I believe in free speech. BESSIE Yes--how dear of you. Jhansi has endured in proud silence a great grief. And now, dear child, because of the touching dignity with which you have stood outside and alone, it is a moment of special joyfulness to me when I can say--Welcome Within! PEYTON What are you talking about, Bessie? BESSIE You must not stand outside society! You belong _within_ the gates. You are one of us! JHANSI I’m _not_. BESSIE Dear child you are as respectable as we are. JHANSI [_Rising._] I am _not_. BESSIE Of course, you can’t grasp it in an instant. But I have looked it all up, dear. I have the proofs. PEYTON Well it wasn’t your affair, Bessie. BESSIE I made it my affair because I love my brother. Jhansi dear, [_As one who tells tremendous good news_] your father was Henry Harrison, a milkman in the town of Sunny Center--an honorable and respected man. Your parents were married in the Baptist Church! JHANSI I deny it! I deny this charge! BESSIE [_Stepping to the hall._] Dear Senator and Mrs. Byrd, will you come now? [_Enter STATE SENATOR BYRD and MRS. STATE SENATOR BYRD, MRS. BYRD carrying a large book._ BESSIE Jhansi dear, you are about to enter upon the happiest moment of your life, for State Senator Byrd, one of our law-making body, is a cousin of your dear dead mother. SENATOR BYRD Aggie’s little girl! [_He goes to JHANSI with outstretched hands. But AGGIE’S little girl stands like a rock._ BESSIE And here, Jhansi, is your cousin Mrs. Byrd, who has come all this way to assure you you have a family. MRS. BYRD Indeed you have! There’s Ella Andrews, one of our teachers--a lovely girl. She’s your first cousin. We are second cousins. You may have some little family pride in knowing that I was last spring elected President of the Federated Clubs of Baxter County. Just last week I entertained the officers of all the clubs at our home--our new home, erected last year after your cousin Ephraim completed his first term in the upper house of the State Legislature. Your cousin Ephraim has been re-elected. He is on the Ways and Means Committee. UNCLE GEORGE [_Approaching SENATOR BYRD._] I have heard of Senator Ephraim Byrd of the Ways and Means Committee. That was good work you fellows-- [_They talk of this._ MRS. ROOT And to think, Jhansi, that your cousin Mrs. Byrd is a prominent clubwoman! GRANDMOTHER [_After a look at JHANSI._] Her cup runneth over. MRS. ROOT Isn’t Bessie wonderful, mother? How did you find it all out, Bessie? BESSIE From clue to clue I worked my way to Sunny Center. I would say to myself--Do this for Peyton; do this for Jhansi. And so, I heard of an old minister who had been there years and years. I went to him and--he had married Jhansi’s father and mother! Dearest child, your mother taught in his Sunday-School! SENATOR BYRD Oh, yes, Aggie loved the Baptist Sunday-School! JHANSI