LORETTA. And if . . . if I don’t marry him . . . there will be . . . scandal?
NED. [Calmly.] Yes, there will be scandal.
LORETTA. That’s what Billy said. Oh, I am so unhappy!
[LORETTA breaks down into violent weeping.]
[NED paces grimly up and down, now and again fiercely twisting his moustache.]
LORETTA. [Face buried, sobbing and crying all the time.]
I don’t want to leave Daisy! I don’t want to leave Daisy! What shall I do? What shall I do? How was I to know? He didn’t tell me. Nobody else ever kissed me. [NED stops curiously to listen. As he listens his face brightens.] I never dreamed a kiss could be so terrible . . . until . . . until he told me. He only told me this morning.
NED. [Abruptly.] Is that what you are crying about?
LORETTA. [Reluctantly.] N-no.
NED. [In hopeless voice, the brightness gone out of his face, about to begin pacing again.] Then what are you crying about?