a thousand like you. You have to admit that. How can you possibly sympathize with the feelings of a normal woman?
MARGARET. But you can. (Pause) I wonder why you come.
NATHANIEL. Are you asking me not to? I pray, reconsider. Adam cast out of paradise could not experience so great a sense of loss.
MARGARET. Don’t patronize me. Object to me if you want—but don’t patronize me.
NATHANIEL. I wouldn’t dare object to you, Miss Fuller.
MARGARET. Why not? Are you a coward? Shall I have to get to work embroidering a large scarlet “C” for your bosom?
NATHANIEL. Not too large, please. I do not have your ample…letter space.
MARGARET. No? Perhaps you could wear it somewhere else then.
(He smiles, and stares at her—uncomfortable, but enjoying a little the freedoms that she takes.)
MARGARET. Mr. Hawthorne, why are you always staring at me?
NATHANIEL. Do I stare at you?
MARGARET. You know you do. Not since Argus has anyone been favored with more eyeshot than I get from you. I think you must be planning a great exposure of me.
NATHANIEL. No. Though the idea is not without its appeal.
MARGARET. What then? What are you staring at? Are you trying to detect the marks of an old stoning? (He laughs)
Now there was a society that knew how to deal with its witches and adulteresses.
NATHANIEL. Well, I’m prepared to think you capable of sorcery, but as for the other…
MARGARET. Be prepared to think me capable of anything. I claim a kinship with the most degraded of my sex.
NATHANIEL. Oh come, Miss Fuller, if anything, you’re a woman of NIL repute.
MARGARET. When your taste obviously runs more to a bore with a heart of gold. (Pause). That was unfair. I’m sorry.
NATHANIEL. Her love has swept dark shadows from my life. Please don’t laugh at her.
MARGARET. Forgive me. I only laugh at Sophia to keep from envying her.
NATHANIEL. Envying her?
MARGARET. Yes. Her sitting by the fire listening to your stories, her being the first person in the world to hear out loud how Hester Prynne met Arthur Dimmsdale in the wilderness.
NATHANIEL. (Laughing) She hated that chapter.