t's children. Wouldn't you like
to have children?

LILY--[Turning to her bluntly.] Wouldn't you?

MARTHA--[ Confused. ] But--Lily--

LILY--Oh, I know it wasn't practicable as long as you elected to wander
with Curt--but why not now when you've definitely settled down here? I
think that would solve things all round. If you could present Father
with a grandson, I'm sure he'd fall on your neck. He feels piqued at
the John and Esther families because they've had a run of girls. A male
Jayson! Aunt Davidson would weep with joy. [Suddenly.] You're
thirty-eight, aren't you, Martha?

MARTHA--Yes. LILY--Then why don't you--before it's too late? [MARTHA,
struggling with herself, does not answer. LILY goes on slowly.] You
won't want to tag along with Curt to the ends of the earth forever,
will you? [Curiously.] Wasn't that queer life like any other? I mean,
didn't it get to pall on you?

MARTHA--[As if confessing it reluctantly.] Yes--perhaps--in the last
two years.

LILY--[Decisively.] It's time for both of you to rest on your laurels.
Why can't Curt keep on with what he's doing now--stay home and write
his books?

MARTHA--Curt isn't that kind. The actual work--the romance of
it--that's his life.

LILY--But if he goes and you have to stay, you'll be lonesome--
[meaningly] alone.

MARTHA--Horribly. I don't know what I'll do.

LILY--Then why--why? Think, Martha. If Curt knew--that was to
happen--he'd want to stay here with you. I'm sure he would.

MARTHA--[Shaking her head sadly.] No. Curt has grown to dislike
children. They remind him of--ours that were taken. He adored them
so--he's never become reconciled.

LILY--If you confronted Curt with the actual fact, he'd be reconciled
soon enough, and happy in the bargain.

MARTHA--[Eagerly.] Do you really think so?

LILY--And you, Martha--I can tell from the way you've talked that you'd
like to.

MARTHA--[Excitedly.] Yes, I--I never thought I'd ever want to again.
For many years after they died I never once dreamed of it-- But
lately--the last years--I've felt--and when we came to live here--and I
saw all around me--homes--and children, I--[She hesitates as if ashamed
at having confessed so much.]

LILY--[Putting an arm around her--affectionately.] I know.
[Vigorously.] You must, that's all there is to it! If you want my
advice, you go right ahead and don't tell Curt until it's a fact he'll
have to learn to like, willy-nilly. You'll find, in his inmost heart,
he'