LILY—[With a laugh.] Martha! How banal! The men I see are enough to banish that thought if I ever had it.
MARTHA—Marriage isn't only the man. It's children. Wouldn't you like to have children?
LILY—[Turning to her bluntly.] Wouldn't you?
MARTHA—[ Confused. ] But—Lily—
LILY—Oh, I know it wasn't practicable as long as you elected to wander with Curt—but why not now when you've definitely settled down here? I think that would solve things all round. If you could present Father with a grandson, I'm sure he'd fall on your neck. He feels piqued at the John and Esther families because they've had a run of girls. A male Jayson! Aunt Davidson would weep with joy. [Suddenly.] You're thirty-eight, aren't you, Martha?
MARTHA—Yes. LILY—Then why don't you—before it's too late? [MARTHA, struggling with herself, does not answer. LILY goes on slowly.] You won't want to tag along with Curt to the ends of the earth forever, will you? [Curiously.] Wasn't that queer life like any other? I mean, didn't it get to pall on you?
MARTHA—[As if confessing it reluctantly.] Yes—perhaps—in the last two years.
LILY—[Decisively.] It's time for both of you to rest on your laurels. Why can't Curt keep on with what he's doing now—stay home and write his books?
MARTHA—Curt isn't that kind. The actual work—the romance of it—that's his life.
LILY—But if he goes and you have to stay, you'll be lonesome— [meaningly] alone.