As I was saying, this woman's antecedents--a dancing girl, a destroyer of men's souls, a bold, brazen hussy, a servant of Satan, a-- Mrs. Eppingwell _(Interrupting.)_ That will do, Mrs. McFee. Will you please leave me to talk with her? _(Mrs. McFee, still holding mask, snorts and withdraws a step from group.)_ FREDA _(Quickly, excitedly, eyes flashing.)_ I do not want you to talk with me. What more can you say than that woman _(Indicating Mrs. McFee, who snorts.)_ has said? I want to go. Come on, Floyd. MRS. EPPINGWELL _(Gently.)_ I do not wish to be harsh. FREDA _(On verge oj tears, yet dry-eyed and resolute.)_ Be anything but kind. That I will not bear. Mrs. Eppingwell _(Beginning gently.)_ I-- FREDA _(Interrupting, excitedly.)_ It is you that have the advantage now, hiding behind that mask. Your face is clothed. I am as naked before you, _(Glancing around masked circle and shrinking as a naked woman might shrink.)_ before all of you. MRS. EPPINGWELL But you should not have come here. FREDA I had reason to come. MRS. EPPINGWELL An evil reason, I fear. However-- _(She calmly removes her own mask.)_ _(For a long moment they regard each other with fixed gaze, Freda aggressive, meteoric, at bay; Mrs. Eppingwell calm-eyed, serene, dispassionate. Freda begins to soften.)_ FREDA _(Softly.)_ You _are_ kind. MRS. EPPINGWELL No; it is merely fair play. MRS. McFEE _(Bursting out wrathfully.)_ Why dinna you tell the hussy to go? MRS. EPPINGWELL _(Masterfully.)_ Be quiet. FREDA _(Breaking down, seeming to droop for an instant, with one short dry sob or catch in the throat.)_ Yes, I will go, Mrs. Eppingwell. _(Turning to Vanderlip.)_ Will you come, Floyd? _(Vanderlip looks to Mrs. Eppingwell for consent.)_ MRS. EPPINGWELL Mr. Vanderlip will stay. _(Freda, broken down, beaten, but with no tears, no wringing of hands, nor customary signs of feminine weakness, with head up, mechanically resolute and defiant, ordinary carriage and speed of walk, goes toward street door. Silence. Everybody watches her. Doorkeeper does not assist her when she gropes blindly under bench for street moccasins.)_ _(What is emphasized is her isolation. She is not one of them, and they regard her as they would regard a strange animal which had strayed in out of the night.)_ _(She sits down on bench to put on street moccasins. Just as she lifts her foot to put on first moccasin, she pauses, thinks, then puts foot down again. She puts down moccasins, stands up, pauses irresolutely a moment, then walks forward to Mrs. Eppingwell and Vanderlip.)_ FREDA _(Quietly.)_ Mrs. Eppingwell, pardon me, but I had forgotten for the moment what I came for. MRS. EPPINGWELL And that is--? FREDA Floyd Vanderlip. VANDERLIP _(Angrily.)_ Now look here, Freda, I tell you I won't stand for this. _(Freda ignores him.)_ Mrs. Eppingwell I trust, Miss Moloof-- FREDA _(Interrupting.)_ Call me Freda. _(Bitterly.)_ Everybody calls me Freda.