MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: In three months’ time, actually.
(_The members of the Committee, in silence, make rapid movements upon
their fingers, in evident calculation._)
MRS. AKERS: Then it must have happened after they got down here, that’s
clear.
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: I think it’s much more likely it was in London.
There’d just be time. Londoners are always immoral. Besides, as I said
to her, _in our town these things don’t happen_.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: How did they take it?
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: The girl herself seems absolutely callous. I couldn’t
get a word out of her. The mother says she hasn’t been able to, either,
and she’s been trying to force her to tell her when it happened. The
grandmother was there, as well, and you know what an odious old woman
_she_ is. I shouldn’t be at all surprised if she’d been in the plot the
whole time.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: When did all this conversation take place, if I may
ask?
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: Only yesterday. I happened to go in there, and found
the mother in tears, so of course I got the whole story out of her. I
felt it was a question for the Welfare Committee--married women, like
ourselves--and I’ve done absolutely nothing, except ask Dr. Akers to
see the girl and make certain.
MRS. AKERS: Well! He’s never said a word to _me_ about it. I must say,
he was out late last night and early this morning, but I do think he
ought to have given me a hint.
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: Gentlemen are so odd, about anything to do with
their business. I’ve often noticed it. One has to probe for _hours_,
sometimes, to get the simplest piece of information.
MRS. AKERS: Look here, we shall have to settle something. Of course the
girl must go away.
THE OTHERS: Of course.
MRS. AKERS: The question is, where?
MRS. BALLANTYNE: Surely some Sisterhood would take her in.
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: One doesn’t want to be hard on her. I told the mother
that we should discuss it all quietly amongst ourselves before settling
anything.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: _I_ think we ought to send for the girl, and see if
we can get anything out of her. Of course, it would be very trying
and dreadful, but I’m sure that’s what we ought to do. I, for one,
shouldn’t shrink from it.
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: You wouldn’t get a word out of her. They were all in
league together, it seemed to me. Thoroughly artful and determined to
stick together, I thought them, all three of them.
MRS. AKERS: I can’t see why the grandmother should have any say in the
matter at all. Pray what has _she_ to do with it?
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: She talked a great deal of nonsense about wanting to
keep Fanny at home. As I said to her, if keeping Fanny at home results
in _this_ sort of thing, then the sooner Fanny goes away from home the
better. She was thoroughly nonplussed at that, as you may imagine, and
couldn’t answer anything at all, though of course she chattered away,
but I took not the slightest notice.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: But, Mrs. Lloyd-Evans, do you mean to say that they
won’t tell who the man is?
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: The girl won’t say a word. As I said to her myself,
it _must_ have been somebody in London before they came away, and it’s
no use telling me it happened here, because I simply shan’t believe it.
MRS. AKERS: Well, what about a Home, or some other place where the girl
could go till it’s all over? It had better be as far away from here as
possible, of course.
THE OTHER TWO AS BEFORE: Oh, of course.
MRS. AKERS: I have two or three addresses of that kind--one place is
near London.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: The very thing. I’d gladly take her up myself, if
necessary. She’s very young and one doesn’t want to be hard on her.
What line are the mother and grandmother taking up?
MRS. LLOYD-EVANS: The mother cried a good deal, and said how ashamed
she was that the girl should make such a return for all that’s been
done for them down here. People have been very kind about employing
her--I’ve sent washing there myself. (She charges less than the
steam-laundry.) She was thoroughly upset, and one could have managed
_her_ all right. It’s the grandmother that’s so impossible, and the
girl looks as though she could be thoroughly obstinate. I’m bound to
say she was looking very ill, so one didn’t want to frighten her.
MRS. AKERS: Well, that doesn’t apply to the old woman. She must be
squashed. Leave the grandmother to me if necessary. If there’s any
difficulty about their letting Fanny go, I can say we shall inform
the police. These people are perfectly ignorant of the law, and would
probably believe anything. (_She laughs in a slightly shamefaced,
way._) After all, it’s for the girl’s own good.
MRS. BALLANTYNE: Certainly, and besides, for their own sake they want
to avoid exposure. The mother can be told that the Committee is taking
the whole expense and trouble off her hands, and she’ll be only too
thankful to let the girl go. She can come back when it’s all over, and
if they’re careful, people needn’t know anything about it.