MRS. VERNON. Give me the prescription. [LIZBETH _arranges the linen in the basket. Enter_ DAVE.] Dave, the ironin' an' the heat an' everything jes' about floored me--won't you go to the drug-store with this prescription, an' get me a quart bottle of St. Louis beer? DAVE. [_Taking the prescription._] Certainly. MRS. VERNON. I can't send the girls after dark. DAVE. Oh, that's all right. [_Exits to street._ MRS. VERNON. [_Ironing again._] If your pa ever does get into the Legislature, I hope he'll defeat this blamed local auction business. It's all well enough for those Salvation women who ain't got a thing to do but pound tambourines, but if they had the washin', and ironin', an' cookin' to do for a fambly of six--an' three dogs--they'd need something to keep body an' soul together. KATE. [_Going to street door._] How much longer shall you iron to-night? MRS. VERNON. Why? Do you want the room? KATE. Oh, no--but-- LIZBETH. Is Travers coming to-night, Kate? [_Sits in rocker._ KATE. I don't know who may come. MRS. VERNON. What difference does it make who does come? KATE. None, except that the room is filled with smoke and--is hot. MRS. VERNON. Well, to my mind, Travers may as well get himself used to places that are hot and filled with smoke--fur if he ain't one of Old Nick's own ones, I never see any-- KATE. Mother!! Mr. Travers is a gentleman! MRS. VERNON. How do you know? Four years to a female seminary don't make you a better judge of gentlemen than us who stay to home here. Your pa's a gentleman if he is a wheelwright--so is Jim Radburn-- LIZBETH. And Dave-- MRS. VERNON. Yes, and Dave-- KATE. But none of them is like Mr. Travers. MRS. VERNON. No, thank God they ain't. Travers, Kate--[_Pause_] Travers--[_Pause_] and, mind you, I've seen men before you was born--Travers is as much like a gambler as any I ever saw. KATE. [_Coming down._] Look here, mother--I've heard you say you had to run away from home with father because your people didn't like him--but that didn't make him any worse, did it? MRS. VERNON. Well, it didn't make him any better, Kate, and I've regretted it from the bottom of my heart a hundred times--I want you to understand--[_Looks uneasily at door._] I've told it to him often enough--[_Lowering voice._] And if he was here I'd tell him again now--that I could ha' married a doctor. LIZBETH. You're not calculatin' to run away with Travers, are you, Kate? KATE. You know I'm not, Lizbeth--but I think you and mother might be a little more considerate in what you say. I try to make the place tidy and nice for your evenings with Dave, don't I? LIZBETH. Well, I didn't mean nothin', Kate. KATE. And I do my share of the housework. [_Goes to window. As her voice trembles,_ MRS. VERNON _signals silence to_ LIZBETH. MRS. VERNON. Of course you do, dear. Lizbeth, you oughtn't to be so thoughtless in what you say. _Enter_ DAVE _with beer._ DAVE. Here you are, Mrs. Vernon.