Jabez (_going reluclantly_) But what are you going to do?
Rosie. It will be all right. You see, this isn't a works' affair any longer, is it?
Rosie. So it's quite right for mc to speak to Charlie now. I shan't be long. (_Jabez goes out r., his bearing indicating that he does so under proest. Rosie closes the door behind him and faces Charlie._)
Charlie (_trying to escape_). I must be going. Good night, Miss Thompson, and good-by. (_Holding his hand out._)
Rosie (_ignoring the hand standing with her back to the door she has just closed._) Don't be silly, Charlie.
Charlie. There's another door, you know. (_Looking c._)
Rosie. The main entrance will be locked long since.
Charlie (_accepting the situation._) What do you want with me?
Rosie (_coming forward from the door and speaking softly._) I want to help you.
Charlie. I don't want your help. I want to be alone. Can't you understand my wanting to crawl away and hide? Won't you let me go?
Rosie (_sympathetically_). I want to help you.
Charlie. Your father's right, Rosie. I've made a hash of things. There's nothing left for me to do here now. I've shot my bolt.
Chaelie (_irritably_). Oh, I don't know yet. Go on living, I suppose. I shan't starve. I'm a qualified chemist. That's worth something anywhere. (_Sitting l.c. on corner oj table._)
Charlie. Here! I can never hold my head up again after to-night. You don't understand what it is I've tried to do.
Rosie. I understand very well, and I don't quarrel with what you wished to do, but you've gone about it in the wrong way. You were wrong, utterly wrong, in talking to my father as you did. What made you do it?
Rosie. The truth! Don't you know that there are times when it's criminal to tell the truth?
Rosie. You won't persuade a man like my father to see the error of his ways by blurting out a bundle of unpleasant truths. You're a reformer in a hurry. You won't realize that his convictions are just as strong as yours and that he is too old to alter.
Charlie (_With some slight return of spirit_) And I'm too young to alter. We've got beyond the point when wisdom was regarded as the monopoly of senile decay. I won't turn back. (_Rising from table and going l._)
Rosie. My dear boy, I don't ask you to. I only ask you to advance intelligently, (_over to Charlie, l._) to understand that the odds against you are too great for you to fight single-handed.