[_After a cautious glance round._] You know, Mr. Valma, I was always a self-willed, independent sort of a girl--a handful, they used to call me; and when father died I determined to have done with my step-mother, and to come to London at any price. I was seventeen then. POLLITT. Yes? SOPHY. Oh, it's nothing to be ashamed of, really; still, I did begin life in town--[_with an uneasy little laugh and a toss of the head_]--you'd hardly believe it!--as a nursery-maid. POLLITT. H'm! I am aware that is not considered-- SOPHY. I should think not! Oh, of course, in time I rose to be Useful Maid, and then Maid. I've been lady's-maid in some excellent houses. And when I got sick of maiding I went to Dundas's opposite, and served three years at the hairdressing; that's an extremely refined position, I needn't say. And then some kind friends routed me out, [_surveying the room proudly_] and put me into this. POLLITT. Then why bestow a second thought upon your beginnings? SOPHY. No, I suppose I oughtn't to. Nobody can breathe a word against my respectability. All the same, I am quite aware that it mightn't be over pleasant for a gentleman to remember that his wife was once--[_sitting in the screen-chair_] well, a servant. POLLITT. [_By her chair._] It would not weigh on my mind if you had been kitchen-maid [_pointing out of the window_] at Fletcher's Hotel. [_Looking about him._] It's this business I don't care for. SOPHY. This business! POLLITT. For _you_. If you did no more than glide about your rooms, superintending your young ladies! [_Sitting, facing her._] But I hate the idea of your sitting here, or there, holding some man's hand in yours! SOPHY. [_Suddenly ablaze._] Do you! [_Pointing out of the window._] Yet you sit there, day after day, and hold women's hands in yours! POLLITT. [_Eagerly._] You are jealous of me? SOPHY. [_Panting._] A little. POLLITT. [_Going down upon one knee._] Ah, you do love me! SOPHY. [_Faintly._] Fondly. POLLITT. And you will be my wife? SOPHY. Yes. POLLITT. [_Embracing her._] My dearest! SOPHY. Not yet! suppose the girls saw you! POLLITT. Let all the world see us! SOPHY. [_Submissively, laying her cheek upon his brow._] Oh, but I wish--and yet I don't wish-- POLLITT. What? SOPHY. That you were not so much my superior in every way. POLLITT. [_In an altered voice._] Sophy. SOPHY. [_In a murmur, her eyes closed._] Eh-h-h? POLLITT. I have had my early struggles too. SOPHY. You, love? POLLITT. Yes. If you should ever hear-- SOPHY. Hear--? POLLITT. That until recently I was a solicitor's clerk-- SOPHY. [_Slightly surprised._] A solicitor's clerk? POLLITT. You would not turn against me? SOPHY. Ah, as if--! POLLITT. You know my real name is Pollitt--Frank Toleman Pollitt? SOPHY. I've heard it isn't really Valma. [_With a little shiver._] Never mind that. POLLITT. But I shall be Frank to you henceforth, shan't I? SOPHY.