you are unwisely intimate with this same Bigelow.

MARTHA--[Stunned.] I? Unwisely intimate--? [Suddenly laughing with
amusement.] Well, you sure are funny people!

LILY--No, we're not funny. We'd be all right if we were. On the
contrary, we're very dull and deadly. Bigelow really has a villainous
rep. for philandering. But, of course, you didn't know that.

MARTHA--[Beginning to feel resentful--coldly.] No, I didn't--and I
don't care to know it now.

LILY--[Calmly.] I told them you wouldn't relish their silly advice. [In
a very confidential, friendly tone.] Oh, I hate their narrow small-town
ethics as much as you do, Martha. I sympathize with you, indeed I do.
But I have to live with them and so, for comfort's sake, I've had to
make compromises. And you're going to live in our midst from now on,
aren't you? Well then, you'll have to make compromises, too--if you
want any peace.

MARTHA--But-compromises about what? [Forcing a laugh.] I refuse to take
it seriously. How anyone could think--it's too absurd.

LILY--What set them going was Big's being around such an awful lot the
weeks Curt was in New York, just after you'd settled down here. You
must acknowledge he was-very much present then, Martha.

MARTHA--But it was on account of his children. They were always with
him.

LILY--The town doesn't trust this sudden fond parenthood, Martha. We've
known him too long, you see.

MARTHA--But he's Curt's oldest and best friend.

LILY--We've found they always are.

MARTHA--[Springing to her feet--indignantly.] It's a case of evil
minds, it seems to me--and it would be extremely insulting if I didn't
have a sense of humor. [Resentfully.] You can tell your family, that as
far as I'm concerned, the town may--

LILY--Go to the devil. I knew you'd say that. Well, fight the good
fight. You have all my best wishes. [With a sigh.] I wish I had
something worth fighting for. Now that I'm through with college, my
occupation's gone. All I do is read book after book. The only live
people are the ones in books, I find, and the only live life.

MARTHA--[Immediately sympathetic.] You're lonely, that's what, Lily.

LILY--[Drily.] Don't pity me, Martha--or I'll join the enemy.

MARTHA--I'm not. But I'd like to help you if I could. [After a pause.]
Have you ever thought of marrying?

LILY--[With a laugh.] Martha! How banal! The men I see are enough to
banish that thought if I ever had it.

MARTHA--Marriage isn't only the man. I