r saw such an appetite--

MAUD. Oh!

FITZSIMMONS. It's fair sickening. She must have a tapeworm. And she
thinks she can sing.

MAUD. Yes?

FITZSIMMONS. Rotten. You can do better yourself, and that's not saying
much. She's a nice girl, really she is, but she is the black sheep of
the family. Funny, isn't it?

MAUD. [Weak voice.] Yes, funny.

FITZSIMMONS. Her brother Jack is all right. But he can't do anything
with her. She's a--a--

MAUD. [Grimly.] Yes. Go on.

FITZSIMMONS. A holy terror. She ought to be in a reform school.

MAUD. [Springing to her feet and slamming newspapers in his face.] Oh!
Oh! Oh! You liar! She isn't anything of the sort!

FITZSIMMONS. [Recovering from the onslaught and making believe he is
angry, advancing threateningly on her.] Now I'm going to put a head on
you. You young hoodlum.

MAUD. [All alarm and contrition, backing away from him.] Don't! Please
don't! I'm sorry! I apologise. I--I beg your pardon, Bob. Only I
don't like to hear girls talked about that way, even--even if it is true.
And you ought to know.

FITZSIMMONS. [Subsiding and resuming seat.] You've changed a lot, I
must say.

MAUD. [Sitting down in leather chair.] I told you I'd reformed. Let us
talk about something else. Why is it girls like prize-fighters? I
should think--ahem--I mean it seems to me that girls would think prize-
fighters horrid.

FITZSIMMONS. They are men.

MAUD. But there is so much crookedness in the game. One hears about it
all the time.

FITZSIMMONS. There are crooked men in every business and profession. The
best fighters are not crooked.

MAUD. I--er--I thought they all faked fights when there was enough in
it.

FITZSIMMONS. Not the best ones.

MAUD. Did you--er--ever fake a fight?

FITZSIMMONS. [Looking at her sharply, then speaking solemnly.] Yes.
Once.

MAUD. [Shocked, speaking sadly.] And I always heard of you and thought
of you as the one clean champion who never faked.

FITZSIMMONS. [Gently and seriously.] Let me tell you about it. It was
down in Australia. I had just begun to fight my way up. It was with old
Bill Hobart out at Rushcutters Bay. I threw the fight to him.

MAUD. [Repelled, disgusted.] Oh! I could not have believed it of you.

FITZSIMMONS. Let me tell you about it. Bill was an old fighter. Not an
old man, you know, but he'd been in the fighting game a long time. He
was about thirty-eight and