Grace from "Something Unspoken" by Tennessee Williams

GRACE: You say there's something unspoken. Maybe there is. I don't know. But I do know some things are better left unspoken. Also I know that when a silence between two people has gone on for a long time it's like a wall that's impenetrable between them! Maybe between us there is such a wall. One that's impenetrable. Or maybe you can break it. I know I can't. I can't even attempt to. You're the strong one of us two and surely you know it.--Both of us have turned grey!--But not the same kind of grey. In that velvet dressing-gown you look like the Emperor Tiberius!--In his imperial toga!--Your hair and your eyes are both the color of iron! Iron grey. Invincible looking! People nearby are all somewhat--frightened of you. They feel your force and they admire you for it. They come to you here for opinions on this or that. What plays are good on Broadway this season, what books are worth reading and what books are trash and what--what records are valuable and--what is the proper attitude toward--bills in Congress!--Oh, you're a fountain of wisdom!--And in addition to that, you have your--wealth! Yes, you have your--fortune!--All of your real-estate holdings, your blue-chip stocks, you--bonds, your--mansion on Edgewater Drive, you--shy little--secretary, your--fabulous gardens that Pilgrims cannot go into . . .
CORNELIA: Oh, yes, now you are speaking, now your are speaking at last! Go on, please go on speaking.
GRACE: I am--very--different!--Also turning grey but my grey is different. Not iron, like yours, not imperial, Cornelia, but grey, yes, grey, the--color of a . . . cobweb . . . (She starts the record again, very softly.)--Something white getting soiled, the grey of something forgotten. (The phone rings again. Neither of them seems to notice it.)--And that being the case, that being the difference between our two kinds of grey, yours and mine--  You mustn't expect me to give bold answers to questions that make the house shake with silence! To speak out things that are fifteen years unspoken!--That long a time can make a silence a wall that nothing less than dynamite could break through and-- (She picks up the phone.) I'm not strong enough, bold enough, I'm not--