DAN: It's a pretty bad thing to have, you know. D'you know that nine women out of ten in your position'd be just sittin' down givin' way?

MRS. BRAMSON: Would they?

DAN: Yes, they would! I do know, as a matter of fact. I've known people with palpitations. Somebody very close to me … (After a pause, soberly) They're dead now …

MRS. BRAMSON (startled): Oh!

DAN: My mother, as a matter of fact …

With finely controlled emotion, practically indistinguishable from the real thing.

I can just remember her.

MRS. BRAMSON: Oh?

DAN: She died when I was six. I know that, because my dad died two years before that.

MRS. BRAMSON (vaguely): Oh.