[She stops from the over-quivering of her lips. JILL, standing beside the chair, strokes her shoulder. HILLCRIST stands very still, painfully biting at a finger.] You see, my father went bankrupt, and I was in a shop---- HILLCRIST. [Soothingly, and to prevent disclosures] Yes, yes; Yes, yes! CHLOE. I never gave a man away or did anything I was ashamed of--at least--I mean, I had to make my living in all sorts of ways, and then I met Charlie. [Again she stopped from the quivering of her lips.] JILL. It's all right. CHLOE. He thought I was respectable, and that was such a relief, you can't think, so--so I let him. JILL. Dodo! It's awful HILLCRIST. It is! CHLOE. And after I married him, you see, I fell in love. If I had before, perhaps I wouldn't have dared only, I don't know--you never know, do you? When there's a straw going, you catch at it. JILL. Of course you do. CHLOE. And now, you see, I'm going to have a child. JILL. [Aghast] Oh! Are you? HILLCRIST. Good God! CHLOE. [Dully] I've been on hot bricks all this month, ever since that day here. I knew it was in the wind. What gets in the wind never gets out. [She rises and throws out her arms] Never! It just blows here and there [Desolately] and then--blows home. [Her voice changes to resentment] But I've paid for being a fool-- 'tisn't fun, that sort of life, I can tell you. I'm not ashamed and repentant, and all that. If it wasn't for him! I'm afraid he'll never forgive me; it's such a disgrace for him--and then, to have his child! Being fond of him, I feel it much worse than anything I ever felt, and that's saying a good bit. It is. JILL. [Energetically] Look here! He simply mustn't find out. CHLOE. That's it; but it's started, and he's bound to keep on because he knows there's something. A man isn't going to be satisfied when there's something he suspects about his wife, Charlie wouldn't never. He's clever, and he's jealous; and he's coming here. [She stops, and looks round wildly, listening.] JILL. Dodo, what can we say to put him clean off the scent? HILLCRIST. Anything--in reason. CHLOE. [Catching at this straw] You will! You see, I don't know what I'll do. I've got soft, being looked after--he does love me. And if he throws me off, I'll go under--that's all. HILLCRIST. Have you any suggestion? CHLOE. [Eagerly] The only thing is to tell him something positive, something he'll believe, that's not too bad--like my having been a lady clerk with those people who came here, and having been dismissed on suspicion of taking money. I could get him to believe that wasn't true. JILL. Yes; and it isn't--that's splendid! You'd be able to put such conviction into it. Don't you think so, Dodo? HILLCRIST. Anything I can. I'm deeply sorry.