JINNY. No, thank you, I don't want kisses that are given by you for
letters from Ruth Chester. Yes! do kiss me! [_He kisses her._] I _won't_
be jealous! _I won't be!_ [_Clinching her teeth._] See, I'm not jealous
a bit! Read your old letter!

[_AUSTIN opens the note and reads it. As he does so JINNY has passed
on to the desk and sees AUSTIN'S unfinished letter to RUTH, which
after a little hesitation she picks up and reads. AUSTIN, having read
RUTH'S note, looks up thoughtfully a second, and then re-reads it.
JINNY is furious over what she reads. As she finishes she gives a
little cry from the very depths of her heart._

JINNY. Oh, _Jack_!

AUSTIN. What is it?

JINNY. Nothing!

[_She sinks by the desk, crushing the letter in her hand. She looks
over at him, and then down at the letter, and then back at him._

AUSTIN. Maggie!

JINNY. [_Rising suddenly. She speaks with a voice trembling with only
half-contained emotion and passion._] I told her to wait in the hall;
may I read it?

[_Holding out her hand for the letter._

AUSTIN. Now look here, Jinny,--I always let you read everything, don't
I?

JINNY. [_Hiding his letter behind her back._] Yes. [_Holding out her
other hand._] Give it to me!

AUSTIN. Now begin to show that you really are going to turn over a new
leaf, and that your love is going to have perfect confidence, and don't
ask to see this letter.

JINNY. But I _do_ ask to see it!

AUSTIN. Then this time I must refuse you!

JINNY. What! is it even more compromising than _your_ letter to her?

AUSTIN. What letter? [_Looking first on the desk, he looks across at her
and sees it in her hand. He is angry, but also frightened for fear it
has told her her brother's secret._] And you've read it?

JINNY. It lay open on the desk there, and anyway the end justifies me!

AUSTIN. [_In an agony._] What does it tell you? I forget what I wrote!

JINNY. It tells me that my jealousy all along has been right, that I've
been a fool to let you blind me!

AUSTIN. [_With a great sigh of relief._] Is that all?

JINNY. [_Beside herself._] "Is that all!" Isn't that enough? Dear God,
isn't that enough? That there's an understanding between you and Ruth to
get rid of _me_!

AUSTIN. If it tells you that, the letter lies! Give it to me!

JINNY. No! _I'll_ read it to you! [_Reads with bitter emphasis._] "The
satisfaction of the visit to Brooklyn prevents me from being
disappointed at having mi