If I hadn't a cent you'd still care for me, wouldn't you, Mary? Mary Speaker Why, Cousin Fanny, you know I would! Cousin Fanny But I'm hard on you at times. I'm unjust. I don't mean to be spiteful, but I _am_ spiteful. When we get old we get suspicious of people. We get suspicious of everybody. And suspicion makes us spiteful and unjust. I know I'm not easy to live with, Mary. Mary Speaker [_Kissing Cousin Fanny._] You get such strange notions, Cousin Fanny! John Thinker And such true ones, Cousin Fanny! Cousin Fanny Tell me the truth, Mary. You find me a trial, Mary. You and John find me a trial! Mary Speaker and John Speaker [_Together._ ] Never, Cousin Fanny! Mary Thinker and John Thinker [_Together._ ] Always, Cousin Fanny! Cousin Fanny And that is the truth? John Speaker, John Thinker, Mary Speaker and Mary Thinker [_All together._ ] And that is the truth, Cousin Fanny! Cousin Fanny You don't know how suspicious one gets! Mary Speaker [_Petting her_.] But suspicion never stays long in your good heart, Cousin Fanny. There's no room for it there, I know. But don't you think you'd better go to bed now? Let me call the maid. Cousin Fanny [_Rousing up in chair; suspicion and meanness all awake again_.] To bed? Why to bed? Why do you want to pack me off to bed? I know! I know why! You want me to go to bed so you two can talk about me. So you can talk me over! So you can speculate on how long I will live. I know you! I know what you talk about when I'm not around! I know what you've been waiting and hoping for the last ten years! [_Begins to cry._] Well, you won't have long to wait now. The time's almost come! I feel it's almost here. You'll get the money soon enough! Mary Speaker [_Soothing her_.] There, there, Cousin Fanny, don't go on like this! You know it isn't true--you know you'll live ten years yet! [_John Speaker runs his hands through his hair and looks silently at Mary Speaker, and John Thinker, with the same gesture, says to Mary Thinker_:] John Thinker If I thought she'd live ten years yet----! [_Pauses._] Mary Thinker Well, if you thought she'd live ten years yet----? John Thinker [_With a gesture of de pair._ ] My God--ten years like the last ten years! Ten years! Talk about earning money! If it hasn't been earned ten times over! Mary Thinker [_Fiercely._] You see it mornings and evenings. I have it all day long, and every day. I've had it for ten years. I go nowhere, I see no one. I have no pleasures. I have no friends; I've lost my friends. I'm losing my youth. I'm losing my looks. I'm losing my very soul. I'm shedding my life's blood drop by drop to keep that querulous fool alive--just merely alive! I'm tired of it! I'm sick of it! I'm desperate! I'm dying from her, I tell you! Mary Speaker [_Still soothing Cousin Fanny, but speaking with one hand nervously clutching her own head as she does so_.] Come, come, Cousin Fanny--you'd better go to bed now! Cousin Fanny