KATE. [_Going to street door._] How much longer shall you iron to-night?
LIZBETH. Is Travers coming to-night, Kate? [_Sits in rocker._
MRS. VERNON. What difference does it make who does come?
KATE. None, except that the room is filled with smoke and--is hot.
MRS. VERNON. Well, to my mind, Travers may as well get himself used to places that are hot and filled with smoke--fur if he ain't one of Old Nick's own ones, I never see any--
KATE. Mother!! Mr. Travers is a gentleman!
MRS. VERNON. How do you know? Four years to a female seminary don't make you a better judge of gentlemen than us who stay to home here. Your pa's a gentleman if he is a wheelwright--so is Jim Radburn--
KATE. But none of them is like Mr. Travers.
MRS. VERNON. No, thank God they ain't. Travers, Kate--[_Pause_] Travers--[_Pause_] and, mind you, I've seen men before you was born--Travers is as much like a gambler as any I ever saw.
KATE. [_Coming down._] Look here, mother--I've heard you say you had to run away from home with father because your people didn't like him--but that didn't make him any worse, did it?
MRS. VERNON. Well, it didn't make him any better, Kate, and I've regretted it from the bottom of my heart a hundred times--I want you to understand--[_Looks uneasily at door._] I've told it to him often enough--[_Lowering voice._] And if he was here I'd tell him again now--that I could ha' married a doctor.
LIZBETH. You're not calculatin' to run away with Travers, are you, Kate?
KATE. You know I'm not, Lizbeth--but I think you and mother might be a little more considerate in what you say. I try to make the place tidy and nice for your evenings with Dave, don't I?
LIZBETH. Well, I didn't mean nothin', Kate.
KATE. And I do my share of the housework. [_Goes to window. As her voice trembles,_ MRS. VERNON _signals silence to_ LIZBETH.
MRS. VERNON. Of course you do, dear. Lizbeth, you oughtn't to be so thoughtless in what you say.
MRS. VERNON. Thank you, Dave--ask that old man in there if he'll have a glass.
MRS. VERNON. We'll clear the place right up, Kate--don't feel bad about it.
KATE. You needn't, mother--if Mr. Travers calls, we can go walking. [_Goes to door._
MRS. VERNON. No, Kate, and I say it only fur your sake--I wouldn't have the people of Bowling Green see you trapsing the streets at night with a man you ain't knowed but a month, fur nothin'.