Mrs. Lawty. Positively unladylike! One could almost compare a lady who gossips to a ... to a pirate.
Mrs. Warren. A what, Mrs. Lawty?
Mrs. Lawty. A pirate. They are sort of wild thieves, you know, and steal things from perfectly innocent people, Mrs. Warren. The South Sea Islands are full of them ... pirates, I mean. Why, I read in our missionary paper, just last week, that one poor man was overtaken by pirates who took away his watch and, I hesitate to say it, his trousers!
Mrs. Warren. His trousers! Dreadful!
Mrs. Lawty. The rest of the story is too indelicate to repeat.
Mrs. Warren. Yes ... yes, some things are often better left unsaid. (Pause.) But one need never be ashamed to speak the truth. What is the rest of the story, Mrs. Lawty?
Mrs. Lawty. The poor man was forced to come into port with a bad cold in his head ... and in his pajamas!
Mrs. Warren. Oh!
Mrs. Lawty. And that is why I call a woman who gossips a pirate.