LOIS: (_Starting_) Oh, ’scuse me. I didn’t know you were here. JULIE: Oh, hello. I’m giving a little concert-- LOIS: (_Interrupting_) Why didn’t you lock the door? JULIE: Didn’t I? LOIS: Of course you didn’t. Do you think I just walked through it? JULIE: I thought you picked the lock, dearest. LOIS: You’re _so_ careless. JULIE: No. I’m happy as a garbage-man’s dog and I’m giving a little concert. LOIS: (_Severely_) Grow up! JULIE: (_Waving a pink arm around the room_) The walls reflect the sound, you see. That’s why there’s something very beautiful about singing in a bath-tub. It gives an effect of surpassing loveliness. Can I render you a selection? LOIS: I wish you’d hurry out of the tub. JULIE: (_Shaking her head thoughtfully_) Can’t be hurried. This is my kingdom at present, Godliness. LOIS: Why the mellow name? JULIE: Because you’re next to Cleanliness. Don’t throw anything please! LOIS: How long will you be? JULIE: (_After some consideration_) Not less than fifteen nor more than twenty-five minutes. LOIS: As a favor to me will you make it ten? JULIE: (_Reminiscing_) Oh, Godliness, do you remember a day in the chill of last January when one Julie, famous for her Easter-rabbit smile, was going out and there was scarcely any hot water and young Julie had just filled the tub for her own little self when the wicked sister came and did bathe herself therein, forcing the young Julie to perform her ablutions with cold cream--which is expensive and a darn lot of troubles? LOIS: (_Impatiently_) Then you won’t hurry? JULIE: Why should I? LOIS: I’ve got a date. JULIE: Here at the house? LOIS: None of your business. (JULIE _shrugs the visible tips of her shoulders and stirs the water into ripples._) JULIE: So be it. LOIS: Oh, for Heaven’s sake, yes! I have a date here, at the house--in a way. JULIE: In a way? LOIS: He isn’t coming in. He’s calling for me and we’re walking. JULIE: (_Raising her eyebrows_) Oh, the plot clears. It’s that literary Mr. Calkins. I thought you promised mother you wouldn’t invite him in. LOIS: (_Desperately_) She’s so idiotic. She detests him because he’s just got a divorce. Of course she’s had more experience than I have, but-- JULIE: (_Wisely_) Don’t let her kid you! Experience is the biggest gold brick in the world. All older people have it for sale. LOIS: I like him. We talk literature. JULIE: Oh, so that’s why I’ve noticed all these weighty books around the house lately. LOIS: He lends them to me. JULIE: Well, you’ve got to play his game. When in Rome do as the Romans would like to do. But I’m through with books. I’m all educated. LOIS: You’re very inconsistent--last summer you read every day. JULIE: If I were consistent I’d still be living on warm milk out of a bottle. LOIS: Yes, and probably my bottle. But I like Mr. Calkins. JULIE: I never met him. LOIS: Well, will you hurry up? JULIE: Yes. (_After a pause_) I wait till the water gets tepid and then I let in more hot.