[_She has horrified them all._ MOTHERLY ONE I’m sorry you said that. SILLY ONE How sordid! How desecrating! MERCENARY ONE Say--I don’t like the _atmosphere_ of this place. SCORNFUL ONE We don’t like it as well as we did. MERCENARY ONE A business proposition is a business proposition. What a man needs and can pay for-- SILLY ONE [_Rising and wringing her hands._] I really must ask you--Love is so beautiful! MERCENARY ONE Well, suppose it is? What’s that got to do with it? MOTHERLY ONE You seem hard for one so young. MERCENARY ONE I may be hard, but I’m not a nut. SCORNFUL ONE Woman’s honor doesn’t play much part in your young life, does it? Or woman’s self-respect, either. MERCENARY ONE [_Rising._] Say, you think you can sit there and insult me? I don’t know what you are, but I’ll have you know I’m an honest working girl! I heard they were going to take on another stenographer down here, but I don’t like the _atmosphere_ of this place. [_She leaves._ SILLY ONE [_Settling herself with relief._] It was a misunderstanding. Ah, life is paved with misunderstanding. MOTHERLY ONE It _will_ be said we did this for money. SCORNFUL ONE Oh, a great deal will be said. If you care about what’s said you’d better follow the honest working girl out that door. MOTHERLY ONE What’s said makes an awful difference in some people’s lives. [_Her eyes turn toward the SHIELDED ONE._ SCORNFUL ONE They don’t know how much difference until they’ve heard it said. [_She too looks at the SHIELDED ONE._ MOTHERLY ONE You get made into one thing and then it’s not easy to be another. And as the honest working girl hinted, some of us aren’t as young as--we’d like to be. SCORNFUL ONE Age shouldn’t discourage one. It’s never too late to mend. [_The door swings, the women look expectantly around; the unfortunate young man, whose face has been buried in his hands, looks round in terror. They wait a moment but no one comes in._ MOTHERLY ONE If “she” is here, and really minds losing her honor--well, she could just go home. [_SILLY ONE rises, simpers, sits down again._] We can’t all lose our honor. It might do the young man more harm than good. It’s different with you--[_To SCORNFUL ONE_] you had an early start. And then you’ve got character. You don’t need honor to lean on. SHIELDED ONE [_Breaking her silence with simple intensity._] What _is_ woman’s honor? SCORNFUL ONE A thing men talk about. MOTHERLY ONE A safe corner. SILLY ONE A star to guide them! SHIELDED ONE [_Very earnestly._] Guide them where? SCORNFUL ONE Yes, where? Many a woman who’s guided hasn’t guided anywhere. SHIELDED ONE [_Passionately._] Aren’t we something more than things to be noble about? SCORNFUL ONE Of course what we’ve really been is kind. We have not deprived them of the pleasures of being noble. If we do it now, it will leave them in a bleak world. SHIELDED ONE