CLAIRE: Nearer? (_feeling it with her voice_) Nearer. But I think I am
going--the other way.
TOM: No, Claire--come to me. Did you understand, dear? I am not going
away.
CLAIRE: You're not going away?
TOM: Not without you, Claire. And you and I will be together. Is
that--what you wanted?
CLAIRE: Wanted? (_as if wanting is something that harks far back. But
the word calls to her passion_) Wanted! (_a sob, hands out, she goes to
him. But before his arms can take her, she steps back_) Are you trying
to pull me down into what I wanted? Are you here to make me stop?
TOM: How can you ask that? I love you because it is not in you to stop.
CLAIRE: And loving me for that--would stop me? Oh, help me see it! It is
so important that I see it.
TOM: It is important. It is our lives.
CLAIRE: And more than that. I cannot see it because it is so much more
than that.
TOM: Don't try to see all that it is. From peace you'll see a little
more.
CLAIRE: Peace? (_troubled as we are when looking at what we cannot see
clearly_) What is peace? Peace is what the struggle knows in moments
very far apart. Peace--that is not a place to rest. Are you resting?
What are you? You who'd take me from what I am to something else?
TOM: I thought you knew, Claire.
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