YOUNG MR. BEMIS: "No, no; I won't. Keep fast hold of my hand."

MISS LAWTON: "Oh, yes, I will! I'm ashamed to cry."

YOUNG MR. BEMIS, fervently: "Oh, you needn't be! It is perfectly
natural you should."

MRS. CURWEN: "I'm too badly scared for tears. Mr. Miller, you seem
to be in charge of this expedition--couldn't you do something? Throw
out ballast, or let the boy down in a parachute? Or I've read of a
shipwreck where the survivors, in an open boat, joined in a cry, and
attracted the notice of a vessel that was going to pass them. We
might join in a cry."

MILLER: "Oh, it's all very well joking, Mrs. Curwen" -

MRS. CURWEN: "You call it joking!"

MILLER: "But it's not so amusing, being cooped up here indefinitely.
I don't know how we're to get out. We can't join in a cry, and rouse
the whole house. It would be ridiculous."

MRS. CURWEN: "And our present attitude is so eminently dignified!
Well, I suppose we shall have to cast lots pretty soon to see which
of us shall be sacrificed to nourish the survivors. It's long past
dinner-time."

MISS LAWTON, breaking down: "Oh, DON'T say such terrible things."

YOUNG MR. BEMIS, indignantly comforting her: "Don't, don't cry.