LAURA. Oh, pretty much as usual. Most of them having colds. That's how I got mine. Mrs. Hilliard came to call and left it behind her. I went out with it in an east wind and that finished me.
JULIA. Oh, but how provoking! (She wishes to be sympathetic; but this is a line of conversation she instinctively avoids!)
LAURA. No, Julia! … (This, delivered with force, arrests the criminal intention.) No sugar. To think of your forgetting that!
JULIA (most sweetly). Milk?
LAURA. Yes, you know I take milk.
(Crossing over, but sitting away from the tea-table, she lets her sister wait on her.)
JULIA. Did Martha send me any message?
LAURA. How could she? She didn't know I was coming.
JULIA. Was it so sudden?
LAURA. I sent for her and she didn't come. Think of that!