MRS. THOM. One hears such frightful stories about men enticing girls into taxicabs that I was much alarmed naturally and hurried here at once, meaning to give an alarm to the Police Station if she should not have returned.
MRS. BROWN. (Aside.) She wanted an excuse to get out of the procession.
MRS. TILSBURY. It was probably some man she knew, Mrs. Thom. Mildred would never go in a taxicab with a stranger.
SOPHIE. (Who has been making eyes at MR. VAN TOUSEL, interrupts excitedly.) No, Mrs. Tilsbury, she did not know him. I heard him say, “Although you have never seen me before, will you trust yourself to me?” It was most romantic.
MRS. TILSBURY. Why didn’t you stop her?
SOPHIE. What could I do. The order came at that instant, forward, march. I had to obey.
MRS. TILSBURY. You might have jumped into the taxicab with her.
SOPHIE. Then we might both have been destroyed. No, I stayed safe to protect her and took the number of the cab—2961.
MRS. THOM. See what mental training does for a woman. Miss Slavinsky is a business woman. She has learned to control her emotions and to use her judgment. Instead of madly jumping into the cab after Mildred as Mrs. Tilsbury suggests, she very wisely made a note in her mind of the number so that the cab could be traced.