MRS. HALM [offended, to FALK, rising].
'Tis not a very friendly act
To stir a quarrel where we've made a peace.
As for your friend's good fortune, be at ease—
SOME LADIES.
Nay that's assured—
OTHERS.
A very certain fact.
MRS. HALM.
The cooking-class at school, I must confess,
She did not take; but she shall learn it still.
MISS JAY.
With her own hands she's trimming her own dress.
AN AUNT [patting ANNA's hand].
And growing exquisitely sensible.
FALK [laughing aloud].
O parody of sense, that rives and rends
In mania dance upon the lips of friends!
Was it good sense he wanted? Or a she-
Professor of the lore of Cookery?
A joyous son of springtime he came here,
For the wild rosebud on the bush he burned.
You reared the rosebud for him; he returned—
And for his rose found what? The hip!
MISS JAY [offended].
You jeer!
FALK.
A useful household condiment, heaven knows!
But yet the hip was not his bridal rose.
MRS. HALM.
O, if it is a ball-room queen he wants,
I'm very sorry; these are not their haunts.