[_After settling his collar._] Well, Gordon, have you a choice? [_Pause._] You see you didn’t understand women as well as you thought. PRISONER [_Fiercely._] Neither did you! [_The SHERIFF’S BOY comes in._ BOY While I was over at the bank, women came. LAWYER Yes, I know. BOY [_Looking at the two women in the room._] But more women. [_PRISONER starts in terror._] Six women are out there. PRISONER Don’t let them in! LAWYER Tell the ladies we shall not need them. Thank them for coming. [_BOY goes out. To PRISONER._] Well, come now. What shall we do with this embarrassment of--generosity? You see dying for a woman’s honor isn’t as easy as you might think. It even looks as though there were a sort of conspiracy against it. PRISONER I’m not going to be made a fool of. LAWYER Are you sure you can help it? [_The BOY comes back, looking worried._ BOY Some of those women won’t go away. I don’t know what to do with them. LAWYER No, it’s not a matter the young can cope with. [_He goes out with the BOY. The amused young WOMAN sits looking the PRISONER over, to his embarrassment and final irritation._ SCORNFUL ONE So you were thinking of dying for a woman’s honor. [_He says nothing._] Now do you think that’s a very nice way to treat the lady? [_He turns away petulantly._] Seems to me you should think of _her_ feelings. Have you a right to ruin her life? PRISONER [_Startled into speech._] _Ruin_ her life? SCORNFUL ONE Why certainly. A life that somebody has died for is practically a ruined life. For how are you going to think of it as anything but--a life that somebody has died for? [_She pulls her chair to a more confidential angle._] Did it ever strike you as funny that woman’s honor is only about one thing, and that man’s honor is about everything but that thing? [_After waiting for the answer which does not come._] Now woman’s honor means woman’s virtue. But this lady for whom you propose to die has no virtue. PRISONER [_Springing up._] Please be careful what you say. SCORNFUL ONE I’m being very careful. I’m thinking it out just as carefully as I can. The night of October 25, or at some time previous to that, she lost her virtue, and you propose to die to keep us from knowing about this loss. Now, it _has_ happened, hasn’t it? On the night of October 25, from twelve o’clock midnight till eight next morning continuously she lost her virtue. You aren’t dying to keep her virtuous. I fancy few lives have been laid upon that altar. But you’re dying to keep us from knowing she is what she is. Dear me, it seems rather sad. SILLY ONE [_Controlling her tears._] It is noble beyond words. SCORNFUL ONE There’s where you’re going to get your approbation. [_The MOTHERLY ONE now returns from her telephoning. She looks at the SILLY WOMAN, then at the SCORNFUL ONE--these two stand looking one another up and down._ SCORNFUL ONE [_In her amused manner._] Can it be that we are two souls with but a single thought?