CLARA. You want to be a typewriter, because in the papers they always
have an old gentleman taking them to theatres and supper! No, sir, if
there is to be any "old man's darling" in this family, _I'll_ be _it_!
RUTH. [_Dryly._] You'll have to learn to spell correctly first!
CLARA. [_Superciliously._] Humph!
JESSICA. There are lots of ways nowadays for women to earn their living.
RUTH. Yes, typewriting we will consider.
MRS. HUNTER. Never!
[_No one pays any attention to her except_ CLARA, _who agrees with her._
RUTH. Jess, you learned enough to _teach_, didn't you?--even at that
fashionable school your mother sent you to?
JESSICA. Oh, yes, I think I could teach.
MRS. HUNTER. Never!
[_Still no one pays any attention except_ CLARA _who again agrees with
her._
CLARA. No, indeed! _I_ wouldn't teach!
BLANCHE. If we only knew some nice elderly woman who wanted a companion,
Jess would be a godsend.
CLARA. If she was a nice _old_ lady with lots of money and delicate
health, I wouldn't mind that position myself.
RUTH. Clara, you seem to take this matter as a supreme joke!
MRS. HUNTER. [_With mock humility._] May _I_ speak? [_She waits. All
turn to her. A moment's, silence._] MAY I speak?
RUTH. Yes, yes.
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