Well, well; it's John being a chauvinistic dickweed. Who'd'a thunk it?
Panel 1: As he takes his jacket off, he asks Elly how her little coffee-klatsch with Annie and her cronies went.
Panel 2: Stung by the smug dismissiveness of his comment, Elly asks John if thinks that her get-togethers with her friends are a waste of time.
Panel 3: He didn't quite mean to say that it was time better spent doing housework and tending to offsprings but asks her what else she'd call it.
Panel 4: Grabbing on to his lapels and going all bug-eyed to express her depth of feeling, she says "Human contact."
Summary: This is, of course, because Elly thinks of her cozy little home as a maximum security prison. It took John years to realize this but when he did, he at least tried to help her. Granted, it was too late by then and she preferred isolation to a world she no longer recognized or liked but he did his best.