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THE MAKROPOULOS SECRET

Why didn’t you tell him?

[With a shrug of the shoulders]

Oh, I simply cannot be bothered with my brats.

My, my, my, how you talk!

My dear, it is a long time since I was a lady.

Did you have any more children?

About twenty, I think. One loses count. [Picking up the bottle and glass] Wouldn’t someone else like to drink? Ah, the dryness in my mouth. I’ll burn.

[She drinks and falls back in the chair]

There are letters here signed E. M. Were those written by you?

They were; you know it. Give them back to me. I like to read them sometimes. Beastly, isn’t it?

Did you write them as Makropoulos or Ellian MacGregor?