"Well, if that's the way you feel about it, you need not be afraid that I'm going to interfere. That's one thing I made up my mind to from the start, never to be a professional mother-in-law in my daughter's home. The idea!" "Mamma, I didn't mean it that way, and you know it. I realize that you mean well. But I suppose many a family skeleton rattles its bones to the tune of 'they meant well.'" "Lilly, you're not yourself. I'm sure you don't feel well. Baby, you mustn't be bashful with your own mother." "Please, please don't ask me that again in--in that voice. You know I always feel well." "We're both married women now, Lilly. If--if there's anything you want to say--" "No." "I always say, a single woman doesn't know she's on earth. Isn't it so, Lilly?" Suddenly Lilly shot her hand out to her mother's arm, her fingers digging into the flesh. "You should have told me something--beforehand!" "I'd have cut out my tongue sooner. What kind of a mother do you think I am? Shame!" "It's wicked to rear a girl with no conception of life." "You're no greener than I was. That's what a man wants in the girl he marries. Innocence." "Ignorance." "It all comes naturally to a woman after she's married, life does." "I--I hate life." "Lilly!" "I do! I do! I do!" "You poor child!" said Mrs. Becker, stroking her hand, and her voice pitched to a very private key. "Life is life and what are you going to do about it?" "Only love--some sort of magic potion which Nature uses to drug us, can make her methods seem anything but gross--horrible." "What's on your mind, Lilly? We don't need to be bashful together any more. We're married women." Lilly rose then, moving toward the dresser, drawing the large tortoise-shell pins from the smooth coil of her hair. "If you want me to go to the meat market with you, mamma, I'd better be dressing before it gets any hotter." "You're too warm, Lilly. I'll go myself. You can learn the beef cuts later." "I would rather stay at home and practice awhile. I haven't touched the piano since--" "Tack up your shelf paper while I'm gone, Lilly--your cupboards look so bare--and then come over to lunch with me and we'll go to the euchre together. It's your first afternoon at the Junior Matrons and I want you to look your best. Wear your flowered dimity." "If you don't mind, mamma, I want to unpack my music this afternoon and get my books straightened. I'd rather not go." "The nerve! And that poor little Mrs. Wempner goes to extra trouble in your honor. I hear she's to have pennies attached to the tally cards. Pretty idea, pennies for Penny. Well, I'm not going to worry my life away! Work it out your own way. I'll send you home a steak and some quinine from the drug store for Albert to take to-night." Presently Lilly heard the lower door slam. It came down across her nerves like the descent of a cleaver.