"Well, don't, Lillian, that's all."
"But why?"
"Look here, you know I'm not a tale-carrier, don't you? I'll tell you why not, but it's not for the fun of carrying tales. It's because I hate to see you hurt by a little skunk like Cliff Sullivan."
"What's the matter?"
"Don't laugh, it's pathetic. We were all talking, you know, and Hymie happened to mention you. As a matter of fact we were talking about hair on account of me standing there drying mine, and Hymie said you had the loveliest hair he had ever seen. That from my devoted husband, mind you. Anyhow we talked about you for a minute or two and Cliff said that they wouldn't be seeing you because a woman in Anna's condition couldn't afford to be seen being friends with you. He said that people would start saying that maybe Anna wasn't married either and when the baby came people might say it was a little basket. That's what Cliff said. Basket instead of the real word. Cliff is so cute that way, the skunk."
"Well, maybe it's all for the best," said Lillian. "People know what they want to do about things."
"If it wasn't for you," Theresa said, hotly, "Anna would have a basket that could walk and say 'Da-Da' by now."
"Oh, Theresa!" Lillian was shocked. "Who told you that?"
"Hymie. Anna told him herself one night when she was plastered. Told him not to tell, but she was barking up the wrong tree when she picked Hymie. He told me, but, of course, he wouldn't tell any one else. She
