Gordon: “Noel, you really are a bit of an ass sometimes! You know Helen’s coming here to-night. How could I possibly ask her to meet Aunt Connie?”
Noel: “Why not?”
Gordon: “If you don’t know why not, you ought to.”
Noel: “Chuck it, Gordon! Don’t be such a prig. What about Helen’s friend, Oriana Temple? If Connie can teach her anything!——”
Gordon: “Please leave Helen and her friends out of the discussion.”
Noel: “Right. But you brought her in. Anyhow, I asked mother. Mother, you don’t mind if Connie comes here to-night, do you? After all, she’s your sister, and it would be doing her a kindness.”
Millie: “Gordon is quite right, Noel. There is no reason why we should inflict our family skeleton on Helen. If Connie is an unhappy woman, it’s entirely her own fault. She has forfeited the right to be with decent people. Don’t you agree with me, John?”
Mr. Pendleton (unexpectedly): “I think, my dear, that if we can help Connie, we ought to do so. I feel she has a claim upon us, and as Christian people we have no right to ignore it. It isn’t as though the children were growing up; and after all, Gordon, Helen is marrying into our family.”
Noel: “Good for you, dad!”
Gordon: “Let her come by all means. Helen and I will dine here another night.”