Belinda. Now you're being too French, darling.
Delia. Why, do you still think father may be alive?
Belinda. Why not? It's only eighteen years since he left us, and he was quite a young man then.
Delia. Yes, but surely, surely you'd have heard from him in all those years, if he'd been alive?
Belinda. Well, he hasn't heard from me, and I'm still alive.
Delia (looking earnestly at her mother, rises and moves L.C.). I shall never understand it.
Belinda. Understand what?
Delia. Were you as heavenly when you were young as you are now?
Belinda (rapturously). Oh, I was sweet!
Delia. And yet he left you after only six months.