Yes. I know. LAURA Abbie, I wish you would go up and ask Mr. Norris if he would like some more coffee and--see how he seems. [_To MARGARET, resentfully._] I don’t understand why Craig should be quite like this. [_ABBIE does not move until LAURA looks at her in surprise, then she turns to go._] No; I’ll go myself, Abbie. I want to see how he is. [_She goes up, and ABBIE comes back. Without looking at MARGARET she is turning toward the kitchen._ MARGARET Abbie! [_Reluctantly ABBIE comes back, at first not looking up. Then she raises her eyes._] Yes, he told me. [_ABBIE does not speak or move._] Had she seemed unhappy, Abbie? ABBIE No. No, I hadn’t noticed anything. MARGARET Abbie! Don’t shut me out like this! _She_ wouldn’t shut me out. Bernice loved me. ABBIE I know. I know she did. But there’s nothing for me to tell you, Miss Margaret, and it’s hard for me to talk about. I loved her too. I lived with her her whole life long. First the baby I took care of and played with--then all the changing with the different years--then _this_-- [_A move of her hands towards the closed door._ MARGARET Yes--then this. [_Gently._] That’s it, Abbie. “This”--takes away from all that. Abbie, do _you_ understand it? If you do, won’t you help me? ABBIE I don’t understand it. MARGARET It’s something so--outside all the rest. That’s why I can’t accept it. Something in me just won’t take it in--because it isn’t _right_. I knew her. I _know_ I knew her! And this--Why then I didn’t know her. Can’t you help me? ABBIE I don’t see how, Miss Margaret. MARGARET But if you would tell me things you know--little things--even though they meant nothing to you they might mean something to me. Abbie! Because you loved her don’t you want what she was to go on living in our hearts? ABBIE Oh, I do! I do! But she’ll go on living in my heart without my understanding what she did. MARGARET But differently. I’ll tell you what I mean. Everything about her has always been--herself. That was one of the rare things about her. And herself--oh, it’s something you don’t want to lose! It’s been the beauty in my life. In my busy practical life, Bernice--what she was--like a breath that blew over my life and--made it something. ABBIE I know--just what you mean, Miss Margaret. MARGARET It’s inconceivable that she should--cut off her own life. In her lived all the life that was behind her. You felt that in her--so wonderfully. She felt it in herself--or her eyes couldn’t have been like that. _Could_ they? Could they, Abbie? ABBIE It--wouldn’t seem so. MARGARET