JOHNNY. Stick to it. Put it in your hair; it'll look jolly. How do you like it here? FAITH. It's quiet. JOHNNY. Ha! I wonder if you've got the feeling I have. We've both had hell, you know; I had three years of it, out there, and you've had three years of it here. The feeling that you can't catch up; can't live fast enough to get even. FAITH nods. Nothing's big enough; nothing's worth while enough--is it? FAITH. I don't know. I know I'd like to bite. She draws her lips back. JOHNNY. Ah! Tell me all about your beastly time; it'll do you good. You and I are different from anybody else in this house. We've lived they've just vegetated. Come on; tell me! FAITH, who up to now has looked on him as a young male, stares at him for the first time without sex in her eyes. FAITH. I can't. We didn't talk in there, you know. JOHNNY. Were you fond of the chap who--? FAITH. No. Yes. I suppose I was--once. JOHNNY. He must have been rather a swine. FAITH. He's dead. JOHNNY. Sorry! Oh, sorry! FAITH. I've forgotten all that. JOHNNY. Beastly things, babies; and absolutely unnecessary in the present state of the world. FAITH. [With a faint smile] My baby wasn't beastly; but I--I got upset. JOHNNY. Well, I should think so! FAITH. My friend in the manicure came and told me about hers when I was lying in the hospital. She couldn't have it with her, so it got neglected and died. JOHNNY. Um! I believe that's quite common. FAITH. And she told me about another girl--the Law took her baby from her. And after she was gone, I--got all worked up-- [She hesitates, then goes swiftly on] And I looked at mine; it was asleep just here, quite close. I just put out my arm like that, over its face--quite soft-- I didn't hurt it. I didn't really. [She suddenly swallows, and her lips quiver] I didn't feel anything under my arm. And--and a beast of a nurse came on me, and said "You've smothered your baby, you wretched girl!" I didn't want to kill it--I only wanted to save it from living. And when I looked at it, I went off screaming. JOHNNY. I nearly screamed when I saved my first German from living. I never felt the same again. They say the human race has got to go on, but I say they've first got to prove that the human race wants to. Would you rather be alive or dead? FAITH. Alive. JOHNNY. But would you have in prison? FAITH. I don't know. You can't tell anything in there. [With sudden vehemence] I wish I had my baby back, though. It was mine; and I--I don't like thinking about it. JOHNNY. I know. I hate to think about anything I've killed, really. At least, I should--but it's better not to think. FAITH. I could have killed that judge. JOHNNY. Did he come the heavy father? That's what I can't stand. When they jaw a chap and hang him afterwards. Or was he one of the joking ones?