MISS L. Till last week I saw for myself. LADY JOHN. _Saw?_ Where? MISS L. In a low lodging-house not a hundred yards from the church you want a new organ for. MRS. H. How did _you_ happen to be there? MISS L. I was on a pilgrimage. JEAN. A pilgrimage? MISS L. Into the Underworld. LADY JOHN. _You_ went? JEAN. How _could_ you? MISS L. I put on an old gown and a tawdry hat---- (_Turns to_ LADY JOHN.) You'll never know how many things are hidden from a woman in good clothes. The bold, free look of a man at a woman he believes to be destitute--you must _feel_ that look on you before you can understand--a good half of history. MRS. H. (_rises_). Jean!---- JEAN. But where did you go--dressed like that? MISS L. Down among the homeless women--on a wet night looking for shelter. LADY JOHN (_hastily_). No wonder you've been ill. JEAN (_under breath_). And it's like that? MISS L. No. JEAN. No? MISS L. It's so much worse I dare not tell about it--even if you weren't here I couldn't. MRS. H. (_to_ JEAN). You needn't suppose, darling, that those wretched creatures feel it as we would. MISS L. The girls who need shelter and work aren't all serving-maids. MRS. H. (_with an involuntary flash_). We know that all the women who--_make mistakes_ aren't. MISS L. (_steadily_). That is why every woman ought to take an interest in this--every girl too. JEAN Yes--oh, yes! (_simultaneously_) LADY JOHN No. This is a matter for us older---- MRS. H. (_with an air of sly challenge_). Or for a person who has some special knowledge. (_Significantly._) _We_ can't pretend to have access to such sources of information as Miss Levering. MISS L. (_meeting_ MRS. HERIOT'S _eye steadily_). Yes, for I can give you access. As you seem to think, I have some first-hand knowledge about homeless girls. LADY JOHN (_cheerfully turning it aside_). Well, my dear, it will all come in convenient. (_Tapping the plan._) MISS L. It once happened to me to take offence at an ugly thing that was going on under my father's roof. Oh, _years_ ago! I was an impulsive girl. I turned my back on my father's house---- LADY JOHN (_for_ JEAN'S _benefit_). That was ill-advised. MRS. H. Of course, if a girl does _that_---- MISS L. That was what all my relations said (_with a glance at_ JEAN), and I couldn't explain. JEAN. Not to your mother? MISS L. She was dead. I went to London to a small hotel and tried to find employment. I wandered about all day and every day from agency to agency. I was supposed to be educated. I'd been brought up partly in Paris; I could play several instruments, and sing little songs in four different tongues. (_Slight pause._) JEAN. Did nobody want you to teach French or sing the little songs? MISS L. The heads of schools thought me too young. There were people ready to listen to my singing, but the terms--they were too hard. Soon my money was gone. I began to pawn my trinkets. _They_ went.