Lydia. What about the noble present?
Harriet [looking vaguely about the room]. I have not seen it.
Lydia [bitterly]. No, you have not seen it. [Turning to go.]
Harriet. Just one moment, Lydia. I want to speak to you about your brother.
Lydia [quickly]. Did the doctor say that Joe is worse?
Harriet. No. In fact, the doctor won't tell me anything. He and Joe seem to have a secret. I can get nothing definite from the doctor at all. But what I feel it my duty to ask you, Lydia, is this: Tell me truthfully. Have you been speaking to Joe about—Heaven?
Lydia. No. What a dreadful thing to even mention to a sick boy.
Harriet. My dear, you are quite wrong. But some one has been misinforming him.
Lydia. Really?
Harriet. Lydia, I am very distressed. [Slowly.] Your young brother holds the most unusual and sacrilegious ideas of immortality.