CECILIA: I've never known but one . . . and he was a cur. That's his baby. [Points to the basket.] . . . because it is his . . . though his devil of a mother does say it isn't. There it is in a basket and wrapped up in a few old rags like a kitten . . . and he riding in his carriage. Five dollars he gave me when the old lady threw me out of the house. Five dollars! And him with stacks of money. [She started speaking quietly enough, but now her voice has risen with excitement.] Just think what I was when I went into service there . . . and then where I was when I left it! And then on top of it all she had the face to say to me . . . the old swine . . . that I'd gone and seduced her son . . . because he wasn't of age! What about me? I wasn't eighteen. And I know what I ought to have done instead of coming here like a fool . . . made a scandal and put the two of them in jail . . . yes, him and his mother both. For she knew well enough what was going on . . . and as long as there wasn't a baby coming she was quite pleased for the boy to be getting his fun at home . . . for then he didn't want to get married . . . for when he gets married he gets half of their money, and that doesn't suit her at all. Curse him . . . and his mother . . . and his child . . . and me too for a fool to trust what he said to me . . . when he wanted to get his way. Said he was the master so he was . . . and all that he had he'd give me. It didn't cost him much, when his mother threw me out of the house to get out of that little promise. Think of it . . . think. Five dollars! Five dollars for life . . . and me with a baby on my back. And if I leave it behind me here I'm a bad mother. And if I take it I'm marked down a bad lot wherever I turn.