an't afford to pay for a
miserable cup! You might say you're sorry: that's all I want you to do."

"I said I was sorry."

"No, you didn't."

"I heard her, Gertie," broke in Ed.

"She said she was sorry as if she was doing me a favor," said Gertie,
turning furiously on the would-be peacemaker.

"You don't expect me to go down on my knees to you, do you? The cup's
worth twopence."

"It isn't the value I'm thinking about, it's the carelessness."

"It's only the third thing I've broken since I've been here."

If Nora had been in a calmer mood herself she would not have been so
stupid as to attempt to palliate her offense. Her offer of replacing the
miserable cup only added fuel to the flame of Gertie's resentment.

"You can't do anything!" she stormed. "You're more helpless than a
child of six. You're all the same, all of you."

"You're not going to abuse the whole British nation because I've broken
a cup worth twopence, are you?"

"And the airs you put on. Condescending isn't the word. It's enough to
try the patience of a saint."

"Oh, shut up!" said Marsh. He went over to his wife and laid a hand on
her shoulder. She shook him off impatiently.

"You've never done a stroke of work in your life, and you come here and
think you can teach me everything."

"I don't know about that," said Nora, in a voice which by comparison
with Gertie's seemed low but which was nevertheless perfectly audible to
every person in the room. "I don't know about that, but I think I can
teach you manners."

If she had lashed the other woman across the face with a whip, she
couldn't have cut more deeply. She knew that, and was glad. Gertie's
face turned gray.

"How dare you say that! How dare you! You come here, and I give you a
home. You sleep in my blankets and you eat my food and then you insult
me." She burst into a passion of angry tears.

"Now then, Gertie, don't cry. Don't be so silly," said her husband as he
might have spoken to an angry child.

"Oh, leave me alone," she flashed back at him. "Of course you take her
part. You would! It's nothing to you that I have made a slave of myself
for you for three whole years. As soon as _she_ comes along and plays
the lady----"

She rushed from the room. After a moment, Ed followed after her.

There was an awkward pause. Nora stood leaning against the table
swinging the dishcloth in her hand, a smile of malicious triumph on her
face. Gertie had tried it on once too often. But