VALENTINE. I came back because I am penniless. I can't get out that way without a five shilling ticket.
MRS. CLANDON. Has anything annoyed you, Mr. Valentine?
GLORIA. Never mind him, mother. This is a fresh insult to me: that is all.
MRS. CLANDON (hardly able to realize that Gloria is deliberately provoking an altercation). Gloria!
VALENTINE. Mrs. Clandon: have I said anything insulting? Have I done anything insulting?
GLORIA. you have implied that my past has been like yours. That is the worst of insults.
VALENTINE. I imply nothing of the sort. I declare that my past has been blameless in comparison with yours.
MRS. CLANDON (most indignantly). Mr. Valentine!
VALENTINE. Well, what am I to think when I learn that Miss Clandon has made exactly the same speeches to other men that she has made to me—when I hear of at least five former lovers, with a tame naval lieutenant thrown in? Oh, it's too bad.
MRS. CLANDON. But you surely do not believe that these affairs— mere jokes of the children's—were serious, Mr. Valentine?