don, do you mean I must give Sam the life I didn’t give you? . . . Sam loved you too . . . he said, if we have a boy, we’ll call him Gordon in Gordon’s honor . . . Gordon’s honor! . . . what must I do now in your honor, Gordon? . . . yes! . . . I know! . . .
[Speaking mechanically in a dull voice]
All right, Mother. I’ll stay with Sam. There’s nothing else I can do, is there, when it isn’t his fault, poor boy!
[Then suddenly snapping and bursting out in a despairing cry]
But I’ll be so lonely! I’ll have lost my baby!
[She sinks down on her knees at Mrs. Evans’ feet—piteously]
Oh, Mother, how can I keep on living?
Mrs. Evans
[Thinking miserably]
Now she knows my suffering . . . now I got to help her . . . she’s got a right to have a baby . . . another baby . . . sometime . . . somehow. . . she’s giving her life to save my Sammy . . . I got to save her! . . .
[Stammeringly]
Maybe, Nina—
Nina
[Dully and resentfully again now]
And how about Sam? You want him to be happy, don’t you? It’s just as important for him as it is for me that I should have a baby! If you know anything at all about him, you ought to see that!
Mrs. Evans
[Sadly]
I know that. I see that in him, Nina.
