sn't work for her
living if she can possibly avoid it.

MADAME GUERET. And above all, a properly brought up young lady doesn't
live all alone.

THERESE. All the same--

MADAME GUERET. You are perfectly free. There's no doubt about that. We
have no power to prevent you from doing exactly as you choose.

GUERET. But your father left you in my care.

THERESE. Please, godmamma, don't be hard upon me. I feel you think I'm
ungrateful, though you don't say so. I know that often and often I shall
long for your kindness and for the home where you've given me a place.
I've shocked you. Do please forgive me. I'm made like that, and made
differently from you. I don't say you're not right; I only say I'm
different. Certain ideas have come to me from being educated at the
Lycee and from all these books I've read. I think I'm able to earn my
own living, and so I look upon it as my bounden duty not to trespass
upon your charity. It's a question of personal dignity. Don't you think
that I'm right, godfather? [_With a change of tone_] Besides, if I did
go to Evreux with you, what should I do there?

GUERET. It's pretty easy to guess.

MADAME GUERET. Yes, indeed.

GUERET. You would live with us.

MADAME GUERET [_not very kindly_] You would have a home.

THERESE. Yes, yes, I know all that; and it would be a great happiness.
But what should I _do_?

GUERET. You would do what all well brought up young girls in your
position do.

THERESE. You mean I should do nothing.

GUERET. Nothing! No, not nothing.

THERESE. Pay visits, practise a bit; some crochet and a little
photography? That's to say, nothing.

GUERET. You were brought up to that.

THERESE. I should never have dared to put it into words. But afterwards?

GUERET. Afterwards?

THERESE. How long would that last?

GUERET. Until you marry.

THERESE. I shall never marry.

GUERET. Why not?

THERESE [_very gently_] Oh, godfather, you know why not. I have no
money. [_A silence_] So I'm going to try and get work.

FELIAT. Work! Now, Therese, you know what women are like who try to earn
their own living. You think you can support yourself. How?

THERESE. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I think I can support myself by my
pen.

FELIAT. Be a bluestocking?

THERESE. Yes.

MADAME GUERET. That means a Bohemian life, with everything upside down,
and a cigarette always between your lips.

THERESE [_laughing_] Neither Bohemia, nor the upside down, nor the
cigarette are i