54
CRAIG’S WIFE
Craig
- Well, what has Harriet done, Auntie?
Mrs. Craig
- I’ll tell you what I did, Walter—I objected to Auntie Austen’s having brought that woman across the street there in here while I was away.
Craig
- You mean Mrs. Frazier?
Mrs. Craig
- Yes, I mean Mrs. Frazier.
Craig
- Why, what’s the matter with Mrs. Frazier?
Mrs. Craig
- She’s a vulgar old busybody, that’s what’s the matter with her—that’s been trying to get in here ever since we’ve been here.
Craig
- What do you mean, she’s been trying to get in here?
Mrs. Craig
- You wouldn’t understand if I told you, Walter. It’s a form of curiosity that women have about other women’s houses that men can’t appreciate.
Miss Austen
- Harriet is chiefly provoked, Walter, because she has allowed herself to be tempted off form for a moment. She would much prefer to have excluded Mrs. Frazier by the usual method—that has been employed in the exclusion of every other man and woman that has ever visited here. But since she’s blundered, she must attempt to justify herself now by arraigning Mrs. Frazier as everything from a vulgarian to a busybody—and
