W gets
up.] If you want to reward me for my truthfulness, Mrs. Jayson, help me
take the kids for an airing in the car. I know it's an imposition but
they've grown to expect you. [Glancing at his watch.] By Jove, I'll
have to run along. I'll get them and then pick you up here. Is that all
right?

MARTHA--Fine.

BIGELOW--I'll run, then. Good-by, Lily. [She nods. BIGELOW goes out
rear.]

MARTHA--[Cordially.] Come on over here, Lily.

LILY--[Sits on couch with MARTHA--after a pause--with a smile.] You
were forgetting, weren't you?

MARTHA--What?

LILY--That you'd invited all the family over here to tea this
afternoon. I'm the advance guard.

MARTHA--[Embarrassed.] So I was! How stupid!

LILY--[With an inquisitive glance at MARTHA'S face but with studied
carelessness.] Do you like Bigelow?

MARTHA--Yes, very much. And Curt thinks the world of him.

LILY--Oh, Curt is the last one to be bothered by anyone's morals. Curt
and I are the unconventional ones of the family. The trouble with
Bigelow, Martha, is that he was too careless to conceal his sins--and
that won't go down in this Philistine small town. You have to hide and
be a fellow hypocrite or they revenge themselves on you. Bigelow
didn't. He flaunted his love-affairs in everyone's face. I used to
admire him for it. No one exactly blamed him, in their secret hearts.
His wife was a terrible, straitlaced creature. No man could have
endured her. [Disgustedly.] After her death he suddenly acquired a bad
conscience. He'd never noticed the children before. I'll bet he didn't
even know their names. And then, presto, he's about in our midst giving
an imitation of a wet hen with a brood of ducks. It's a bore, if you
ask me.

MARTHA--[Flushing.] I think it's very fine of him.

LILY--[Shaking her head.] His reform is too sudden. He's joined the
hypocrites, I think.

MARTHA--I'm sure he's no hypocrite. When you see him with the children--

LILY--Oh, I know he's a good actor. Lots of women have been in love
with him. [Then suddenly.] You won't be furious if I'm very, very
frank, will you, Martha?

MARTHA--[Surprised.] No, of course not, Lily.

LILY--Well, I'm the bearer of a message from the Jayson family.

MARTHA--[Astonished.] A message? For me?

LILY--Don't think that I have anything to do with it. I'm only a Victor
record of their misgivings. Shall I switch it going? Well, then, father
thinks, brother John and wife, sister Esther and husband all think that