"Not in my dark!" said Willie, sternly, with a calm incisiveness that surprised everybody and ended the project before it was begun.
Ten Eyck complained: "We came here to be rid of the spying servants, and we've been more respectable than ever."
"Crowds are almost always respectable," said Mrs. Neff, "unless they're drunk."
"Everybody is almost always respectable," said Ten Eyck. "Even the worst of us only sin for a few minutes at a time. A murder takes but a moment, and thieves are notorious loafers. This talk of a life of sin is mostly rot, I think. Sin is a spasm, not a life."
"It's the remorse and the atonement that make up the life," said Mrs. Neff.
"Good Lord, how funereal we are," said Persis, "talking about sin and spasms and remorse when the flowers are blooming and the moonlight is pounding on the windows! We ought to be—"
"Washing the dishes," said Winifred, rising. "Come on, the all of youse, clear up this mess and get into the suds. Persis and Mrs. Neff and Alice are the dish-washing squad to-night, and Willie and Murray can wipe them dry."
"We haven't had our smoke yet," protested Mrs. Neff. A respite was granted for this.
Everybody smoked but Alice.
"What's the matter with you, Alice?" said Winifred. "Sore throat?"