]
Mother!
[MRS. GWYN stands looking at her with her teeth set on her lower
lip.]
Oh! Mother, it is n't true?
MRS. GWYN. [Very still.] What is n't true?
JOY. That you and he are----
[Searching her Mother's face, which is deadly still. In a
whisper.]
Then it is true. Oh!
MRS. GWYN. That's enough, Joy! What I am is my affair--not yours--
do you understand?
JOY. [Low and fierce.] Yes, I do.
MRS. GWYN. You don't. You're only a child.
JOY. [Passionately.] I understand that you've hurt [She stops.]
MRS. GWYN. Do you mean your Father?
JOY. [Bowing her head.] Yes, and--and me. [She covers her face.]
I'm--I'm ashamed.
MRS. GWYN. I brought you into the world, and you say that to me?
Have I been a bad mother to you?
JOY. [In a smothered voice.] Oh! Mother!
MRS. GWYN. Ashamed? Am I to live all my life like a dead woman
because you're ashamed? Am I to live like the dead because you 're a
child that knows nothing of life? Listen, Joy, you 'd better
understand this once for all. Your Father has no right over me and
he knows it. We 've been hateful to each other for years. Can you
understand that? Don't cover your face like a child--look at me.
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