THE STRONGER

SCENE

[A corner of a ladies' restaurant; two small tables of cast-iron,
a sofa covered with red plush, and a few chairs.]

[MRS. X. enters dressed in hat and winter coat, and carrying a
pretty Japanese basket on her arm.]

[MISS Y. has in front of her a partly emptied bottle of beer; she is
reading an illustrated weekly, and every now and then she exchanges
it for a new one.]

MRS. X. Well, how do, Millie! Here you are sitting on Christmas Eve
as lonely as a poor bachelor.

[MISS Y. looks up from the paper for a moment, nods, and resumes
her reading.]

MRS. X. Really, I feel sorry to find you like this--alone--alone in
a restaurant, and on Christmas Eve of all times. It makes me as sad
as when I saw a wedding party at Paris once in a restaurant--the
bride was reading a comic paper and the groom was playing billiards
with the witnesses. Ugh, when it begins that way, I thought, how
will it end? Think of it, playing billiards on his wedding day!
Yes, and you're going to say that she was reading a comic paper--
that's a different case, my dear.