(coming close to Mrs. Johns, feigning great rage, but grimacing to show it is merely acting)
Well, if you don't think my daughter is good enough for your son, I can always take her home with me. I guess I can find room for her, and we can put the child in an institution. (Both nearly laughs but recover themselves.)
MRS. JOHNS
Don't worry. I'll take the child. He's a Johns anyway, not a Sheffield. And you just watch Gordon, when he's relieved of all this family worry and quarreling. He'll make his mark in the world. He's too fine to be tied down by a wife that doesn't understand him.
MRS. SHEFF
Oh, how happy Laura will be to hear this. My sweet, clever, attractive, economical, sensible little girl, free at last. Her married life has been a nightmare. That great, hulking, selfish man has tried to trample all the joy out of her. He shan't do it.
MRS. JOHNS
I never heard of a young husband as self-sacrificing as Gordon. I don't believe he ever goes out for an evening with other men, and he never spends anything on himself—
MRS. SHEFF
I think the way Laura runs her little home is just wonderful. See how she struggles to keep her kitchen in order—this miserable, inconvenient little kitchen, no gas, no pantry, no decent help. I think it's terrible she has had to put up with so much—(They pause, and listen at the door, L. The kitchen is now spick and span. Mrs. Johns makes a gesture to indicate that Laura is taking it all in, offstage.)