wn up with all my life. I'd fished in their canoes,
I'd hunted with them and basked on the beach with them. I'd watched the
young men and girls dancing their love-dances in the moonlit glades...
[She pauses again.] Oughtn't I to talk about THAT?

DR. MASTERSON. My dear girl...

OCEANA. [Stares at them; a sudden idea occurs to her.] Perhaps I ought
to explain to you... you're no doubt wondering. I'm a virgin myself, you
know.

MRS. MASTERSON. [Starting up.] OH!

LETITIA. Oceana!

OCEANA. But weren't you thinking of that?

MRS. MASTERSON. Why, of course not!

OCEANA. But Aunt Sophronia! You know you were!

MRS. MASTERSON. [Sputters.] Oh! OH!

OCEANA. You were thinking to yourself, this girl's been playing around
on the beaches with savages... and what's been happening to her?

DR. MASTERSON. My dear niece, I'm afraid you'll have to take some
account of our civilized prejudices. We simply don't say everything that
we think.

OCEANA. [Springing up.] Oh, dear me! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make
you unhappy! I was going to be so good. I was going to try to conform to
everything. Why, just think of it, Aunt Sophronia... in Rio I actually
bought a pair of corsets. And I tried to wear them. I. .. Oceana!
Around my waist! Think of it! [She looks for sympathy.] I couldn't stand
them... I climbed to the topmast and threw them to the sharks. But now
it seems that you all wear corsets on your minds and souls. [A pause.]
Never mind... let's talk about something else. I'm getting restless. You
see... I'm not used to being in a room... it seems like a box to me...
I can hardly breathe. The air in here is dreadful... hadn't any of you
noticed? [Silence. Apparently nobody had.] Would you mind if I opened a
window?

MRS. MASTERSON. It is storming outside, Anna.

OCEANA. Yes, but one can exercise and keep warm. just a minute...
please. [She flings up a window; a gale blows in.] Ah, feel that!

[MRS. MASTERSON, LETITIA and DR. MASTERSON draw away from the window.]

MRS. MASTERSON. This is simply outrageous!

LETITIA. It is beyond all words!

DR. MASTERSON. My dear, consider...

MRS. MASTERSON. I won't have that creature in my house a minute longer.

DR. MASTERSON. My dear, be reasonable!

LETITIA. REASONABLE?

DR. MASTERSON. Consider what is at stake!

MRS. MASTERSON. But what hope have we to get anything out of such a
woman?

DR. MASTERSON. We have some hope, I'm sure. If we...

MRS. MASTERSON. Didn't you