MAGGIE. I don’t want kindness. My shopwalker is very kind where I am, and I don’t see any need to change.
LILY. How extraordinary you talk!
MAGGIE. Well, when I heard Charley talking last night, I thought what a fool I was to throw up one sort of—cage—for another.
LILY. But you are free when you’re married—
MAGGIE. Nobody is—more especially the woman. But the thing is, I shouldn’t want to be, if I loved the man. But I don’t love Walter, only his house. Now, I can leave the shop any day, when I’ve saved enough—and run away. But I couldn’t run away from Walter.
LILY. [horrified.] Run away—
MAGGIE. [suddenly beginning to laugh.] Can you see me? Running away from Walter? Walter! Oh! [She laughs, but LILY looks very grave.]
LILY. You don’t take the matter seriously.
MAGGIE. It shows how seriously I do take it. Have you ever heard of any girl, throwing up a good match, who wasn’t dead serious?
TENNANT enters.