ess.
It's all well enough for those Salvation women who ain't got a thing
to do but pound tambourines, but if they had the washin', and ironin',
an' cookin' to do for a fambly of six--an' three dogs--they'd need
something to keep body an' soul together.

KATE. [_Going to street door._] How much longer shall you iron
to-night?

MRS. VERNON. Why? Do you want the room?

KATE. Oh, no--but--

LIZBETH. Is Travers coming to-night, Kate? [_Sits in rocker._

KATE. I don't know who may come.

MRS. VERNON. What difference does it make who does come?

KATE. None, except that the room is filled with smoke and--is hot.

MRS. VERNON. Well, to my mind, Travers may as well get himself used to
places that are hot and filled with smoke--fur if he ain't one of Old
Nick's own ones, I never see any--

KATE. Mother!! Mr. Travers is a gentleman!

MRS. VERNON. How do you know? Four years to a female seminary don't
make you a better judge of gentlemen than us who stay to home here.
Your pa's a gentleman if he is a wheelwright--so is Jim Radburn--

LIZBETH. And Dave--

MRS. VERNON. Yes, and Dave--

KATE. But none of them is like Mr. Travers.

MRS. VERNON. No, thank God they ain't. Travers, Kate--[_Pause_]
Travers--[_Pause_] and, mind you, I've seen men before you was
born--Travers is as much like a gambler as any I ever saw.

KATE. [_Coming down._] Look here, mother--I've heard you say you had
to run away from home with father because your people didn't like
him--but that didn't make him any worse, did it?

MRS. VERNON. Well, it didn't make him any better, Kate, and I've
regretted it from the bottom of my heart a hundred times--I want you
to understand--[_Looks uneasily at door._] I've told it to him often
enough--[_Lowering voice._] And if he was here I'd tell him again
now--that I could ha' married a doctor.

LIZBETH. You're not calculatin' to run away with Travers, are you,
Kate?

KATE. You know I'm not, Lizbeth--but I think you and mother might be a
little more considerate in what you say. I try to make the place tidy
and nice for your evenings with Dave, don't I?

LIZBETH. Well, I didn't mean nothin', Kate.

KATE. And I do my share of the housework. [_Goes to window. As her
voice trembles,_ MRS. VERNON _signals silence to_ LIZBETH.

MRS. VERNON. Of course you do, dear. Lizbeth, you oughtn't to be so
thoughtless in what you say.

_Enter_ DAVE _with beer._

DAVE. Here you are, Mrs. Vernon.

MRS. VERNON. Thank y