julia. Here one always uses the best. Nothing wears out or gets broken.
laura. Then where's the pleasure of it? If one always uses them and they never break—'best' means nothing!
julia. It is a little puzzling at first. You must be patient.
laura. I'm not a child, Julia.
julia (beautifully ignoring). A little more coal, please, Hannah. (Then to her sister as she pours out the tea.) And how did you leave everybody?
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.