nd slowly sweetens as she turns round to him.

JOHNNY. Sorry! [He has a pipe in his hand and wears a Norfolk jacket]
Fond of flowers?

FAITH. Yes. [She puts back the flower] Ever so!

JOHNNY. Stick to it. Put it in your hair; it'll look jolly. How do you
like it here?

FAITH. It's quiet.

JOHNNY. Ha! I wonder if you've got the feeling I have. We've both had
hell, you know; I had three years of it, out there, and you've had three
years of it here. The feeling that you can't catch up; can't live fast
enough to get even.

FAITH nods.

Nothing's big enough; nothing's worth while enough--is it?

FAITH. I don't know. I know I'd like to bite. She draws her lips back.

JOHNNY. Ah! Tell me all about your beastly time; it'll do you good.
You and I are different from anybody else in this house. We've lived
they've just vegetated. Come on; tell me!

FAITH, who up to now has looked on him as a young male, stares at
him for the first time without sex in her eyes.

FAITH. I can't. We didn't talk in there, you know.

JOHNNY. Were you fond of the chap who--?

FAITH. No. Yes. I suppose I was--once.

JOHNNY. He must have been rather a swine.

FAITH. He's dead.

JOHNNY. Sorry! Oh, sorry!

FAITH. I've forgotten all that.

JOHNNY. Beastly things, babies; and absolutely unnecessary in the
present state of the world.

FAITH. [With a faint smile] My baby wasn't beastly; but I--I got upset.

JOHNNY. Well, I should think so!

FAITH. My friend in the manicure came and told me about hers when I was
lying in the hospital. She couldn't have it with her, so it got
neglected and died.

JOHNNY. Um! I believe that's quite common.

FAITH. And she told me about another girl--the Law took her baby from
her. And after she was gone, I--got all worked up-- [She hesitates, then
goes swiftly on] And I looked at mine; it was asleep just here, quite
close. I just put out my arm like that, over its face--quite soft--
I didn't hurt it. I didn't really. [She suddenly swallows, and her lips
quiver] I didn't feel anything under my arm. And--and a beast of a nurse
came on me, and said "You've smothered your baby, you wretched girl!"

I didn't want to kill it--I only wanted to save it from living. And when
I looked at it, I went off screaming.

JOHNNY. I nearly screamed when I saved my first German from living. I
never felt the same again. They say the human race has got to