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❝ Monologues · 33 lines · B2

I got up from that chair there...

Leslie replays the shooting · The Letter (1940)

I got up from that chair there...

Line 1 of 33

And I stood in front of the table here.

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1I got up from that chair there...
2And I stood in front of the table here.
3He Rose and came around the table and stood in front of me.
4I held out my hand.
5"Good night," I said... But he didn't move.
6He just stood there looking at me, and his eyes were all funny .
7"I'm not going," he said.
8Then I began to lose my temper.
9"Poor fool, don't you know "I've never loved anyone but Robert?
10"And even if I didn't love him , you'd be the last man in the world I should care for."
11"Robert's away," he said.
12Well, that was the last straw .
13I wasn't in the least bit frightened, just angry.
14"If you don't leave immediately," I said, "I shall call the boys and have you thrown out."
15But I walked past him toward the veranda to call the boys, but he took hold of my arm and swung me back.
16Well, I tried to scream, but he flung his arms about me and began to kiss me.
17I struggled to tear myself away from him.
18He seemed like a madman .
19He kept talking and talking and saying he loved me and...
20it's horrible. I can't go on.
21I'm sorry, Leslie, but we have to know the rest.
22He lifted me in his arms and started carrying me.
23Somehow he stumbled on those steps.
24We fell, and I got away from him.
25Suddenly I remembered Robert's revolver in the drawer of that chest.
26He got up and ran after me, but I reached it before he could catch me.
27I seized the gun as he came toward me.
28I heard a report and saw him lurch toward the door.
29It was all instinctive . I didn't even know I'd fired.
30Then I followed him out to the veranda.
31He staggered across the porch, grabbed the railing, but it slipped through his hand, and he fell down the steps.
32I don't remember anything more, just the reports one after another till there was a funny little click, and the revolver was empty.
33It was only then I knew what I'd done.

Why it's worth practising

She walks the room step by step until the chambers click empty, and the calm is what chills.

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Phrases in this speech

the last straw lose my temper instinctive

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