f kids that mess the place to bits, of
course I get hold of Alf! It's too bad! Why can't he choose the right
sort of girl? Why can't he choose old Em? She's the sort that _does_
want to get settled. She knows she'll have to buck up about it, too. She
said I should get left. That's what she's afraid of, herself; only she's
afraid of getting left on the shelf.... I wonder why it is the marrying
men don't get hold of the marrying girls! They do, sometimes, I
suppose...." Jenny shrugged restlessly and stood looking at nothing.
"Oh, it's sickening! You can't do anything you like in this world.
Nothing at all! You've always got to do what you _don't_ like. They say
it's good for you. It's your 'duty.' Who to? And who are 'they,' to say
such a thing? What are they after? Just to keep people like me in their
place--do as you're told. Well, I'm not going to do as I'm told. They
can lump it! That's what they can do. What does it matter--what happens
to me? I'm me, aren't I? Got a right to live, haven't I? Why should I be
somebody's servant all my life? I _won't!_ If Alf doesn't want to marry
Emmy, he can go and whistle somewhere else. There's plenty of girls
who'd jump at him. But just because I don't, he'll worry me to death. If
I was to be all over him--see Alf sheer off! He'd think there was
something funny about me. Well, there is! I'm Jenny Blanchard; and I'm
going to keep Jenny Blanchard. If I've got no right to live, then
nobody's got any right to keep me from living. If there's no rights,
other people haven't got any more than I have. They can't make me do
anything--by any right they've got. People--managing people--think that
because there isn't a corner of the earth they haven't collared they can
tell you what you've got to do. Give you a ticket and a number, get up
at six, eat so much a day, have six children, do what you're told. That
may do for some people; but it's slavery. And I'm not going to do it.
See!" She began to shout in her excited indignation. "See!" she cried
again. "Just because I'm poor, I'm to do what I'm told. They seem to
think that because they like to do what they're told, everybody ought to
be the same. They're afraid. They're afraid of themselves--afraid of
being left alone in the dark. They think everybody ought to be
afraid--in case anybody should find out that they're cowards! But I'm
not afraid, and I'm not going to do what I'm told.... I won't!"

In a frenzy she walked about the room, her eye