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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78389-0.txt b/78389-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4a2ae9 --- /dev/null +++ b/78389-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4456 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78389 *** + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + +Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + +Small caps in the text is denoted by UPPERCASE. + +Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. + + + + +_Moloch_ + + + + +THE BORZOI PLAYS + + + I WAR + _By Michael Artzibashef_ + + II MOLOCH + _By Beulah Marie Dix_ + + III MORAL + _By Ludwig Thoma_ + + IV THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL + _By Nicolay Gogol_ + + + + + _The Borzoi Plays II_ + + MOLOCH + + _A play in a Prologue, three + acts and an Epilogue by_ + + Beulah + Marie + Dix + + [Illustration] + + _New York · Alfred A Knopf · 1916_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY + ALFRED A. KNOPF + + THIS PLAY, IN ITS PRESENT PRINTED FORM, IS + DESIGNED FOR THE READING PUBLIC ONLY. ALL + DRAMATIC RIGHTS IN IT ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT, + AND NO PERFORMANCE MAY BE GIVEN + WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE + AUTHOR AND THE PAYMENT OF ROYALTY. + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + + KLAW AND ERLANGER + IN ASSOCIATION WITH GEORGE C. TYLER + + Present + HOLBROOK BLINN’S COMPANY + + in + + MOLOCH + + A PLAY ABOUT WAR + + In a Prologue, Three Acts and an Epilogue + BY BEULAH M. DIX + + + PEOPLE CHARACTERS PLAYED BY + --------------------------------------------------------- + A Man Robert _Holbrook Blinn_ + His Wife Katherine _Lillian Albertson_ + His Son Roland _Cornish Beck_ + His Mother Lydia _Mrs. Thomas Whiffen_ + His Sister Gertrude _Louise Rutter_ + His Brother Basil _Creighton Hale_ + His Uncle The Professor _T. Wigney Percyval_ + His Servant Martha _Ruth Benson_ + His Friend Philip _Paul Gordon_ + The Woodsy Boy _Sydney D. Carlyle_ + A Girl Frances _Laura Iverson_ + Another Girl Margaret _Rosina Henley_ + A Little Boy Thomas _Richard Dupont_ + A Major } _Edwin Brandt_ + An Adjutant } _Paul S. Bliss_ + A Sergeant } _Jules A. Ferrar_ + Another Sergeant } Fellow- _Charles Rolfe_ + A Soldier } Countrymen _A. P. Kaye_ + Another Soldier } _A. H. Ebenhack_ + A Third Soldier } _John Dupont_ + A Fourth Soldier } _Thomas Hill_ + A Major } _Redfield Clarke_ + A Lieutenant } _Gareth Hughes_ + A Corporal } _Edmund Breese_ + A Trooper } Foreigners _Dale Kennedy_ + Another Trooper } _Theodore C. Brown_ + A Third Trooper } _Harry Dean_ + A Fourth Trooper } _Vincent Phillips_ + + PROLOGUE—Before the War. A Country House. + Interval, Ten Days. + + ACT I—Mobilization. A Town House. + Interval, Nine Months. + + ACT II—Invasion. A Town House. + Interval, Seven Months. + + ACT III—Battle. On the Firing Line. + Interval, Eight Months. + + EPILOGUE—After the War. A Country House. + The Fruits of Victory. + + Play produced by Mr. Blinn + +The above, from a program of the New Amsterdam Theatre, New York, +shows the cast at the first New York performance of this play, Monday +evening, September 20, 1915. The play had previously been produced in +Cleveland and in Chicago. + + + + +MOLOCH + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +_The country-house, once a farmhouse of the better sort, but now become +the residence of the owners of the estate, is a shabby, homelike, +livable place. The walls of the living-room are wainscotted in warm +brown, with plaster above, and hung with sporting prints and pictures +of battle. The ceiling is raftered. At the right of the audience is +a big fireplace, with a trophy of arms above it. On the mantel-shelf +are a brace of old-fashioned metal candlesticks, and a fair-sized +loving-cup of silver. A low fire burns upon the hearth. At either +side of the fireplace are doors. The one toward the back of the room +leads to a coat-closet, the one toward the front to inner rooms. At +the left of the audience a door leads to the kitchens, etc. At the +back a two-fold outer door opens on a brick terrace, with a suggestion +of garden lying below. Beyond the balustrade of the terrace you may +glimpse springtide country, with fields under cultivation, fruit-trees +smothered with blossoms, and, in the distance, the tower of a little +church and the roofs of a peaceful hamlet. At either side of this main +door are casement windows. Those at the left make of that ample corner +of the room a huge bow-window, with slightly raised floor and cushioned +seat. The furniture is simple, massive and good: a Jacobean settle, at +right angles to the hearth, a chest beneath the windows at the right, +a gate-legged table at the centre, a heavy writing table, well down at +the left, with smokers’ stuff, a lamp, a work-basket, a small stand in +the bow-window, with a bowl of gold-fish, and the usual complement of +serviceable and comfortable chairs._ + +_The season is May. The time is sunset._ + +_In the bow-window, reading in the late light, with books scattered +about him, and the gold-fish at his elbow, sits the Professor, a +scholarly and somewhat opinionated gentleman of seventy, with a +wrinkled, not altogether unkindly, face and white hair. His sister, +Lydia, sixty-odd, but erect and spirited, sits on the settle, playing +Patience at a little table. She wears a bit of fine lace by way of +cap, but her gown of plum-color is never so little out of fashion. +At the chest Katherine is arranging flowers in two low bowls, slowly +and carefully, as one who loves flowers and respects them. She is +perhaps thirty, of the type that, for lack of better word, we describe +as Madonna, born to be a mother to everything in sight, but with +her goodness spiced with a saving sense of humor. She wears a soft +gray house-dress. On the floor at the left kneels Roland, a paper +soldier-cap upon his head, at play with toy soldiers, ranged in ranks, +and a toy gun. He is six or seven years old, the sort of little lad to +make any mother proud. He speaks, as the curtain rises._ + +ROLAND. Bang! [_Knocks down the toy soldiers._] See, Mummy, our men +have killed all the foreigners. + +KATHERINE. Why do you want to kill them, son? + +ROLAND. Because they’re foreigners. + +KATHERINE. Roland! + +LYDIA. Do let the boy alone! You wouldn’t have him play with dolls. + +ROLAND. I’ll be the colonel, like my grandpa was. He killed the nasty +foreigners, didn’t he, Mummy? + +KATHERINE [_setting flowers on the centre table_]. That was ever so +long ago. We are at peace with all the world now. We shall always be at +peace. + +PROFESSOR. Have you seen the newspapers? + +KATHERINE [_setting flowers on the writing table_]. Of course I +haven’t. Not since day before yesterday. But who cares for the stuff +they print? [_Sits by the table, takes up her sewing._] Civilized +nations don’t fight each other. + +[_From the terrace come in quickly Gertrude and Basil, both in tramping +clothes. She is in her early twenties, impulsive, passionate, and +altogether charming. He is in his late teens, with the erect and +masterful carriage that stamps him as a military cadet. Both carry +newspapers._] + +BASIL. Hello, folks! We’ve got the papers. + +PROFESSOR [_rising excitedly_]. Well, well, well! + +BASIL [_giving him a newspaper_]. Yesterday’s. Best we could do. +[_Tosses his cap on the chest._] + +GERTRUDE. Clear to the Corner we had to tramp to get them. Of all the +luck! To be poked into this dead and alive place, a hundred miles from +everywhere, at such a time! [_Flings paper on table._] + +LYDIA. Hush! Tell me if there’s any news. + +[_Gertrude hangs her coat and hat in the closet._] + +BASIL. I should say there was news. + +PROFESSOR [_reading paper_]. Ultimatum! Well, well! + +KATHERINE [_startled, but only for a moment_]. Ultimatum! + +PROFESSOR. Outrageous! Insolent! + +[_Katherine resumes her sewing._] + +BASIL. They think we’ll back down, just because we don’t swagger about, +armed to the teeth. Well, when it comes to business, we’ll show them a +thing or two. + +PROFESSOR. Yes. When this great nation of ours is once roused— + +BASIL. Why, I’d back one of our chaps with his bare fists to do up two +of those foreign Johnnies with their rifles. + +GERTRUDE [_coming to the hearth_]. Oh, for goodness’ sake, talk sense! + +PROFESSOR. I trust you do not doubt the spirit and courage of your +countrymen? + +GERTRUDE. No. But you’re all making the mistake of doubting the spirit +and courage of other people’s countrymen. + +LYDIA. Meaning— + +GERTRUDE. The foreigners are as brave as we are. + +BASIL. Oh, come now! + +GERTRUDE. If it comes to war, they’ll put up just as good a fight as we +will. + +PROFESSOR. Pshaw! [_Disgusted, he retires into the bow-window with his +paper._] + +GERTRUDE. And they’re in condition to fight. They have bigger guns than +ours, explosives we don’t even know the names of. Phil says— + +BASIL. Oh, it’s Phil’s talk you’re handing us out. + +GERTRUDE [_going up to him_]. Yes, and it’s sensible talk, too. + +BASIL. Well, I must say that I think— + +LYDIA. Children! Children! + +[_Robert has meantime appeared in the outer doorway, a likable chap of +thirty-odd, the best type, perhaps, of Landjunker or of country squire. +He wears country clothes, and evidently has come from tramping his +fields._] + +ROBERT. Hello! So the war’s broke out right here, eh? + +ROLAND [_running to him_]. Daddy! + +BASIL. Trudie’s got to quoting Phil. + +GERTRUDE. And Basil is absurd. [_She retires to the window at right._] + +LYDIA. And your mother, I believe, is also absurd. + +ROBERT. There, there! Of course you are not. Any mail come in? + +KATHERINE. They haven’t got that bridge mended yet. + +BASIL. They’re still sending round by the Corner, when they send at +all. [_He strolls out upon the terrace, where he lights a cigarette._] + +ROBERT. Humph! Hoped I’d get word about that new cultivator. [_Goes to +the smoking table and gets a pipe._] + +[_Roland returns to his toys._] + +KATHERINE. Did Phil come in with you? + +ROBERT. No. He stopped at the gamekeeper’s. Seems the baby is coming +down with whooping cough or something. + +GERTRUDE. Did you come round by the ten acre? [_Sits by table centre._] + +ROBERT. Yes. Ought to get a second crop off it this season. You know, +it will play the mischief with our getting fertilizers, if the fools +should rush us into war. + +KATHERINE. Oh, but they won’t. + +ROLAND. Daddy, will you please mend my soldier? + +ROBERT. Sure thing! Been in the thick of the fight, hasn’t he? Get me +the glue, son. [_Sits by table centre._] + +KATHERINE. Here you are, Roland. [_Gives him a tube of glue from the +writing table._] + +ROLAND. Thank you! Here, Daddy. + +ROBERT. Right! [_Mends soldier, while Roland leans against his knee._] +Poor old chap! Lost both legs, hasn’t he? That’s what your Uncle Basil +is aching to do, ever since he got to be a cadet. Go out and fight +somebody, anybody, and come home in fragments. [_Looking up at Basil._] +Eh, Bub? + +BASIL. Great thing to sit and laugh, when your country is threatened. + +ROBERT. Oh, I’ve lived through two big war scares in my day. Mother’s +lived through half a dozen. + +LYDIA. And through two wars, remember. + +PROFESSOR. Do you realize, Robert, that they have sent us an ultimatum? + +ROBERT. Ever watch two dogs, with a fence between ’em, tearing along, +barking, ready to chew each other up, till they come to an open gate +and can get at each other? Then down go their tails, and home they go. +That’s the way it will be this time. We’ll snarl at each other till +it comes to the point of fighting, and then the common sense of the +average citizen— + +[_Roland goes back to his toys._] + +KATHERINE. That’s what I keep saying. As if people could fight nowadays! + +LYDIA. Nonsense! Men have always fought. They always will fight. +Doesn’t it say in the Bible: “I come not to bring peace, but a sword”? + +KATHERINE. Yes. And doesn’t it say also: “Agree with thine adversary”? + +PROFESSOR [_rising, annoyed_]. My dear ladies, those old legends of +Christianity are not at all pertinent. Now let me tell you— + +KATHERINE. Roland! Run fetch some bread for Uncle’s gold-fish. Run! +[_Roland runs out at the left._] Now I know you’re going to say +something barbaric. + +LYDIA. Barbaric fiddlesticks! Just commonsense. + +PROFESSOR. Thank you, my dear sister. As I was about to say, if you +will read my compendium of international relations— + +ROBERT [_rising_]. We have! [_Goes to closet and gets string with which +he mends the toy._] + +PROFESSOR. You will understand that wars are the outcome of great folk +movements over which individuals have no control. As a scholar and a +philosopher, then, I must believe— + +[_Roland runs in again._] + +ROLAND. Now may I feed the gold-fish, Uncle? + +PROFESSOR. Yes, yes. As I was about to say—Not too fast, sonny! Not +too fast! There! Slowly! That way! I was about to remark that wars +after all work for the good of the race. + +BASIL. Nothing like war to put an edge on a nation. + +PROFESSOR. And not merely are the martial virtues stimulated, but +literature and learning revive and flourish. + +KATHERINE. In a bloodstained soil? + +PROFESSOR. So many of you dear women can see nothing in war but the +pain and suffering that are merely incidental. + +LYDIA. It’s a sentimental viewpoint. + +[_Roland in the bow-window takes up and examines one of his uncle’s +books._] + +PROFESSOR. Now I solemnly believe that we are on the eve of conflict. + +ROBERT. The folks that talk like you are doing their best to get us +into one. + +BASIL. If they want a fight, let ’em have it, I say! + +GERTRUDE. Oh, have a chip on your shoulder, if you must. But be sure +you’re ready for the people that will try to knock it off. + +LYDIA. This talk about being ready is downright blasphemous. + +ROBERT. Quite a strong word, Mother. + +LYDIA. Our country has been victorious in every war in its history. +Doesn’t that prove that God is on our side? And if God is for us— + +[_Robert reseats himself at the table._] + +PROFESSOR. National destiny. I, for one, believe this war is not only +inevitable, but desirable. + +ROLAND [_coming to his mother, with an open book_]. O Mummy! What’s +this horrid picture? He’s eating folks alive. + +KATHERINE. Let’s see, son! [_Takes book._] “They made their children +pass through the fire to Moloch.” + +ROLAND. Who was Moloch, Mummy? + +KATHERINE. He was their god, laddie. They gave him their children to +devour, and they thought it was a noble thing to do. + +PROFESSOR. Sun worship merely. Moloch is another name for Baal. + +KATHERINE. I wonder if it’s not another name for the god of war. + +PROFESSOR. My dear Kate, your mythology is hopelessly confused. +[_Retires again to his paper._] + +KATHERINE. Oh, I’m not talking mythology. Just sense. + +GERTRUDE. It’s time somebody did. + +ROBERT. Steady! + +KATHERINE. The god of war—the awful monster with the flaming jaws, and +the nations running joyously to fling him their youngest and strongest +and best. + +LYDIA. Sentimental nonsense, Kate. + +ROLAND. And will Moloch eat us, too, Mummy? + +KATHERINE [_kissing him_]. Oh, no, no, dear! Of course not. That was +ever so long ago. + +ROBERT. And they were just heathen that didn’t know any better. Not +good sensible Christian people, like ourselves. + +KATHERINE. There, dear, put the book away, and don’t think any more +about it. + +[_Roland replaces the book on the window seat and returns to his toys._] + +BASIL. Believe I’ll step down to the village and see if they’ve done +anything about getting the mail across. [_Gets cap._] It will be no +joke for me, if my leave’s been withdrawn and I’ve not got word. + +PROFESSOR. Wait a moment, Basil! You did not find the air damp, Robert? + +ROBERT. Dry as one of your lectures, sir. + +PROFESSOR. Then, Basil, I’ll go with you. + +BASIL. I’ll fetch your hat, sir. [_Goes to closet._] + +PROFESSOR. I, too, have a barbarous interest in what is going on. +[_Taking hat from Basil._] Thanks, my boy! Can’t be too careful, you +know. I hate to lie awake at night coughing. + +[_Basil and the Professor go out at the terrace door._] + +GERTRUDE. Uncle Charles is particular about his own comfort. [_Rises._] +More than he is about the comfort of the men he’s so eager to send +to do the fighting. [_Goes to the bow-window, obviously waiting and +watching for some one._] + +ROBERT. Two of a kind, Uncle and Basil. And it’s the kind that kicks +over all our apple-carts. Here’s your man, son. Good as new! + +[_Roland puts away his toys._] + +LYDIA. Basil’s profession was your father’s profession. It would have +been yours, if you had been physically fit. + +ROBERT [_rising_]. Yes. That astigmatism in my left eye did me a mighty +good turn, when it kept me out of the army. + +LYDIA. Robert! + +ROBERT [_going to her_]. Well, well, Mother, I do enough for honor and +glory when I turn out once a year with a regiment of defensibles. Rest +of the time I’m not keen on being an anachronism in gold braid and an +air-tight helmet. [_Sits by table and takes up newspaper._] + +[_Martha comes in at the right, a middle-aged servant, kindly and +commonplace._] + +MARTHA. If you please, it’s Master Roland’s bed time. + +ROLAND. I don’t want to go to bed. + +MARTHA. Come, come, Master Roland! Why, you’d ought to see my little +niece Patty go when she’s bid. + +ROLAND. I don’t want to— + +KATHERINE. Roland! + +ROLAND. Well, will you come hear me say my prayers, Mummy? + +KATHERINE. Yes, dear. Run along now! + +ROLAND. Good night, Aunt Trudie! + +GERTRUDE [_kissing him_]. Good night, darling. + +ROLAND. Good night, Granny. I’ll take my sword into bed with me, so you +needn’t be scared if the enemy should come. + +LYDIA. Bless the boy! + +ROLAND. Good night, Daddy! + +ROBERT. Good night, old man. + +MARTHA. Come, Master Roland! + +ROLAND. But you won’t need to wash my hands, Martha. They were washed +once to-day. + +[_Roland and Martha go out at the right._] + +KATHERINE. Why, I didn’t realize it was his bedtime. [_Folds work._] +Phil is a long time at the gamekeeper’s. + +GERTRUDE. Rob! [_Goes to the table._] If there should be war—what would +happen to Phil? + +ROBERT. Don’t begin to worry. There won’t be war. + +LYDIA. Those foreigners will give way, when they see we’re in earnest. +A cowardly lot! + +GERTRUDE. Phil isn’t exactly what I should call a coward. Cowards don’t +win races in monoplanes in a high wind. [_Goes to terrace door._] + +ROBERT. Where going, Trudie? + +GERTRUDE. Just across the garden. + +LYDIA. It’s past sunset. + +GERTRUDE. I’m only going a little step. + +[_Gertrude goes out._] + +LYDIA. I can’t help thinking it would be in better taste just now if +Philip went back to his own country. + +ROBERT. He happens to have a year more of work at the laboratory. + +LYDIA. Then let him go back to his old laboratory, instead of hanging +round here, putting notions into my daughter’s head. + +KATHERINE. You know his chief ordered him to take this fortnight off. +He was getting a bit seedy. + +LYDIA. You’ll always make excuses for him. + +ROBERT. We owe him something, Mother. + +LYDIA. He did no more than any physician is bound to do. + +KATHERINE. Look here, Mother, you weren’t here, that awful night. You +didn’t see Roland lying there, with his poor little face congested, +fighting for every single breath, a losing fight, and we, with all our +love, just helpless. And then Rob brought Phil to me. + +ROBERT. We hadn’t been very nice to that lot of noisy young doctors, +camped down by the ford, had we, Kate? + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Why, half of them were foreigners. [_Goes +to table._] Until that night, I don’t think that I’d dreamed that +foreigners were quite the same as ourselves. But when Phil came in +I—I just fell at his feet, as if he had been sent from God Himself, +praying: “Save my only one! Oh, save my baby!” + +[_Robert rises and goes to her._] + +LYDIA. That’s his business, isn’t it? + +KATHERINE. And when the tube filled up, and we thought it was all +over, Phil put his lips to the tube and drew out the poison that was +suffocating our boy. + +LYDIA. Other doctors have done as much. + +KATHERINE [_heatedly_]. But Phil had cut his lip, remember! He took a +big risk, with his eyes open, for a stranger’s child—for our child! + +ROBERT. There, there! + +KATHERINE [_sits by table_]. Well, I shan’t forget that, ever. [_Dries +her eyes._] + +LYDIA [_rises, sets Patience table by the hearth_]. That’s all very +fine, but I hope that Gertrude won’t make a fool of herself over the +fellow. Get my shawl, Robert! I’ll take a little step in the garden, +too. [_Goes to door._] + +[_Robert gets shawl from closet._] + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Now you know it’s getting a bit damp, Mother. + +LYDIA. Fiddlesticks! If Charles can venture out, I can. Always an old +Betty about his precious health. + +ROBERT. Here you are, Mother. [_Folds shawl about her._] Shall I come +with you? + +LYDIA. I don’t need help yet a while in managing my own children, +thanks! + +[_Lydia goes out at the terrace door._] + +ROBERT. She’s got her hands full, this time. + +KATHERINE. You mean— + +ROBERT. I know. + +KATHERINE [_going to him_]. You know that Phil and Gertrude are in love +with each other? + +ROBERT. He asked my permission this afternoon. Her guardian and all +that sort of thing. + +KATHERINE. Well, if they’re only one half as happy as we’ve been— + +ROBERT [_his arms about her_]. Rubbed along pretty well, haven’t we, +old girl? + +KATHERINE. I don’t ask for better. There! Run along after mother, do. +Don’t let her break in on them and spoil this minute. It won’t come +again. + +ROBERT. I say! Do you remember the night when we first— + +KATHERINE. Now don’t be foolish. [_Kisses him._] Run! + +[_Robert goes out. The room is now dusky with twilight. Katherine goes +to the hearth and lights the candles on the mantel-shelf. As she is +busied with the second candle, Phil comes quickly from the terrace. A +well built young man, headlong and sufficiently likable. He wears a +Norfolk suit and a cap which he tosses upon the chest. At the slight +noise of his entrance Katherine turns._] + +KATHERINE. O Phil! I’m to congratulate you. Yes? + +PHIL [_catching both her hands_]. Rob has told you, then? And I have +just this minute spoke with her. + +KATHERINE. Nearer the stars than ever you came in your airship, aren’t +you? + +PHIL. The airship? Oh, I give up the flying now. I am getting down to +work. To-morrow I go back to the city. + +KATHERINE. But— + +PHIL. Oh, yes. I am all rested. I can see straight what was all thick +before. You watch me now, put it through, for her sake. + +KATHERINE [_sitting on the settle_]. Your research? You never told us +much about it. + +PHIL. It is too big a thing almost to speak about. [_Sits by her._] It +is, I think, almost I can some day put my hand on how to cure what we +are most afraid of. Living death, I mean. Death by torture. Cancer. + +KATHERINE. A-ah! That was how my mother died. I watched her. O Phil! If +you can do that, it’s like grace sent down from Heaven. + +PHIL. I don’t say I can. I mean only, with time, with work—Lord! How I +can work now! Funny! They used, you know, the old chaps, to bring to +the women they loved heads of their enemies, men they’d killed. To-day +maybe we bring to a woman so many people saved, men and women and +little kiddies, perhaps. That’s a pretty worth-while gift, eh? + +[_Roland comes in from the right, in blue pajamas and slippers._] + +ROLAND. O Mummy! You never came to hear my prayers. + +KATHERINE. You bad one! Run to bed, quick! + +[_Roland lags snail-like toward the door._] + +PHIL. Oh, let him stay up for a minute, please! Come along, kiddie! +[_Takes Roland on his knee._] Well, old pal! What have you done all day? + +ROLAND. I’ve been playing war. We killed the foreigners. + +KATHERINE. Roland! + +PHIL. So so! And will you kill me, too? + +ROLAND [_with his arm about Phil’s neck_]. You’re not a foreigner. If +anybody tries to kill you ever, I will take my sword— + +KATHERINE. That’s enough, dear. Come say your prayers. + +ROLAND. I want Uncle Phil to say his prayers with me. + +PHIL. I’m afraid I have forgotten how. + +ROLAND. I’ll show you. [_Slips from Phil’s knee._] You kneel, you know, +like this. [_Kneels before Katherine._] + +KATHERINE. Phil, dear! To-night— + +PHIL. It is, I think, twenty years since—[_Glances from the child to +the mother, then kneels beside Roland._] She would have loved you, my +mother. + +ROLAND. + + “Now I lay me down to sleep. + I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep!” + +Make me kind! Keep me clean! Make me a good boy, for the dear Lord’s +sake. Amen! + +PHIL [_half whimsically_]. Make me a good boy for her dear sake! + +KATHERINE [_her hand on his shoulder_]. Amen! + +MARTHA [_outside_]. Master Roland! Master Roland! + +[_Phil jumps up in some embarrassment and goes to the other side of the +room. Martha comes in at the right. Roland springs up and runs away +from her._] + +MARTHA. Come to bed, sir! Come! [_Trying vainly to catch Roland._] My +niece Patty never acted like this. + +[_Robert comes in from the terrace. Roland runs to him._] + +ROLAND. Let me stay up a minute, Daddy! + +ROBERT. Well, it’s a special sort of night. [_Goes to the hearth._] + +ROLAND [_running to Phil_]. I’m going to stay up! I’m going to stay up! + +ROBERT [_taking down the loving-cup_]. We’ll want this prize cup of +Phil’s, won’t we, Kate? + +KATHERINE. Oh, yes. And there’s a bottle of the ’97 left. + +ROBERT. Fine! [_Crosses._] Fill it, Martha. + +MARTHA. Yes, sir. + +[_Martha goes out at left with the cup._] + +ROBERT [_going to Phil_]. It’s all right, old son. Trudie is with her +mother. And Trudie could persuade the legs off a brass kettle. + +ROLAND [_at the terrace door_]. Oh, the moon! [_Seizes Katherine’s hand +and draws her to the door._] See the moon, Mummy! There, above the +pear-trees. Will the rabbits come out and dance? The Woodsy Boy says +they do. + +KATHERINE. Hush! Who is that coming across the garden? + +ROLAND. Oh, it’s my Woodsy Boy! + +[_Roland runs out on the terrace._] + +ROBERT. Who does he mean? + +KATHERINE. A little chap that we’ve met in the wood, Roland and I. +Roland! [_She follows the child out upon the terrace._] + +ROLAND [_outside_]. Yes, Mummy. + +KATHERINE [_outside_]. You’ll catch your death! + +[_Roland comes into the room from the terrace, with the Woodsy Boy, a +slender lad of sixteen or seventeen, shy, big-eyed, quick-motioned, +like a faun. He is barefooted and bareheaded, in old brown trousers and +shirt. In his arms he carries a little cur. Katherine follows them +into the room._] + +ROLAND. Come in! Don’t be scared. My Uncle Phil can make him well. + +WOODSY BOY. He has broken his leg, please. + +ROBERT. Hello! Poor little beggar! It’s your job, Phil. + +KATHERINE. Roland! Don’t look! [_She leads Roland to the settle, and +places him upon it._] + +PHIL. You will let me take him, yes? [_Takes the dog._] It hurts, eh? + +[_Martha comes in at the left with the loving-cup._] + +MARTHA. Here’s the cup, sir. + +ROBERT. Put it down. We’re a clinic just now. + +[_Martha sets the cup on the table at centre._] + +PHIL. It’s broken, all right. Lay a paper across the table, will you, +Rob? [_Robert spreads a paper on the writing table._] We’ll want some +warm water, Martha, and some cloths. + +MARTHA. Yes, sir. + +[_Martha goes out at left._] + +PHIL. If you have pencils handy, they’ll make corking splints. [_Brings +the dog to the writing table, where he works over him._] + +ROBERT. Hold on! I’ll give you a light. [_Lights lamp on table._] + +PHIL. Steady, old sport! I’m your friend. + +ROBERT. Quiet him, will you, sonny? + +[_Woodsy Boy runs to the table and strokes the dog._] + +KATHERINE. What a shame that your pet is hurt! + +WOODSY BOY. He isn’t mine, lady. I found him. Over there by the upper +lake. + +KATHERINE. But that’s a long distance for you to walk. + +WOODSY BOY. He was in pain. So I had to bring him. + +[_Martha comes in again with a basin of water and some cloths._] + +MARTHA. Here’s the warm water, sir. + +ROBERT. Fine! [_Sets basin on table._] Here you are, Phil. + +PHIL. We’ll fix him all right now. + +MARTHA. Poor creature! I’d better get him something to eat. + +ROBERT. Sure thing! Kill him with indigestion. He’ll die happy. + +KATHERINE. Can’t you find an old basket for him? + +MARTHA. Oh, yes, ma’am. And I’ll get him a bone, too. + +[_Martha goes out at left._] + +PHIL. Hold on! We haven’t rags enough. + +ROBERT. Here you are! [_Tearing up his handkerchief._] Wait a bit! + +[_Basil comes in from the terrace, heatedly, and stands brushing the +mud from his trousers._] + +BASIL. Well, of all the damned luck! + +ROBERT. Hold your horses, Bub! What’s up? + +BASIL. I can’t get across the beastly river. And how do I know what’s +waiting for me, there at the postmaster’s, and forty feet of bad water, +or fifteen miles of road between us? + +WOODSY BOY. Do you want the mail, Mister? + +BASIL. Do I want it? Rather! + +WOODSY BOY. I’ll get it. [_Runs to terrace door._] + +KATHERINE. Child alive! You can’t get across the river. The bridge is +down. + +WOODSY BOY [_laughing_]. Oh, yes. But I can get across. There’s a place +I know, and nobody else. You wait. I’ll show you. + +[_The Woodsy Boy runs out._] + +PHIL. Hold the light nearer, Rob! Catch hold, Basil, please! Keep the +little beggar still. + +[_The three men crowd about the writing table. Gertrude runs in from +the terrace._] + +GERTRUDE. O Kate! [_Goes to Katherine._] You know, don’t you? + +KATHERINE [_embracing her_]. I’m so happy over it. + +GERTRUDE. Mother almost forgave Phil for being a foreigner. + +PHIL. Give us a splint. Get busy! + +KATHERINE. Nice things, aren’t they, those men of ours! + +GERTRUDE. Kate! If there should be war! + +KATHERINE. Why, there can’t be. Men like those three, at each other’s +throats, food for cannon— Oh, it’s madness to think of it! + +[_Martha comes in from the left with a basket._] + +MARTHA. Here’s the basket, sir. [_She crosses and stands by Roland._] + +BASIL. Just make him comfy. Then I’ll put him out in the lean-to. + +[_Basil takes the dog in the basket and goes out at left. Robert goes +to the table at centre. Professor comes in from the terrace, closely +followed by Lydia._] + +PROFESSOR. Dear, dear! It is long past the hour for covering the +gold-fish. And you didn’t remember, Kate! + +KATHERINE. I’m sorry, Uncle. [_She joins him in the bow-window._] But +I’m sure they haven’t caught cold. [_She helps him to cover the globe +with a cloth._] + +GERTRUDE. Mother, dear! + +LYDIA. I am quite resigned. [_She pauses before the settle._] Philip! +[_Phil hastily is drying his hands._] Whenever you are at liberty— + +PHIL. Dear lady! [_Goes to her._] + +LYDIA [_giving him her hand_]. You have my consent. [_Phil kisses her +hand._] No doubt I should be grateful that you asked it. [_She sits on +the settle._] + +[_Basil comes in again from the left._] + +GERTRUDE [_eager to make amends for her mother’s brusqueness_]. Phil +dear! [_Draws near him._] + +BASIL. Oh, I say! Is that what you’re driving at, you two? + +KATHERINE. Where were your eyes, you bat? + +PROFESSOR. Felicitations, then, are in order? + +ROLAND. What is it all about? + +PHIL. The biggest thing in the world, kiddie. + +GERTRUDE. Uncle Phil is going to be your really uncle, not a pretend +uncle. + +ROLAND. Is he, Daddy? + +ROBERT. Perhaps we’d better let him—if he promises to be good! + +ROLAND. And he’ll stay with us always? Isn’t that jolly, Granny? + +LYDIA. Well, I suppose it is. + +GERTRUDE. O Mother, you know you’re just as happy as the rest of us. + +KATHERINE. And that’s pretty happy. + +ROBERT. Right you are! [_Takes cup._] Here’s to you, Sis! And to you, +old son! All the love that’s in all our hearts— + +BASIL. Me, too! + +ROBERT. —out of this loving-cup. Drink first, Trudie! + +GERTRUDE. Thank you, Rob! [_Drinks._] It’s your turn, Phil. + +[_Their hands are on the cup, when the Woodsy Boy runs in from the +terrace with newspapers._] + +WOODSY BOY. Here are the papers. I couldn’t read them. But the people, +they all said: War! + +KATHERINE. Oh, no! + +ROBERT. Let me see! + +BASIL. Give it here! + +[_Both snatch papers from the Woodsy Boy. Basil gives a paper to the +Professor. Robert sits at table, flinging open the paper._] + +PHIL. It can’t be. [_Sets down the cup._] + +GERTRUDE. Phil! Oh, but you— What will become of you? + +ROBERT [_from paper_]. War was declared at midnight. + +LYDIA. It’s come, then. + +PROFESSOR. Just as I foretold. + +KATHERINE. Oh, no, no! God wouldn’t let it be. + +BASIL [_from paper_]. They’ve stoned our ambassador. They’ve dragged +our flag in the mud. + +PROFESSOR. Exactly what they did thirty years ago. + +LYDIA. A foreigner is always a foreigner. + +PROFESSOR. Racial differences outcrop— + +PHIL. Racial differences? What do you talk of? This is the twentieth +century. We’re past the tribal stage. + +BASIL [_striking the paper with his fist_]. Your people aren’t even +past the caveman stage. + +ROBERT [_rising_]. Go easy, Basil! + +PHIL. It has come, it seems, Rob, the thing we agreed was quite +impossible. + +ROBERT. Old man, nothing is changed between you and me, remember. +Nothing is going to change. + +KATHERINE. Of course not. + +GERTRUDE. It can’t make any difference. We won’t let it make any +difference, will we, Phil? Will we? + +PHIL. Between us two? No! + +BASIL. You can’t help yourselves. It’s war now. War! + +WOODSY BOY [_touching Robert’s sleeve_]. Is it because of the war he +must go away? + +ROBERT. What do you mean? + +WOODSY BOY. The men down in the village, they were saying he must go. + +LYDIA. And they’re right. I’ve lived through two wars. + +GERTRUDE. Mother! + +PHIL. And I was tending their children, just this afternoon. + +KATHERINE. Oh, they can’t mean to drive him away? + +BASIL. Can’t they? [_Beside himself._] Look here! See what his people +have done to our people! [_Gives paper to Robert._] Look! Look! + +ROBERT. Good God! Our women—outraged. Little children, taken out of +their mothers’ arms, torn to pieces. + +PHIL. You believe those stories? + +BASIL. We know the sort they are, the dirty brutes! + +ROBERT. Go slow there! + +PHIL. Am I a—dirty brute? + +KATHERINE. Basil! + +PHIL. Rob! Tell me! In this house, now, where do I stand? + +ROBERT. You are—our guest. + +KATHERINE [_going to Robert_]. Our friend, Rob. Our best friend. + +GERTRUDE. Why, Rob! You don’t mean— + +PHIL [_with authority_]. Please, Trudie! Please! [_To Robert._] You +take them seriously, then, these lies to sell your newspapers? + +BASIL. Maybe it’s a lie that our country is honeycombed with your +infernal spy system. Chaps that have been guests in our houses—chaps +like yourself— + +GERTRUDE [_to Basil_]. Oh! You dare to— + +ROBERT [_to Basil_]. Be quiet! [_To Phil._] Of course that’s absurd. +But your country and my country are going to fight. + +KATHERINE. You said yourself— + +ROBERT. That was before war was declared. And before I knew how the +foreigners fight. + +KATHERINE. Rob! + +ROBERT. Now, right or wrong, it’s my country. + +LYDIA. Ah! + +ROBERT. They’re right, those men in the village. Better go, Phil, while +there’s still time. + +PHIL. I understand, yes. I leave right away for town. I go and get my +things together now. [_Starts toward door right._] + +GERTRUDE. You’re driving him away! + +PHIL. No, no, dear. It’s just commonsense. In town I see you all again. +This war scare blows over maybe. This is then just a good story, eh? +Good night, Katherine! + +KATHERINE [_giving him her hand_]. Good night, Phil! + +PHIL [_to Robert_]. Good night [_shaking Robert’s hand_], old enemy! +[_Turns to Gertrude._] + +GERTRUDE [_clinging to him_]. You’ll come back? Oh, you’ll come back? + +PHIL. Of course I will. [_Kisses her. Roland slips to floor and stands +awaiting a farewell._] Good-bye! + +[_Phil goes out hastily at the right, ignoring the child._] + +ROLAND [_at the point of tears_]. You said he would stay with us always. + +[_Gertrude buries her face in her hands, sobbing aloud._] + +LYDIA. Hush! [_Draws Roland down on settle beside her, soothing him._] + +BASIL. I’ve got to get the eleven o’clock train to town. + +ROBERT [_seated at table, with the paper_]. War was declared at +midnight. + +KATHERINE. Less than twenty-four hours. Already it’s cost us our best +friend. Oh, what’s to be the end of it all? [_Her hand on Robert’s +shoulder._] What’s to be the end? + +[_Robert looks up at her, wondering._] + + + CURTAIN + + + + +ACT I + + +_The town-house, in its architecture and its furnishings, belongs to +an older generation. The parlor, in the second story, opens at the +back, up three shallow steps and through a wide arched doorway, hung +with dull green curtains that are looped aside, into a writing room. +The rear wall of this inner room is lined with bookshelves. A writing +table and a chair fill the centre of the room. In the parlor itself +are two long windows at the right, hung with curtains and formal +lambrequins, and set with window boxes, full of plants in blossom, +and with cushioned window-seats. Between the windows stands a tall, +old-fashioned secretary, topped with a classic bust, and littered +with writing things, among which are a pair of desk candlesticks and +several photographs in frames. A stand with the globe of gold-fish is +in the window nearer the audience and close by a rocking-horse. At +either side of the door to the writing room stands a bookcase. Above +these bookcases hang large prints of battle-scenes. At the left is a +fireplace, filled with green branches. Above the narrow mantle-ledge +hangs the picture of a man in uniform, draped with a flag of three +diagonal stripes, dark blue, orange, and dark blue. Beneath the +picture hangs a sheathed sword. At either side of the fireplace are +doors to the outer passage. Before the fireplace are two armchairs. At +the centre of the room is a table, with three chairs, and across the +table, facing the audience, is drawn a small sofa. The furniture all is +mellowed with use._ + +_The season is early June. The time is the middle of the morning, ten +days subsequent to the happenings of the Prologue._ + +_Seated at the table in the writing room, the Professor drives a busy +pen. On the rocking-horse sits Roland, with toy sword, helmet, and +cuirass, and a toy banner, on a staff, in his hand. At the secretary +Katherine is busy with notes and check-book. Lydia, by the hearth, +is mending a silk flag, the size of a company pennon. At the table +Gertrude, and her two friends, Frances and Margaret, girls of her own +age and class, are deftly making small nosegays, and putting them +into a flat basket, which already is three quarters filled. The table +is littered with greens and cut flowers. The women all are in light +summer frocks. The sunlight from the long windows is clear and strong. +From the street below swells the sound of martial music. The girls’ +voices at first are barely audible through the din, but as the regiment +passes, presently it dies._ + +MARGARET. Every man that is a man is going to the front. + +FRANCES. That’s just what I told Richard. So of course he went and +volunteered. If he hadn’t, I’d never have spoken to him again. + +MARGARET. The field uniforms are the sweetest things. + +FRANCES. I shall have my new coat cut with a military collar. + +GERTRUDE. Stop talking, girls, and hurry! Don’t forget the train goes +through at half past eleven. + +[_Martha comes in at the left, rear door, with a note and a newspaper._] + +FRANCES. Won’t the soldiers be glad of the flowers! + +LYDIA. You’d much better take them tobacco. + +MARTHA. Here’s the Extra, ma’am, they were crying in the street. +[_Gives paper to Lydia._] And here’s a note from the hospital, ma’am. +[_Gives note to Katherine._] + +MARGARET [_rising_]. Oh, may we look, too? [_Runs to Lydia._] + +FRANCES [_at Lydia’s side_]. Another victory. Glorious! + +LYDIA. Didn’t I tell you? When once this country is roused! + +KATHERINE. Gertrude! + +GERTRUDE. Yes, dear. + +KATHERINE. We’d better cut up all the old linen in the house. + +GERTRUDE. Are they short of gauze already? + +KATHERINE. Yes. And another trainload of wounded will come in to-night. + +FRANCES [_returning to the table_]. Did you hear that, Trudie? Another +victory! + +GERTRUDE. Oh, yes. I heard. + +MARTHA. Here are the keys, ma’am. + +KATHERINE. Yes. Are the sandwiches ready? + +MARTHA. I’ve just given the hamper to the porter to take to the station. + +KATHERINE. Boil both the hams to-night. The commissary seems to have +broken down. If we don’t feed the troops that pass through— + +GERTRUDE. O Martha! Reach us some flowers from the window boxes. We’re +running short. + +MARTHA [_at rear window, right_]. They’re most all dying, Miss. It’s +the dust the men kick up a-marching by. + +[_A bugle sounds in the street and the jingle of harness._] + +ROLAND [_at the window_]. O Mummy, look! Cavalry! + +FRANCES. If I don’t just love a bugle! + +MARTHA. Wouldn’t I just like to be a man and go fight the nasty +foreigners myself! + +PROFESSOR. Martha! Will you please come here? + +MARTHA. Yes, sir. [_Goes into writing room._] + +PROFESSOR. At last I have caught that troublesome mouse. Kindly dispose +of it! [_Gives Martha a wire trap, which he takes from beneath the +writing table._] I mean, take it away and kill it. + +MARTHA [_coming into the parlor_]. Well, I must say! I’ve never killed +nothing in my life, but flies and mosquitoes. And if he wants his mouse +killed, he can kill it himself, so there. + +ROLAND [_going to her_]. Say, Martha, let’s turn him loose in the court. + +MARTHA. We will that. + +ROLAND. He’ll be so scared he’ll never come back, and he’ll tell all +the other little mice never to come here, too. + +[_Roland and Martha go out at the forward door left._] + +PROFESSOR [_rising_]. There! That is quite done. [_Comes into the +parlor, manuscript in hand._] This is an appeal to be given to the +world in this evening’s papers, a trumpet call to the youth of our land +to rally to the standard. + +GERTRUDE. What’s the good of their rallying, if there’s no equipment +for them? + +PROFESSOR. That is beside the point. [_Margaret goes to the rear window +for flowers._] Their backwardness at such a time is appalling. + +KATHERINE. So many men have wives and children and old folks that +depend upon them. + +PROFESSOR. The claims of our country are paramount. + +LYDIA. What do you know about it? You’ve nothing with a claim upon you, +except that bowl of gold-fish. + +PROFESSOR [_going to her_]. Let me assure you, my dear sister, that if +my heart were not weak, and if I were not past the age limit, I should +be already at the front. That is, if it were not true now as always +that the pen is mightier than the sword. If I can stir a thousand men +to action by my writings, obviously it is better for the nation that I +stay at home and write. [_Goes to the door, but turns, smarting with +the sense of his wrongs._] Anybody but a woman would see that! + +[_The Professor goes out, forward door, left._] + +GERTRUDE. Hurry, Margaret! It’s late! + +MARGARET. Just a minute. It’s a lot of volunteers are passing now. Come +see them, Kate! + +KATHERINE. I can’t bear to look. They’re all so young. + +MARGARET. Oh, Basil! [_Turns from window._] Here’s your brother Basil, +just coming up the steps. And he’s got his uniform at last. + +FRANCES [_rising_]. What uniform? + +GERTRUDE [_rising_]. They’ve graduated the first class cadets ahead of +time. Basil is a lieutenant now. + +[_Basil comes in, forward door, left, in the showy uniform of a hussar +lieutenant, which he carries well. You love him at sight._] + +GERTRUDE. Oh, you beautiful thing! + +BASIL. Chuck it now! [_Puts busby and gauntlets on chair._] Good +morning, Frances. Good morning, Margaret. + +FRANCES. My, but you’re splendid! + +BASIL. How do you like it, Mother? + +LYDIA. Come here! That collar isn’t going to rub your neck? + +BASIL. Devil a bit! + +FRANCES. Don’t you want to do something for me? + +BASIL [_going to her, with an exaggerated bow_]. My heart is at your +feet. + +FRANCES. I don’t want your heart. I want one of your coat buttons. + +BASIL. The penalty for cutting off a button is shooting. Do you want to +put a permanent crimp in my career? + +FRANCES. But you must have an extra button. + +BASIL. I have. [_Takes button from pocket._] For the dearest girl in +the world. + +FRANCES. That’s me? + +MARGARET [_wounded_]. Basil! + +BASIL [_turning to Lydia_]. Will you accept it, Mother? + +LYDIA [_trying to hide her feelings_]. Foolishness! [_Pockets button._] +I can ease that collar a little. You’re staying to lunch? + +BASIL. I’m afraid not. Just ran around to say: So long! + +KATHERINE. What do you mean? + +BASIL. Ripping good luck! We’ve got our marching orders. + +[_The three girls speak together_:] + +FRANCES. How perfectly lovely! + +MARGARET. This very day? + +GERTRUDE. Where are you going? + +LYDIA. Marching orders! [_Sinks back in her chair, clutching the flag._] + +BASIL [_bending over her_]. Mother! I say! + +LYDIA. It’s—a little sudden. Don’t mind me! [_Rises, leaving the flag +on the chair._] There are some things to get ready. I’ll be down in a +minute. + +[_Lydia goes out through the writing room._] + +GERTRUDE [_after an instant’s troubled pause_]. These flowers must go. + +FRANCES. You must have a flower, Basil. To remember me by. [_Puts a +flower in his coat._] + +BASIL. Is it likely I’d forget you? + +MARGARET [_offering a flower_]. Here, Basil. + +BASIL [_taking flower_]. But I’ll have to wear one of them behind my +ear! + +FRANCES. Goose! I’m going to kiss you good-bye. Old playmates! [_Kisses +him._] Good-bye, Gertrude! Good luck, Basil! + +[_Frances goes out, forward door left, with the basket of flowers._] + +MARGARET. Good-bye, Basil! + +BASIL [_taking her hand_]. Good-bye, Margaret. Don’t forget me! + +MARGARET. No, never. + +[_He starts to draw her to him._] + +FRANCES [_outside_]. Hurry, Margaret! Hurry! Hurry! + +[_Margaret goes out, forward door, left._] + +BASIL [_throwing into the wastepaper-basket the flower that Frances +gave_]. It gets me how you can have a little idiot like Frances buzzing +round you. [_Goes to the window, right, back, putting Margaret’s flower +in his coat as he does so._] + +GERTRUDE. Thank goodness, we’re rid of them at last. + +BASIL [_in window_]. She doesn’t look back. + +GERTRUDE [_impishly_]. Frances? + +BASIL. Frances? No! Of course not. + +KATHERINE. Where are they sending you? + +BASIL. Don’t know. [_Turns from window, slightly swaggering, while he +gets out a cigarette._] Oh, the firing line, all right. Great luck! +Was afraid the war would be over before I’d had a crack at it. Can’t +last more than six weeks, you know. We’ve got the beggars on the run +already. So much for all their big guns and new explosives. It’s the +spirit you put into it counts, I tell you. Hang it all! Got any matches? + +KATHERINE. Right here. + +BASIL [_going to secretary_]. Seen the papers, haven’t you? [_Strikes +a match._] We’ve had another— Hello! Still got Phil’s picture standing +round? [_Toward table, smoking._] + +KATHERINE. Why not? + +BASIL. Just a matter of taste, that’s all. I wonder if the fellow was a +spy. + +KATHERINE. Now that you’re wearing a lieutenant’s uniform, it would be +a mortal insult to box your ears, wouldn’t it? + +BASIL. [_distinctly embarrassed_]. Well? + +KATHERINE. I should hate to have to insult you. Better go to your +mother. She’s waiting for you. + +BASIL [_on way out_]. Coming, Trudie? + +GERTRUDE. In a minute. I’ve got to clear up. + +[_Basil goes out through the writing room. Gertrude throws litter from +the table into the wastepaper-basket._] + +GERTRUDE. Kate! Basil is right, you know. + +KATHERINE. About Phil’s picture? [_Rises._] + +GERTRUDE. Yes. + +KATHERINE [_going to her_]. Gertrude! Have you thought— + +GERTRUDE. I haven’t done much else, all these endless days. It’s got to +stop. Why, Kate, what else can I do? Basil is going to the front. Rob +is drilling with his regiment. I belong with them. Not with Phil. + +KATHERINE. How much did you ever really care for him? + +GERTRUDE. So much that if he came in at that door—if I heard his +voice—if I felt his arms about me— What should I do? [_Clings to +Katherine, sobbing._] Oh, I don’t know what I should do. + +[_Robert comes in, forward door, left, in civilian clothes._] + +ROBERT. Hello! Hello! What’s the row? + +[_Military music from the street below._] + +GERTRUDE. Oh, let me be! Please! Let me be! + +[_Gertrude hurries out, crying, at the rear door left._] + +ROBERT. What’s up? + +KATHERINE. She’s tired to death, that’s all. [_Sits on sofa._] + +ROBERT. Not fretting about Phil, is she? + +KATHERINE. What should you suppose? + +ROBERT. Well, she’d better drop it. Things being as they are— Can’t +you see it’s impossible? [_Katherine hides her face in her hands._] +What’s the matter? [_He sits beside her._] Come, come, Kate! That isn’t +like you. Tired, aren’t you? + +KATHERINE. Tired of hearing them marching by. All day long. All night +long. And all the love and kindness that made our lives, trampled under +the feet that march. + +ROBERT. That’s morbid. Come on! Crack a smile, Kate. That’s a good +girl. You don’t want to lose your grip, you know, so early in the game. + +[_Music dies slowly away._] + +KATHERINE. So early— You mean the war is only just beginning? + +ROBERT. Kate! It hasn’t even begun. + +KATHERINE. And Basil says: In six weeks! + +ROBERT. Yes. And the newspapers report another victory, every day or so. + +KATHERINE. You mean they’re telling us— + +ROBERT. Well—they’re not telling us more than half the truth. Don’t +you worry, dear! In the long run we’ll knock those damned cock-sure +foreigners down on their knees, yes, and hold ’em there till they +promise to be good. But before we can do that, we’ve got to make an +army out of a lot of raw men that never so much as loaded a gun. That +isn’t done in a day. + +KATHERINE. Oh, what’s the good of it! What’s the use of it! What’s the +sense of it! + +ROBERT. Kate! + +KATHERINE. In ten days’ fighting you’ve undone the life-work of +thousands of people. There ought to be some other way. There must be +some other way. + +ROBERT. There, there! + +KATHERINE. And you say we haven’t even begun! But we women, we’ve begun +already. Do you realize what the distress is like in the families of +the poorer men that have volunteered? + +ROBERT. Those things will all adjust themselves. + +KATHERINE. Do you realize how many babies have been killed already by +your war? + +ROBERT. What are you talking about? + +KATHERINE. So many dead, because the milk in the mother’s breast turned +poison, when the father went away to war. So many born dead— + +ROBERT. That’s sentimental. The infant death-rate may soar a bit, but +after a war there’s always an increase in births. + +KATHERINE. If Roland should die, would it console you to know that a +dozen children will be born down in the village next winter? + +ROBERT [_rising_]. There’s no reasoning with you, Kate. Too bad to +disagree to-day, of all days. [_Goes to hearth._] I had something I +wanted to tell you. + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Something—bad, you mean. + +ROBERT. Nothing dreadful, only—I might have mentioned it before, but +I thought, in case I didn’t pull it off, no need to fuss you up for +nothing. And as long as you’re comfortably fixed here— + +KATHERINE [_going to him_]. Quick! Quick! Tell me what you’re driving +at! + +ROBERT. Kate, dear! + +KATHERINE. You’re going to leave me? + +ROBERT. Yes. + +KATHERINE. With the men that march? + +ROBERT. Yes. + +KATHERINE. My God! [_Quietly sits down by the hearth._] + +ROBERT. The country needs trained men. Needs ’em desperately. You +wouldn’t have me hang round home now, would you? I couldn’t anyhow. Not +with his blood in me [_pointing to the picture over the fireplace_], +and the chaps that were his fathers before him. + +KATHERINE. I thought—not till later. Your regiment, just raw +defensibles— + +ROBERT. I’m not waiting for them. + +KATHERINE. You’ve volunteered? + +ROBERT. Changed my major’s commission for a captaincy in the regulars. +Don’t you realize? They’re short of officers already. I’m to report at +Headquarters to-night. + +KATHERINE. This very night? + +ROBERT. Had my new uniform sent round here. Better get into it, +perhaps. [_Starts toward writing room._] + +KATHERINE. And Basil goes to-day. What will your mother do? What shall +I do? + +ROBERT [_turning quickly_]. Kate! + +KATHERINE. All right. [_Controls herself. Rises._] Yes. Of course. I +understand. It’s in the blood. My fathers weren’t soldiers—but one of +them burned at the stake for the faith that was his. How much time have +we still? + +ROBERT. Well—about an hour. + +KATHERINE. No more? Your mother—she’ll want a moment, alone. Go to her! +Speak to Gertrude! I’ll come in a minute. + +ROBERT. Kate! [_Catches her to him._] You see, I didn’t realize that +the call would come so soon. Kate, dear! + +KATHERINE. Don’t! I can’t bear it. Please go! I’ll come presently. I’ll +come. + +[_Robert goes out through the writing room. Katherine sways and sinks +on the sofa, covering her face with her hands. After a moment Martha +comes in excitedly at the forward door left._] + +MARTHA. If you please, ma’am. + +KATHERINE. Not now, Martha. I can’t. + +MARTHA. O ma’am! He’s come back. + +KATHERINE [_looking up._] Who? + +MARTHA. Mr. Philip. + +KATHERINE. Phil! + +MARTHA. He wants to see you. He’s waiting downstairs. + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Not here in this house? + +MARTHA. Yes, ma’am. + +KATHERINE. In this town where everybody knows him! Why, the people in +the street—the very neighbors—if they should raise the cry of spy! + +MARTHA. O ma’am! Not like that poor man they— + +KATHERINE. Send him up here quick! And don’t let any one else in. +[_Martha starts to go._] Say I’m not at home. + +[_Phil comes in headlong at the forward door._] + +PHIL [_catching her last words_]. You’ve got to see me, Katherine. + +[_Martha goes out._] + +KATHERINE. Oh, you crazy boy! + +PHIL [_grasping her hands_]. Listen to me! + +KATHERINE. Why aren’t you safe across your own frontier? You’ve had ten +days. + +PHIL. Ten days? Yes. Ten days like ten years. I’ve been hiding out in +the suburbs. I’ve been waiting for a word from Gertrude. + +KATHERINE. Phil! + +PHIL. Where is she? + +KATHERINE. Here. + +PHIL. Why hasn’t she sent me a word? Didn’t you get my letters? + +KATHERINE. Yes. + +PHIL. Then why hasn’t she written? What’s wrong? Tell me, Katherine! +Tell me! I’ve come here to find out. I don’t go till I do find out. + +[_Gertrude comes in at the rear door left._] + +GERTRUDE. O Kate! Rob is calling for you. + +PHIL [_turning, arms out_]. Gertrude! + +GERTRUDE [_instinctively, straight to his arms_]. Phil! Phil! +[_Recovering herself, she draws back._] Oh, no! no! + +KATHERINE [_in the doorway of the writing room_]. Say what you came to +say. I’ll go to Rob. + +GERTRUDE. Don’t leave me, Kate! + +KATHERINE. He’s risked his life to come here. You’ve got to listen to +him. + +[_Katherine goes out through the writing room._] + +GERTRUDE. There’s nothing to say. You belong there. I belong here. + +PHIL. Belong to what? To a lot of crazy savages, gone drunk with +newspaper-lies? + +GERTRUDE. You shan’t speak so of my countrymen! + +PHIL. My own precious countrymen are just as wild-eyed as yours. We +don’t belong to either camp. We belong to each other. + +GERTRUDE. No, no! That’s all past! + +PHIL. You bet it isn’t. Sit down! Come! [_Draws her down on the sofa, +and sits beside her._] Listen to me, Trudie! Get the noise of the +marching out of your ears. Remember what it was like, spring twilight, +there in the garden, when we first kissed. [_Kisses her._] + +GERTRUDE [_clinging to him_]. O Phil! These last days—they’ve been an +awful dream. + +PHIL. That’s all we’ll let this war be to us, an awful dream. We’re +going to get out of it. + +GERTRUDE. How can we? + +PHIL. Now listen! You sail for America next week. I’ll send you to an +exchange professor that I know. His wife will look after you. I’ll join +you inside the month. We’ll be married. + +GERTRUDE. And I thought it was all over and done with! + +PHIL. They’ll give me an instructor’s berth, and a room in the +laboratory. I’ll get at the research. While they’re killing over here, +I’ll be hammering out a way to cure. Isn’t that as worth while? + +GERTRUDE. Why, yes. Of course! + +PHIL. And we’ll have a shelter to offer to your mother and to +Katherine, if things go wrong. + +GERTRUDE. If things— [_Slowly comprehending._] If things go wrong? You +mean you think your people will get the better of my people? + +PHIL. Dear, I only said if. + +GERTRUDE [_rising_]. But you think it. + +PHIL. What else can I think? I know the kind of fight my country is +going to make. There’s only one outcome possible. [_Rises._] But all +that has nothing to do with us, dear, has it? + +GERTRUDE. Yes. Everything—everything. I’ve got to stand by. Because my +country is going to need every ounce of strength that’s in every last +man and woman, too. Because your treacherous country— + +PHIL. Treacherous! + +GERTRUDE. Yes. Haven’t you been arming yourselves? + +PHIL. It’s hardly fair to call us treacherous because you’ve chosen to +be blind. + +GERTRUDE. Why— + +PHIL. A nation’s got to do one of two things: arm itself or else +stop talking war. You’ve gone about bragging of your past, with a +blunderbuss made in 1830. Now we’ll turn to with real guns and teach +you— + +GERTRUDE. Phil! + +PHIL [_realizing what he has said_]. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean +it. [_Going to her._] One country is to me no more than another. +Trudie! Please! + +GERTRUDE. You may believe what you’re saying. But it isn’t so. You +belong with the foreigners, after all. And they’ve behaved like savages. + +PHIL. Remember, dear, my father and my mother belong to that race of +savages. + +GERTRUDE. Yes. I remember at last. Oh, I was crazy! Even for a minute +to think that we could ever— + +PHIL. Listen to me! + +GERTRUDE [_turning from him_]. No, no! [_Snatches the flag from her +mother’s chair._] This is my flag. My father fought for it. His father— + +PHIL. Don’t be theatric, dear. + +GERTRUDE. Yes, that’s just what you would say—a man who turns his back +on his homeland—who runs away when others fight— + +PHIL. Yes. Running into a laboratory, where I’ve risked death a hundred +times, and no bugles and flags about it either. + +GERTRUDE. But I stand by my country. If I can help one wounded boy that +has fought for his country— + +PHIL. You don’t know what you’re saying, Trudie. [_Goes to her._] +You’re tired. You’re hysterical. [_Takes her in his arms._] + +GERTRUDE. Let me go! + +PHIL. Listen to me! Listen! We’ll give up the thought of America. I +don’t ask you to marry me now. I ask you only to wait. + +GERTRUDE. No, no! + +PHIL. Only to say that you love me and you’ll wait. Only that! O my +dear! Don’t you realize it’s our lives we’re settling now, for keeps? + +GERTRUDE. And do you think I’ll tie my life to a coward? + +PHIL [_drawing back, mortally hurt_]. Trudie! + +[_Robert, in the uniform of an infantry captain, comes through the +writing room, followed by Katherine._] + +KATHERINE. Wait, Rob! Wait! + +GERTRUDE. Here’s where I belong. Here’s where I stay. + +ROBERT [_coming into the parlor, to Phil_]. What are you doing here? + +PHIL. Wasting time. [_Goes blindly to the right._] + +[_Basil comes through the writing room._] + +BASIL. What’s the row? [_Seeing Phil._] Come back, have you? + +GERTRUDE. He wants me to marry him. But I won’t go with him. + +ROBERT [_beneath his breath_]. You sneak! + +BASIL. Case for the detention camp, this time, Rob. + +PHIL [_facing the brothers_]. Well? + +ROLAND [_outside_]. Daddy! + +ROBERT. Keep him out! + +[_Before Basil can move to intercept him, Roland runs in at the rear +door left, and casts himself upon Phil._] + +ROLAND. O my Phil! Did you come back to see us? + +KATHERINE. Rob! Please! Please! You know what brought him here. + +ROBERT [_after a moment, pointing off through writing room_]. That way +is clear. For old sake’s sake, you’re free to go that way, if you go +quick. + +PHIL. Thanks! [_Sets down Roland._] I like the front way better. + +KATHERINE. Phil! No! If they take you at our door! + +PHIL. I came safe. I shall go safe. I am the sort looks out always for +safety. + +KATHERINE. But where are you going? + +PHIL. Back to my own country. Then to hell very likely. + +[_Phil goes out by the forward door._] + +GERTRUDE. Oh! They won’t kill him! [_Starts after Phil._] + +[_Robert stops her._] + +BASIL [_in window at back_]. The street’s clear. Or he wouldn’t have +risked it. + +ROBERT. Good old Trudie! + +ROLAND [_curled up on the sofa, sobbing._] Phil! + +BASIL [_going to him_]. Buck up, old man! + +[_Lydia appears in the doorway of the writing room. Very faintly from +the street sounds the music of the March-out, which swells louder and +louder as the act goes on._] + +LYDIA. Boys! It’s time, if you’re to take that train. + +ROBERT. Roland! Stop crying. Come, come! [_Leads him to Katherine._] +Remember you’re to take care of your mother. + +LYDIA. Give me that flag, Gertrude! + +GERTRUDE [_beside herself, kissing the flag passionately_]. O Mother! +Mother! + +LYDIA. Hush! It was the flag of your father’s company, Basil. Bring it +home, as he brought it! Bring it home! + +BASIL. Yes, Mother. [_Kisses her, and places her, half fainting, on the +sofa._] Good girl, Sis! [_Embraces Gertrude._] Good-bye! Six weeks from +now. We’ll have them cleaned up by then, the scallawags! [_Catching up +busby and gloves._] Come on, Rob, you duffer! Good-bye, Kate! Six weeks +and a captaincy! Good-bye! + +[_Basil goes out at forward door._] + +LYDIA. My little boy! Rob! My little boy! + +ROBERT [_kneeling before her_]. There, there, Mother! It’s all right. +It’s all right. You’ve got Gertrude. You’ve got Kate. Take care of each +other. It won’t be long. [_Turns to Katherine._] Old girl! [_Kisses +her, snatches up his cap, goes hurriedly to the door._] Good-bye! + +ROLAND [_running after Robert_]. Good-bye, Daddy! + +[_Robert goes out. The door closes in Roland’s grieved and puzzled +little face._] + +LYDIA. Basil! My little, little boy! + +GERTRUDE [_seated at table, raising her head_]. Do you think you’re the +only one that’s given? I’ve given. All that I have. For my country. +Freely. Joyfully. + +[_Frances and Margaret run in at the rear door left._] + +FRANCES. Such a crowd! We ran in the back way. + +MARGARET. They’re gone! + +FRANCES. No, not yet. + +[_The two girls run to the window, rear, Roland to the front window._] + +GERTRUDE [_rising unsteadily_]. Quick! The flowers! All that there are! + +[_The three girls crowd in the rear window, tearing up the flowers +from the window boxes, and casting them to the troops that pass below, +with broken cries of “Good luck!” “Good-bye!” that are drowned in the +music of the March-out. Katherine stands with eyes covered. Roland tugs +at her skirt and draws her to the window where he stands waving his +flag. The music is at its fortissimo. Lydia nerves herself, rises, and +totters a step toward the window._] + + + CURTAIN + + + + +ACT II + + +_It is the same parlor, where the girls in summer frocks were making +nosegays, but since that morning nine months of war have passed. The +curtains are drawn across the arched doorway to the writing room. The +windows are half coated with frost. The window boxes are gone. The +gold-fish and their stand are near the hearth, where a meager coal +fire burns. On the bookcase to the right of the door to the writing +room is a large lighted lamp. On the mantel-shelf a pair of lighted +candles. Upon the table, on a large tray, is a coffee machine, with its +accessories, sugar basin, cups, and spoons._ + +_The season is February, bitterly cold. The time is early evening._ + +_Beside the hearth, wrapped in a shawl, Lydia sits knitting. With the +passing of the months she has aged and thinned. The Professor cowers on +the sofa, with a gray shawl over his stooping shoulders. In the rear +window stands Gertrude, looking down into the street. She wears over +her house dress a knitted jacket. All three have the air of people worn +out with anxiety and grief and apathetic with despair. Only Gertrude +blazes with rebellion. From the street sounds monotonously the roll of +the wheels of heavy artillery. After a moment the Professor speaks._ + +PROFESSOR. Are they still marching by? + +GERTRUDE. Don’t you hear the wheels of the artillery? + +PROFESSOR. The foreigners, in our city! + +LYDIA. How can you bear to watch them? + +GERTRUDE. I want to see the guns that finished us. Do you remember how +we stood at the window, eight months ago? How we cheered and threw +flowers? + +LYDIA. It was the day that Basil went to the front. + +GERTRUDE. The war was to end in six weeks. We believed it. Fools! + +LYDIA. I’ve dropped another stitch. + +GERTRUDE [_going to her, with compunction_]. How can you knit, and your +hands so cold? + +LYDIA. It takes up my mind. + +GERTRUDE. I’ll fix the fire. + +[_She kneels on the hearth, and lays on the coal, a piece at a time, +lifting the pieces with a bit of newspaper, in order to do it without +noise._] + +PROFESSOR. Yes, the room is shockingly cold. Dear, dear! [_Sits by the +hearth._] + +LYDIA. Carefully, Gertrude. Don’t waste the coal! + +GERTRUDE. What’s the sense of saving coal to warm those foreign brutes? +[_Rises._] Let’s be comfortable for an hour. We may not live any +longer. [_Goes to the window, front._] + +PROFESSOR. Non-combatants in an undefended town! The invaders are bound +by every usage of civilized warfare— + +GERTRUDE. What’s civilized warfare got to do with it? Still marching! +No end to them. We used to laugh at them for playing soldier. Playing +soldier! It was we that played. They made a business of it. + +LYDIA. But God is on our side. We must triumph in the end. + +GERTRUDE. Phil said: Either arm, or stop talking war. We wouldn’t arm, +but we liked to talk. And there are the foreigners marching through our +streets. They’ll be quartered under our roof. They’ll be— + +LYDIA. Hush! Listen! + +GERTRUDE. What is it? + +LYDIA. Go to the door. I heard the bell ring. + +GERTRUDE. Why, it can’t be, Mother. They wouldn’t ring. And no one else +would come. + +[_The door bell rings._] + +LYDIA. I said so! + +[_Katherine comes from the writing room, drawing the curtains close +behind her. She wears a knitted coat over her house dress._] + +KATHERINE. Some one is ringing. Didn’t you hear? The noise will wake +Roland. [_Comes into parlor._] They must come in. + +GERTRUDE. I’ll go down. + +KATHERINE. No. You’d better let me. + +[_Katherine goes out at the forward door. The bell rings again._] + +PROFESSOR [_querulously_]. Where has she gone? + +LYDIA. Listen! + +PROFESSOR. There is a draught from that door. + +GERTRUDE. Please be quiet, Uncle. [_Goes to the door._] There is some +one crying. I can hear them on the stairs. + +MARGARET [_outside, sobbing_]. I’m so glad to find somebody. I’m so +glad. + +GERTRUDE. Why, it’s Margaret. + +[_Katherine comes in again, supporting Margaret, very pale, in a plain +hat and loose dark cloak. Gertrude closes the door after they have +entered._] + +MARGARET. Oh, let me stay here! Let me stay! + +KATHERINE. What else should you do? Only don’t cry, silly! You’ll wake +up Roland. Let us help you out of your things. [_Takes off her cloak._] +There’s a little coffee left, Gertrude. Start the machine! + +[_Gertrude, at back of table, starts the coffee machine. Katherine sits +by Margaret on the sofa. It is now seen that Margaret wears on her left +arm a Red Cross band and that her hand rests, bandaged, in a sling._] + +LYDIA. We thought you were still at St. Mary’s. + +KATHERINE. When did you leave the hospital? + +MARGARET. There isn’t any hospital any more. They dropped bombs into +St. Mary’s night before last. I got my arm burned, helping to carry out +our wounded men. We couldn’t get them all. [_Sobs._] We couldn’t get +them all. + +KATHERINE. Don’t, dear! You mustn’t. Don’t! + +MARGARET. I wasn’t any use, with only one arm. So I started. It was the +last train into town. Last night that was. But now—there’s no way to +get out. + +KATHERINE. Yes. It’s too late now. + +MARGARET. But why have you stayed on? I couldn’t believe my eyes, when +I looked up and saw Gertrude at the window. + +KATHERINE. Roland has been sick. + +LYDIA. With typhoid, yes. We couldn’t move him. + +KATHERINE. But you—you ought to have gone, Mother. + +LYDIA. Where? The enemy hold the north. They’re probably stabling their +horses in our parlor now. Cutting down Rob’s young trees to build their +fires. + +KATHERINE. Mother, you’re shivering. [_Rises._] I’ll bring more coal. + +GERTRUDE. Let me, Kate! + +KATHERINE. No, you did it last time. + +[_Katherine goes out with the coal scuttle at the rear door left._] + +MARGARET. The servants have all left you? + +LYDIA. Yes. Martha was the last. + +MARGARET. Why, I never thought that Martha— + +GERTRUDE. She had to go to help her sister. There was a baby coming. +She’s been gone a month. + +MARGARET. I hope it wasn’t to the north she went. + +GERTRUDE. Yes. It was. + +MARGARET. And have you any word of—Robert? + +GERTRUDE. He is on the battle-line in the west. They have made him a +major. He has the medal of honor. + +MARGARET. And—and— + +GERTRUDE. Basil? No. No word in three months. Not since the river fight. + +LYDIA [_in a strained voice_]. Once, in his first campaign, I was seven +months without a word from your father. Seven whole months! + +MARGARET. Missing? Not that! Anything but that! + +[_Gertrude sits beside her, comforting._] + +LYDIA. Missing? Why, it means no more than that a man is held a +prisoner, or maybe wounded in some field hospital. I’ve lived through +two wars. I know what I’m talking about. + +[_Katherine comes in again with the coal._] + +KATHERINE. We must try to make this coal last till midnight. [_Lays on +a few pieces, carefully and quietly._] + +GERTRUDE [_going to the machine_]. It’s lucky we have the big lamp to +help out. + +KATHERINE. Yes. There’s still a barrel of oil below. + +MARGARET [_rising_]. Shall I draw the curtains? + +GERTRUDE. No, no! The orders are that windows shall be lighted and +unscreened. + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Isn’t the coffee ready? + +GERTRUDE [_filling cup_]. I’m afraid it’s barely lukewarm. + +MARGARET. No matter! + +GERTRUDE. Here’s the sugar. [_Gives cup to Katherine._] + +KATHERINE [_carrying the cup to Margaret, at the right_]. I’m sorry +there’s no condensed milk to spare. But we have to keep it all for +Roland. + +GERTRUDE. They’ll take it when they come. You’ll see they will, the +brutes! + +KATHERINE. What’s the good of it, Gertrude? They’re here in the town. +Any minute they’ll be in this house. + +MARGARET. Oh! [_Lets the cup fall._] They’re here—this minute! Look! +Look! + +KATHERINE. Be quiet! What is it? + +MARGARET [_pointing_]. The door! + +[_Slowly the rear door at left is pushed open and Martha comes in. Her +dark dress and coarse shoes are muddied and a little disordered. Her +hair is a little displaced. Her hat is broken. She is very quiet, only +her eyes are a little too bright._] + +GERTRUDE. Why, Martha! + +KATHERINE. Blessed woman! Where did you come from? + +MARTHA. I came in by the back way, as usual, ma’am. Shan’t I cook you +some dinner? I have come back to stay, if you please. + +KATHERINE. But how did you ever get here? [_Sits at left of table._] +With the enemy filling the roads— + +MARTHA. I came on a train. Then I walked. I have come back. There is no +meat in the larder, but I can make a soup of tinned things. + +LYDIA. I can’t understand. Where did you leave your sister? + +MARTHA [_pleasantly_]. Oh, I haven’t any sister. Look here! [_From her +bosom takes a child’s little knitted glove._] That’s Patty’s glove, my +little niece with the pretty curls. I made it myself for her. We heard +in the morning that the foreigners were coming into the town. A bomb +fell right in our street and tore an old man’s arm off. Sister took the +baby. It was two weeks old. I took Patty. She had her doll in her arms. +We got onto a tram. We was trying to get the station. They said there +still were trains— + +KATHERINE. Don’t try to tell us, Martha! Don’t! + +MARTHA. Why not? I tell it over to myself all day and all night. There +was a bomb struck a house. Patty cried. I can feel her little arms +round my neck. There was another bomb, and the tram opened up, just +like a paper box when you hit it. You know how ’tis at the butcher’s +shop, all sort of red and shapeless and dripping? Well, it was like +that where my sister had been, with the baby. I just took Patty and I +ran. I had her tight by the hand, and I could see the station at the +end of the street. Then I heard ’em screaming that the soldiers were +coming, and horses galloping, and I fell, and the crowd went over me. +When I got up, I had Patty’s glove in my hand. But I couldn’t find +her. I kept asking folks if they’d seen a little girl, with curls and +a doll in her arms. I kept asking till the houses began to burn. Then +I came away. That’s all that’s left of my sister and Patty and the +little baby. Funny to think of, isn’t it? [_Puts the glove back in her +bosom._] Now I’ll get dinner. + +KATHERINE [_going to her_]. Listen, Martha! You must go to your +room—your old room. I’ll bring something that you must take. You must +sleep. + +[_The door bell rings furiously._] + +MARGARET [_screaming_]. Oh! Oh! + +GERTRUDE. They’ve come! + +[_Heavy knocking on the door below._] + +KATHERINE. Yes. At last. They mustn’t make that noise. [_Starts to the +door._] + +MARTHA. You can’t demean yourself, ma’am. I’ll go to the door. + +[_Martha goes out at the forward door left. An instant of silence and +strained listening. Then renewed beating on the door._] + +GERTRUDE. Oh! And we’re helpless! Helpless! + +MARGARET [_half screaming_]. I’m afraid—afraid! + +KATHERINE. Pull yourself together! Remember what race you belong to. +Stop it now! + +PROFESSOR. Non-combatants—our rights are clear and unviolable. The law +of nations— + +THE CORPORAL [_outside_]. Make now an end of that! I go where I shall +damn please. + +[_Enter at the forward door left, shoving Martha before him, the +foreign Corporal. A man of forty odd, in shabby cavalry uniform, +overcoat and gauntlets, with a carbine slung across his back. No +villain, just a coarse, common man, capable of rough geniality, even of +rough kindliness. Just now, cold, tired, and hungry, he shows few signs +of either quality._] + +CORPORAL. Trot in and announce me, old girl! + +[_Katherine steps between him and Martha, who retreats to the right._] + +KATHERINE. You are billeted here, I suppose? + +CORPORAL [_handing her a paper_]. You can bet we are. The Lieutenant, +me, the Corporal, and three of our men. [_Crosses to Martha._] Hurry +up, old girl! We want grub and plenty of it, too. Oh, you’ll get your +taste, do not be afraid. We’re not risking a dose o’ rat poison in our +porridge. [_Pulling off his gauntlets._] May as well bring us up also a +bottle or two of wine. The old chap has some down in the cellar. + +PROFESSOR [_rising_]. What! + +CORPORAL. Oh, you cannot fool me! I was foreman in a shop on the next +street, until the war broke out. + +KATHERINE. Martha, cook enough for five men. As quickly as possible. + +MARTHA. Yes, ma’am. + +[_Martha goes out at the rear door, left._] + +CORPORAL. Is this your warmest room? + +KATHERINE. Yes. + +CORPORAL. Well, it is not quite so cold as out o’ doors. If it’s the +best you got, why, you can vacate. Clear out, I mean. You to the +cock-loft. The Lieutenant must have this room. + +PROFESSOR. My good man— + +KATHERINE. Uncle! + +PROFESSOR. Let me point out to you that these women— + +CORPORAL. Shut up, you old idiot! I had enough of your gab last year, +drifting into your popular lectures down the street here. Survival +of the fittest, that’s what you were preaching. And the fit survive, +because they get the fire and the grub. That is logic, eh? + +LYDIA [_rising_]. Charles! Come! + +[_Lydia and the Professor go out at the rear door left. Margaret +follows after them, shrinking, with her eyes on the Corporal._] + +CORPORAL. Look here, you don’t need to make like that, my girl. I am no +bold, bad ravisher. None of us are. We want the grub, and to get warmed +up. God! We’ve seen women enough a’ready. [_Gertrude puts her arm about +Margaret and leads her to the door. The Corporal spies the coffee +machine and pounces upon it._] Hey! What’s this? Coffee? Ah, the blamed +stuff is cold. [_To Katherine._] Hold on, you! + +[_Margaret hurries out rear door left. Katherine pauses on stair to +writing room. Gertrude runs to her._] + +GERTRUDE. Katherine! + +KATHERINE. Go stay with Roland. He might be frightened. Go to him. I’m +all right. [_Gertrude goes into writing room. Katherine comes to the +table._] Yes, the coffee is cold. Wait and I’ll warm it up. + +CORPORAL. Hurry up, then. Want it hot and plenty when the Lieutenant +comes. Got to treat him nicely. [_Saunters leisurely toward the +hearth._] Kid from the War School. A fine chap, oh yes! But he’s +so newly hatched lieutenant, the shell is still sticking to him. +In Heaven’s name! Do you call that then a fire? [_Catches up coal +scuttle._] + +KATHERINE. Stop! + +CORPORAL. Huh? + +KATHERINE. Don’t make a noise! [_Goes to him._] I’ve got a sick child +in that room. Put the scuttle down. I’ll lay on the coal myself. + +CORPORAL. Damn foolishness! I can’t wait all day. Let go there! + +[_Katherine clings to the scuttle, facing him, defiant. The forward +door at left is flung open noisily and the Lieutenant comes in, +followed by a Trooper. The Lieutenant is about twenty, a slender young +fellow, unshaven, sunken-eyed, haggard with exhaustion. He staggers as +he enters._] + +CORPORAL [_going to him_]. Here! Let me, sir! + +LIEUTENANT. You do not need to hold my arm. [_Moves unsteadily toward +the sofa._] It is twenty years about since I was last a baby. + +CORPORAL. You go down the stairs and make some fires burn. [_Trooper +salutes and goes out rear door left. Katherine kneels and replenishes +her fire. The Lieutenant wavers where he has halted. The Corporal +catches him._] Will you please sit down, sir? [_Puts him on the sofa._] +Shall I pull off your boots? + +LIEUTENANT. Damn it, no! You touch me, and I think I break to pieces +like an icicle. This damned country! + +CORPORAL [_to Katherine_]. Have you brandy? + +KATHERINE. I’ve no more left. But I’ll have the coffee ready in a +minute. + +LIEUTENANT. To hell with your brandy! It is always brandy that you say. +I do not want brandy. I want only to be warm. And a little while to +sleep. + +CORPORAL. You stretch out here, sir. I’ll bring some blankets. + +LIEUTENANT. Curse your soul! How can I sleep? There are the horses. +Stable inspection. [_Painfully he tries to draw the gauntlets from his +half frozen hands._] + +CORPORAL. Just stay here quiet, sir, and leave things to me. Let me +pull off those gauntlets. + +LIEUTENANT. Look here! I am not a baby. Clear out, will you? + +CORPORAL [_saluting_]. Yes, sir. + +[_The Corporal goes out at the forward door left._] + +LIEUTENANT. He is a great fool. Because his mother nursed me he thinks— +Well, where is that coffee? + +KATHERINE [_going to the table_]. I think it’s ready. [_As she moves +the cups she makes a slight noise._] + +LIEUTENANT [_turning quickly_]. Place that machine at the other end of +the table! + +KATHERINE [_moving the tray_]. Certainly. Would you mind telling me why? + +LIEUTENANT. Because ladies of your country have sometimes, in their +playfulness, spilt blazing alcohol upon men of ours with their backs +turned, and given them by mistake hydrochloride solution instead of +water. + +KATHERINE. Do you know men to whom such things have happened? + +LIEUTENANT. I know men who know men to whom it has happened. And I +have read in our newspapers. [_Again he wrestles with his gauntlets, +but desists with a gasp of pain._] Ah! [_Katherine fills a cup with +coffee._] Oh, I am not scared, you know. Give me that coffee! + +KATHERINE. It’s pretty hot. You can’t drink it yet. + +LIEUTENANT. This rotten country. [_His head droops._] + +[_Katherine looks at him, and sees no more than a tired, half-frozen, +miserable boy. Obviously, if he were a very little younger, he would +cry outright. She surrenders to the eternal mother in her._] + +KATHERINE. I can cool your coffee with some condensed milk. [_Going to +the bookcase, she takes a can from behind the books._] + +LIEUTENANT [_feebly lifting his head_]. That’s a funny place to keep +milk. [_Begins again to work off his gauntlets._] + +KATHERINE. I have kept it for my boy that is sick. Kept it hidden. +[_Puts milk into the coffee._] Sugar? + +LIEUTENANT. Two lumps. [_Convention asserts itself._] Please! + +KATHERINE [_coming to him_]. Can you hold the cup? + +LIEUTENANT. My fingers—they are like sticks of wood. + +KATHERINE. I’ll hold it for you. [_Sets the cup to his lips._] Not too +hot? + +LIEUTENANT. No. It’s fine. Go slow! [_He drinks, then pauses, looking +up at her._] Tell me! You are maybe after all on our side? Some of the +folks are, secretly. + +KATHERINE. Oh, no! My husband is at the front. Have some more? + +LIEUTENANT. Yes. [_Drinks, then pauses._] I had forgot, you know. My +cap on in the house. [_He makes a futile effort to remove it with his +numbed hand._] + +KATHERINE. Shall I take it off? + +LIEUTENANT. Yes. Please! + +[_Katherine removes his cap, and lays it on the table, then pours +another cup of coffee._] + +KATHERINE. Shall we get you something to eat? + +LIEUTENANT. I got my throat sore clear into my ears. I can’t swallow +food at all. You know, you do not want to think they all go to pieces +in our army like me. It is not a month I have been at the front. Pretty +soon I get used to it. + +KATHERINE. Hold the cup in your hands. It will thaw out your fingers. +Can you stand it? + +LIEUTENANT. Yes. Won’t you—won’t you sit down? + +KATHERINE. Thank you. [_Takes a chair, sits at a little distance._] + +LIEUTENANT [_drinking coffee throughout_]. We aren’t, you know, really +brutes. But you treat us like we are, and think we are, then we are. +Perhaps if we’d met before the war—and that isn’t yet a year ago—we +might have been nice and polite to each other, and maybe friends. +Funny, isn’t it? + +KATHERINE. So funny that I think the angels cry over the joke of it. + +LIEUTENANT. I came pretty near coming to your country last spring on +vacation. Might have come to this very town. I had a cousin was staying +here— + +[_First Trooper comes in again, with a bucket of coal._] + +LIEUTENANT. Well, what is it, then? + +FIRST TROOPER. Shan’t I fix the fire, sir? [_Starts to throw on coal._] + +KATHERINE. Please don’t make a noise! + +LIEUTENANT. You hear the lady, blockhead! Lay on the coals, one piece +at a time, like she wants. + +FIRST TROOPER. Yes, sir. [_Kneels and replenishes the fire._] + +LIEUTENANT. You are here alone in the house? + +KATHERINE. There are four other women and an old man. + +LIEUTENANT. Where are they, then? + +KATHERINE. Upstairs. + +LIEUTENANT. Are there fires upstairs? + +KATHERINE. No. + +LIEUTENANT. You, there! You will go upstairs and give to the ladies my +compliments. Say they are welcome to use here the room that is warm. Be +civil! + +[_First Trooper salutes and goes out at the rear door left._] + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Thank you! + +LIEUTENANT [_rising_]. We aren’t, you see, brutes, any more than your +own men are, maybe. See here! I think now I can hold a pen. I will +write a paper that you stick on your door. It will help you maybe. + +KATHERINE. You’re good. + +LIEUTENANT. You are the first woman, of the sort I have known at my +mother’s, to speak decent to me in four weeks. Oh, I get used to it. We +are doing what is right. What our country orders, it is always right. +But a chap doesn’t like the kids to cry when they see his uniform. +There’s pen and ink there? + +KATHERINE [_going to the secretary_]. Oh yes. And here’s paper. +[_Lights candles on the secretary._] Are you sure you can manage? + +LIEUTENANT [_sitting at the secretary_]. Yes. I don’t need to write +much. And I am pretty near thawed out. Only now I am sleepy. [_Writes._] + +GERTRUDE [_entering from the writing room_]. Katherine! + +KATHERINE. Come in! [_Goes to her._] It’s all right. He’s a decent +little chap. It’s all right. + +LIEUTENANT. Have you please a blotter? + +KATHERINE [_re-arranging the coffee tray_]. Three or four of them on +the desk. + +LIEUTENANT. Yes, I find them. Hello! [_Takes up a framed photograph._] +What is this picture? + +KATHERINE. An old friend of ours. He was your fellow-countryman. + +LIEUTENANT [_rising_]. He is also my cousin that I told you of. + +GERTRUDE. You are Phil’s cousin? [_Runs to him._] Where is he? What’s +become of him? Is he alive? Oh, for pity’s sake, tell me, tell me! + +LIEUTENANT. You are maybe the girl he wrote of once? + +GERTRUDE. Yes, yes. I’m that girl—his girl. I know that now. Only I was +such a fool. Where is he? Oh, he isn’t—dead? + +LIEUTENANT. No. That is—I heard last from him three months ago. He was +serving with the aviation corps. + +KATHERINE. You mean he is fighting? + +LIEUTENANT. To be sure, yes. What else does a man do, when his country +needs him? + +GERTRUDE. That’s just what I told him, here in this room. I remember. +Yes. + +LIEUTENANT. He volunteered, and he is now officer. + +KATHERINE. And what about his work? The cure for cancer? + +LIEUTENANT. Oh, there isn’t now time for things like that. He must +fight. + +GERTRUDE. Yes. Don’t you understand? Of course he must fight. And it +doesn’t matter—who he fights. He’s mine. I’m his. And I’m waiting for +him, just as he begged me to wait. Oh, he must know it. Where is he? +Where can I write to him? + +LIEUTENANT. I cannot tell you. We do not ever tell what will make +people know where our different troops are stationed. But I can send a +letter maybe for you. + +GERTRUDE. Oh, please! Please! I must tell him. You promise you’ll send +it? You promise? + +LIEUTENANT. As sure as I live. + +[_Lydia, Margaret, and the Professor come in at the rear door left._] + +GERTRUDE. You darling! + +[_For the last hour she has been on the edge of hysterics. Now she +falls over the edge and kisses the Lieutenant._] + +LYDIA. Gertrude! Have you gone crazy? + +GERTRUDE. Oh, it’s all right. He’s going to be related by marriage. +He’s Phil’s cousin. And I’m going to write to Phil this minute. +[_Gertrude sits at the secretary. The Professor sits by the hearth, +Margaret stands near him, Lydia is on the sofa, with her eyes riveted +to the Lieutenant, who, not unnaturally embarrassed, has turned away +and is lighting a cigarette at the desk candle._] How long will it be +before he gets it? O Phil! My own dear! It’s all coming right at last. +It’s all coming right! + +[_Gertrude writes rapidly, her face in the candlelight seraphic with +content. The Lieutenant turns and faces Lydia. She gravely inclines her +head. He bows._] + +LYDIA. You—are their leader? + +LIEUTENANT. Yes, Madam. + +LYDIA. You are—not very old. + +[_Katherine proffers an ash-tray._] + +LIEUTENANT. Thanks! I think I do not smoke. + +KATHERINE. You look done out. Can’t you lie down a bit? + +LIEUTENANT. I ought to keep afoot, I think, till my corporal reports. + +[_Martha comes in at the rear door, left, with a tray, on which are two +cups._] + +MARTHA [_going to Lydia_]. Here is hot soup, ma’am. I made it for you +and the Profes— + +[_Her voice trails off as she sees the Lieutenant. Lydia waves aside +the cup. Martha gives a cup to the Professor._] + +KATHERINE [_going toward the writing room_]. You could lie down on the +couch in the inner room. It is quite warm. My boy is asleep there. Why, +you trust us, don’t you? + +LIEUTENANT [_going to her_]. I trust you. It is two nights I have not +shut my eyes. I think I will. + +[_Martha goes out, rear door, left, with a last glance at the +Lieutenant._] + +LIEUTENANT. You are that lady—Katherine—my cousin wrote about? + +KATHERINE. I’m Katherine, yes. + +LIEUTENANT. Was I pretty beastly at first? I’m—tired. I don’t quite +remember. + +KATHERINE. You’ll feel better when you wake. Good rest. [_Holds out her +hand._] + +LIEUTENANT [_kissing her hand_]. Yes. That’s what I want. Rest! + +[_The Lieutenant goes into the writing room. The curtains close upon +him. Lydia, on the sofa, takes up and fondles his gauntlets. Presently +she cries silently._] + +PROFESSOR [_querulously_]. This soup is weak. [_Margaret takes his cup +and sets it on mantle._] Thanks! But it is good to see Martha moving +about. + +KATHERINE. Why, Mother! Mother! [_Goes to Lydia._] You’re not crying? +Oh, no! That isn’t like you. + +LYDIA. He made me think of Basil. The same age—the cavalry uniform. He +looked so tired! So cold! O God! My little boy—somewhere—tired, cold, +suffering! My little boy! Send him home to me, God! That’s all I ask. +That’s all I’ll ever ask. Send him home! Dear God! [_Sobs._] + +KATHERINE. Oh, hush, dear! Hush! + +PROFESSOR. Be reasonable, Lydia. Only compute how many people, on both +sides of the frontier, are praying in just those terms. How can you +believe that there is a God to hear and— + +LYDIA. Why should He hear the foreigners? Superstitious wretches! They +don’t know how to pray. But we have always served God and fought His +good fight. He will listen to us. He must listen. Oh, my little boy! +Let me see him again. Only let me see him. I’ll be satisfied. + +MARGARET. What was that? + +KATHERINE. Listen, Mother! Please! + +MARGARET. I thought I heard Roland speak. + +KATHERINE. Yes. It was in that room. [_She goes to the door of the +writing room, and parts the curtains a very little._] No. It’s all +quiet. It’s all right. [_Goes to Gertrude._] How are you coming on, +Trudie? + +GERTRUDE. I’m the happiest girl in the world. And I haven’t deserved it. + +KATHERINE. Dear! Don’t be too— + +GERTRUDE. Too sure? Why, I’m as sure of Phil as I am of the stars in +Heaven. If he’s alive—and he is alive. I know it. I feel it. And when +he gets my letter— Bless that little lieutenant! Bless my Phil! God +bless us every one this night. [_Writes._] + +[_The Corporal comes in at the left forward door._] + +CORPORAL. Well! Where’s the Lieutenant? + +KATHERINE. He is lying down in the inner room. [_The Corporal starts +toward the writing room._] Must you disturb him? + +CORPORAL. I’ll look once at him. [_Parts the curtains slightly._] Dark +in there! Give us here a candle. [_Katherine fetches a candle from the +secretary._] He is, you see, my foster-brother, and my old woman, she +will have my skin, if I let him come down with pneumonia. + +KATHERINE [_giving him the candle_]. Here you are! Go softly, won’t you? + +[_The Corporal goes into the writing room._] + +PROFESSOR. You see, it is as I assured you. There are established rules +of warfare, as you women fail to realize, and under those rules— + +[_The Corporal appears in the doorway of the writing room. His quietude +is dreadful. At sight of him the Professor is paralyzed into silence._] + +CORPORAL. Which of you did it? + +[_All rise. The Corporal thrusts aside the curtains, between which he +is standing. The interior of the writing room is disclosed, under the +flickering light of the candle, which he evidently has set at one side. +Across the wall, where formerly stood the bookcases, is a crib, on +which lies Roland, cowering beneath the bed-clothes. Diagonally, head +to the crib, is drawn a couch, upon which, half covered with a rug, +lies the Lieutenant, stretched upon his back, with one arm trailing on +the floor. There is a dark smear across his throat, and upon the pillow +and the sheet._] + +CORPORAL. Come! Speak up! + +PROFESSOR [_babbling_]. What, what, what! + +GERTRUDE. O my God! + +KATHERINE [_in a suffocated voice_]. Roland! Roland! [_Rushes to the +writing room._] + +CORPORAL [_intercepting her, grasping her arms_]. No, you don’t! Make a +man to lie down and rest, and he trusting you, you hell-cat! + +[_Several troopers rush into the room by the door left back._] + +KATHERINE [_shrieking_]. Roland! Roland! Have they killed you, too? + +FIRST TROOPER. What’s the matter? + +CORPORAL. Cut the Lieutenant’s throat, and he asleep. + +GERTRUDE [_rushing to Katherine’s aid_]. No, no! [_Flings herself upon +the Corporal._] Let go of her! + +ROLAND. Mummy! Mummy! + +[_Katherine breaks from the Corporal, rushes to the crib, and lifts +Roland in her arms._] + +KATHERINE. Yes, yes! Mother’s here. + +ROLAND. Don’t let her hurt me! I’m afraid. + +KATHERINE. Shut your eyes! Don’t look, dear! Don’t look! [_Brings him +down into the main room._] + +ROLAND. Why did she do it? With the kitchen knife. Why did Martha do it? + +GERTRUDE. Martha! + +ROLAND. She came through the door. O Mummy! I’m afraid. + +[_Katherine sits on the sofa, with Roland in her arms. Lydia hurries +to her, and puts her shawl about him. Katherine drags off her knitted +jacket to wrap around the child._] + +CORPORAL. Call in the patrol. + +FIRST TROOPER. Yes, sir. [_Runs to window right forward._] + +CORPORAL. Find that other woman! + +[_Two Troopers go out through the writing room._] + +FIRST TROOPER. Hey! They’re just making the rounds. [_Dashes window +open._] Hey, come in here! If you please, sir. [_Turns to Corporal._] +It’s grand rounds, sir. + +ROLAND. I’m cold, Mummy. + +KATHERINE. That draught— Oh, close the window, in pity’s name! + +[_The Troopers come in from the writing room, dragging Martha between +them._] + +SECOND TROOPER. Here she is, sir. + +LYDIA. Martha! You couldn’t have done it. No, no! + +ROLAND. Oh, I’m afraid. + +[_At the forward door, left, come in two Troopers, who stand aside +at attention. The Foreign Major follows them in—a tall, thin man, +pale-featured, impersonal as Death, and as weary._] + +MAJOR. Well? What is now here? + +CORPORAL. Our lieutenant, sir, murdered while he was asleep. There’s +the woman did it. + +MAJOR [_going to Martha_]. Have you anything to say? + +MARTHA [_taking the child’s glove from her bosom_]. That is Patty’s +glove I knitted. That is all. My sister, the little baby, Patty—all +three. When your soldiers came into our town. + +MAJOR. It was in the north, your town? + +MARTHA. It used to be. + +MAJOR. The man you killed was three hundred miles away from there. You +were stupid to do this. [_Turns to the Troopers._] Take her down into +the street. Shoot her. Let the neighbors see. + +[_The two last-comers of the troopers lay hold of Martha._] + +KATHERINE. Oh, no! Can’t you see for yourself that she’s insane? + +MAJOR. Take her along! + +MARTHA [_breaks loose, rushes to Lydia_]. No, no, no! I wouldn’t so +much as kill a mouse. You know I wouldn’t. [_The Troopers seize her and +drag her to the door._] No, no! I’m afraid of the guns. Don’t kill me! +Oh, oh! The guns! Don’t kill me! No, no, no! + +[_The Troopers drag Martha out at the forward door, left. The door goes +to upon her cries._] + +MAJOR. Clear the house at once. Then burn it. + +[_At a sign from the Corporal, two Troopers go into the writing room, +cover the body of the Lieutenant with a sheet, and remove the couch, +with the body upon it._] + +KATHERINE. Where are we to go? + +MAJOR. Outside our lines. See that they go! [_Turns away to the door._] +It is merciful we do not shoot you all. + +GERTRUDE [_running to him_]. Oh! Can’t you see my mother is old—and the +little boy is ill—and this paper—he left this paper. See! He asked that +we be protected. + +MAJOR. Yes. You have killed the one man would have saved you. Tear up +your paper now. In three minutes. Burn the house. + +[_The Major goes out at the forward door, left._] + +KATHERINE. Trudie! Bring shoes for Roland! + +CORPORAL. No, you don’t! Right as you stand, all of you. Come on now! +[_Comes down into the room._] Clear the house! + +LYDIA [_rising_]. No, no! The boy— + +PROFESSOR [_starting feebly to snatch down the sword from beneath the +picture_]. My father’s house—his sword! I will not go alive! + +CORPORAL [_striking him contemptuously_]. You damned old fool! Get out! + +PROFESSOR [_broken_]. O my God! + +LYDIA [_going to him_]. That is foolish, Charles. Before you were +right. There is no God. Come! + +[_Moving with dignity, Lydia leads out the old man at the left. +Margaret hurries after them._] + +CORPORAL. All of you! + +KATHERINE. It will kill my boy. + +CORPORAL. It was a mother’s boy you killed in there. Will you get out? +Or shall we— + +FIRST TROOPER [_at the window_]. Hi! They’ve got her up against the +wall. She’ll get it now. [_From the street comes Martha’s shriek._] +Damn ye, go burn! + +[_Simultaneously with the shriek and his cry, sounds a volley of +rifles._] + +ROLAND. Mummy! Mummy! + +KATHERINE. Dear, we’ll carry you. Come, Gertrude! + +[_Carrying between them the child, huddled in the shawl and the knitted +jacket, the two women move toward the door._] + +ROLAND. I’m so cold, Mummy! I’m so cold! + +[_As Katherine and Gertrude go out, forward door, left, with Roland, +Troopers rush in through all three doors. First Trooper with his +carbine smashes the glass in the secretary. Others tear down the +hangings, demolish the chairs, smash the bookcases, all with half +audible imprecations. The Corporal directs the havoc._] + +CORPORAL. Bring more petrol! There’s a barrel below. Tear down that +rag. It will make a blaze. We’ll show them! Hurry up that petrol! [_A +Trooper tears down the flag from beneath the picture and casts it among +the débris. A Third Trooper runs in with a can of petrol, which he +pours upon the mass._] Kill our men sleeping, damn them! + +[_With his carbine the Corporal smashes the chandelier above the table. +A Fourth Trooper snatches from the hearth blazing coals in a shovel and +hurls them upon the heap of broken furniture._] + + + CURTAIN + + + + +ACT III + + +_The little farmstead, which has been seized by the advancing army, +lies close to the firing line. At the left is the farmhouse, a small, +mean building, of stone, with casement windows, and an inset porch, +from which the entrance door opens. At the side of the porch, nearer +the audience, is a bench, on which stands a water-bucket. Not far +distant is a rough table, fetched from the house, with a stool at +either side, and, before it, a bench. On the table are a pad of paper, +several pencils, a map, held in place by small stones, and a mug with a +little water. Farther back is a tree, the branches of which overshadow +the roof of the house. Across the courtyard, at the back, runs a high +wall of brick, with a slight coping of thatch, which is pierced at the +centre by a wide gateway. Through the gateway is seen a glimpse of +rugged autumn country, and in the foreground, passing the gate, a heavy +road. At the right is an open shed. Beneath this shed is a ladder, +and near by a heap of straw and a few broken farm implements. Toward +the front of the shed is a table, on which rest two field-telephones. +Beside it, by way of seat, an old box. Between the shed and the +audience is a lane, masked by a clump of trees, and with a barred gate +that stands open._ + +_The season is September. Seven months have passed since the town-house +burned. The time is late afternoon._ + +_At the left of the table the Adjutant, a keen young martinet of +thirty, is busily writing. At the telephone, with the headpiece in +place, sits a Sergeant, a heavily built man of forty odd. Huddled +in the straw beneath the shed lies Thomas, a child of six or seven, +barefooted, in a soiled smock and trousers, with a white, soiled face. +At the back, by the gateway, two soldiers are on sentry duty. One of +them is the Woodsy Boy, a different being in his stiff uniform and +service boots. He is gnawing surreptitiously at a piece of bread. +From the distance comes the boom of heavy guns, heard intermittently +throughout the act._ + +SERGEANT [_receiving a message_]. Yes, sir. This is the outpost at +Crossways. I’ll hold the line. [_To Adjutant._] Headquarters, sir. They +want the Colonel. + +ADJUTANT [_to First Soldier_]. Headquarters calling. Tell the Colonel. + +FIRST SOLDIER. Yes, sir. [_Turns to gateway._] He’s just here. + +[_Robert comes through the gateway. He wears the shabby service uniform +of a colonel of infantry, and a not very well kept mustache. In the +months of fighting he has in every way “gone off.” His voice when he +speaks is almost a “whiskey voice.” At his heels, with a map in his +hand, comes the Major, a dull, commonplace man of forty._] + +MAJOR. We’ve got ’em on the run, I tell you. Cleaned ’em off the +heights here. Chased ’em across the river there. + +ROBERT. Humph! Watch out for the come-back. + +MAJOR. We can smother them with numbers. + +ROBERT. They’re on their own doorstep now. With their backs up. + +ADJUTANT. Headquarters on the line, sir. + +ROBERT. Eh? Then why in hell— + +ADJUTANT. Just this minute, sir. + +ROBERT. Right! [_Goes to the telephone. The Major seats himself at the +table and goes over the maps with the Adjutant._] Headquarters?— Yes, +sir. We are entrenching a kilometer beyond the farm-house.— Yes, sir. +We can hold it.— How many, sir?— Fine! Thanks. [_To Sergeant._] Get the +commissary! [_Goes to the table._] Two more regiments before midnight. +If they try to rush us, they’ll get what’s coming to them. + +[_Thomas steals out from beneath the shed and very timidly takes up and +eats the crumbs that the Woodsy Boy has let fall._] + +MAJOR. Not much like it was a year ago. + +ROBERT. No. We can beat ’em now at their own game. Anything in your +flask, old man? + +MAJOR. About enough to drown a fly. + +ROBERT. Let’s see the color of it. [_Reluctantly the Major hands over +his flask._] Sorry—between friends. Ebb tide here, till the supplies +get through. [_Goes toward house._] And I’ve got another touch of +rheumatics coming on. + +[_Robert goes into the house._] + +ADJUTANT. Rather a pity! + +MAJOR. Pity your grandmother! He’s a better soldier drunk than half of +’em sober. Give us your pencil! If there’s half a minute, I’ll scratch +a letter home. September— + +ADJUTANT. Twenty-first. + +MAJOR. Hm! That’s my oldest girl’s birthday. [_Writes._] + +WOODSY BOY [_holding out his piece of bread, to Thomas._] Here, Kid! +Take it. Come on. Don’t be scared. + +[_Thomas snatches the bread and retreats a little._] + +FIRST SOLDIER [_going to the Woodsy Boy, but keeping a wary eye on the +two officers._] You’re green, all right. When you’ve seen as many stray +brats as I have—well, you’ll eat what little grub you get your paws on. + +WOODSY BOY. What becomes of him? + +FIRST SOLDIER. Why, a nice young lady nurse will come along and feed +him out of a silver mug, and tuck him up in a pink crib, with a woolly +baa lamb beside him, huh? Say, ain’t you got any sense at all? + +WOODSY BOY. Do you mean, when we go away, he will be left alone? + +THOMAS. My daddy is coming back pretty soon. He said he would. [_Goes +back into the shed._] + +WOODSY BOY. Where d’you suppose his daddy’s gone? + +FIRST SOLDIER. If you shin that wall, you’ll see a clump of trees over +yonder. Daddy’s there. “Rockabye baby, on the tree-top.” With the rope +that tethered one of his own cows tied round his neck. + +WOODSY BOY. What for? + +FIRST SOLDIER. Just sniping. Got two of ours before we settled his +hash. That was a bit o’ the fun you weren’t in on, Greeny. + +[_The Adjutant, rolling himself a cigarette, chances to look up. First +Soldier withdraws to the left of the gateway._] + +WOODSY BOY [_to Thomas, fumbling in his pocket_]. Here! That is +chocolate. Extra ration. It’s good. Eat it. + +[_Thomas snatches the chocolate and runs back into the shed._] + +SERGEANT. Commissary on the line, sir. + +ADJUTANT [_rising_]. Hold it! [_Goes to house door._] Colonel! Ready +the commissary. + +[_Robert comes in from the house._] + +ROBERT [_to the Major_]. Fooled me that time, old man. [_Gives back the +flask._] Not enough to drown a flea. Well? + +ADJUTANT. Commissary, sir. + +ROBERT. Right! [_Goes to telephone._] Hello, Commissary! Where in hell +are those supplies? Can’t live on air, you know. Can’t suck our paws +like blasted bears.— Well, I don’t give a damn! We’ve been entrenching +for forty-eight hours. Not a blamed thing to eat but the bread in our +haversacks, and a little beef on the hoof.— What’s that?— Well, that’s +more like it.— Hold on! I say! You’re sending us some brandy, too, eh? +[_The Major and the Adjutant exchange glances._] Need it badly. Got +some cases of sickness. All right. So long. [_Turns to the Adjutant._] +Four motor-trucks will be at the foot of the lane, any minute. See that +the commissary sergeant is on the job. + +ADJUTANT. Right, sir. + +ROBERT. I say! [_Detaining him._] Look out yourself for that stuff +consigned to me. It’s important. + +ADJUTANT. Yes, sir. + +[_The Adjutant goes out through the gateway._] + +ROBERT [_at the back of the table_]. Well! What writing? + +MAJOR. Just a line home. + +ROBERT. That’s a nice thing to have, a home. Those chaps didn’t happen +to leave me mine. + +SERGEANT. Outpost K is calling, sir. + +ROBERT. Eh? + +SERGEANT. Yes. This is Crossways. What?— They got that biplane, sir. + +[_Major turns alertly._] + +ROBERT [_excited_]. No! + +SERGEANT. Smashed the pilot to bits. Mixed the other fellow up with +red-hot petrol. + +ROBERT. Can talk, can’t he? + +SERGEANT. Can he talk?— Yes. He can talk, sir. + +ROBERT. Send him over here. + +SERGEANT. The Colonel says: Send him over!— Is that all, sir? + +ROBERT. That’s all, Sergeant. [_Goes to centre of the courtyard, to the +Woodsy Boy._] Come here, you! + +WOODSY BOY [_coming to him, saluting_]. Yes, sir. + +ROBERT. You’re the man saw the biplane go westward night before last? + +WOODSY BOY. Yes, sir. + +ROBERT. Why in hell couldn’t you have given the alarm? + +WOODSY BOY. I thought ’twas just a big bird, sir. + +ROBERT. Well, when birdie dropped a bomb, down in the field where our +men happened to be sleeping, you woke up and took a little notice, +maybe? + +WOODSY BOY. Yes, sir. [_Shuddering._] I heard ’em scream. + +ROBERT. Did you see a light on the hill beyond? + +WOODSY BOY. Plain as I see you, sir. + +ROBERT. And a light far off as you could see, there in the west? + +WOODSY BOY. Yes, sir. + +ROBERT [_to the Major_]. That’s our water tower. Birdie just missed it. +[_To Woodsy Boy._] That’s all! [_The Woodsy Boy salutes and returns to +his post. Robert sits on the bench in front of the table._] There’s +been too many lights on the hills. Too many camp fires by day. To-night +I’m counting on finding out the name and address of the folks that are +setting those fires. + +MAJOR. You think you’ll get that from the aviator? + +ROBERT. Why not? St. Jo’s reported that he landed inside our lines, +didn’t they? Reported that he stocked up with petrol, didn’t they? + +MAJOR. Yes. + +ROBERT. Well, then! He’s likely to know where he got the petrol and who +helped him. When we get one man, we get the next, and so on, till we +get the whole damned gang. + +MAJOR. The country is rotten with treachery. + +ROBERT. And there’s a real enemy in front. Don’t forget that! We’re not +out of the woods yet. And it will help things along to clear out some +of the snakeweed and skunk cabbage. When I get hold of that biplane +chap, he’s going to squeal. + +MAJOR. Well—there are—er—rules of the game. + +ROBERT. Not a hunting man, are you, old chap? + +MAJOR. No. + +ROBERT. If you were, you’d know there aren’t any rules when you’re +dealing with vermin. Let me once get hold of the fellow who dropped the +bombs into St. Jo’s— + +[_As he is speaking the Adjutant comes in through the gateway, followed +by Katherine. She wears the dusty and rather shabby dress of a Red +Cross nurse, with cloak and bonnet._] + +ADJUTANT [_saluting_]. A lady, sir, that wants to see you. + +ROBERT. A lady? Here? You’re off your head. How’d she get here? + +ADJUTANT. Red Cross nurse, with a pass from Headquarters. Came on the +commissary truck. + +ROBERT [_rising_]. Well, put her on the truck and send her back where +she came from. + +KATHERINE. Oh, please, no! Let me stay long enough to say— How are you, +Rob? [_Goes to him._] + +ROBERT [_embracing her_]. Kate! How in God’s name did you get here? + +[_The Major and the Adjutant fall back a little._] + +KATHERINE. A little eager, perhaps, to see you. It’s been months and +months now, and—and a good deal has happened, Rob. + +ROBERT. Yes. I know. Sit down here, come. [_Seats her on the bench._] +Pity we haven’t some brandy! Major, my wife. My Adjutant. + +[_The two officers bow and retire to the back of the courtyard._] + +ROBERT. We must fix it to send you back to the base. This is the last +place— You know we may be attacked before morning. What ever possessed +you— + +KATHERINE. I got into St. Jo’s last night. + +ROBERT. The devil you did! Then you were— + +KATHERINE. Rob! Don’t talk about it, please. I thought I was hardened +to every horror, but— + +ROBERT [_sitting beside her_]. There, there! + +KATHERINE. Well, I came on to Headquarters this morning. They’re trying +to get me a pass to go through the lines, and meantime, when I found +you were stationed here—the chance to see you—I haven’t much else left. + +ROBERT. You shouldn’t have taken the risk. + +KATHERINE. I’ve been running risks, such as they are, for four months +now. + +ROBERT. You shouldn’t have started on this fool’s errand. You ought to +be at home. + +KATHERINE. There is no—home, Rob. So I started out to see if I couldn’t +find some trace of Basil. + +ROBERT. Just waste of time. Poor kid! We shan’t see him this side of +Jordan. + +KATHERINE. Don’t say that, please! If you could see your mother! If you +could hear her, night and day, crying for her boy. I can understand. + +ROBERT. Yes. I know. Our boy— Did he suffer much, Kate? + +KATHERINE. Not for long. + +ROBERT. Did he speak of me? + +KATHERINE. Yes. He cried for you. + +ROBERT. Poor little kid! Poor old girl! + +KATHERINE. Better not, Rob. I mustn’t cry here. + +ROBERT. No. It’s over and done with now. [_Rises._] Can’t help him. + +KATHERINE. It wasn’t for my boy alone. [_Rises._] Just the comfort—to +find you again. To have you, just the same, to cling to, when the whole +world reels. [_Robert embraces her._] + +[_Second Soldier enters through the gateway._] + +ADJUTANT [_approaching Robert_]. Beg pardon, sir. + +ROBERT. Well? + +ADJUTANT. Seven o’clock, sir. + +ROBERT. Yes. Must go the rounds. We’re a bit short of officers, you +know. [_To Soldier._] Got my horse there? + +SECOND SOLDIER. Yes, sir. + +ROBERT. Be back soon, Kate. We shan’t be sending away the trucks for +half an hour. We’ll have a minute together yet. Ready, gentlemen! + +[_Robert, the Major, the Adjutant, and Second Soldier go out through +the gateway. Thomas steals from the shed and stands watching them. The +shadows are deepening. Katherine watches Robert off. Then her eyes fall +upon Thomas. Her arms go out toward him yearningly._] + +KATHERINE. What’s your name, dear? + +THOMAS. Thomas. + +KATHERINE [_sitting on the bench_]. And whose boy are you? + +THOMAS [_shyly approaching her_]. Daddy’s. + +KATHERINE. And where’s Daddy? + +THOMAS. He’s coming back. He told me to wait. + +KATHERINE. When did you wash your poor little face last? Are you hungry? + +THOMAS. Yes. + +KATHERINE. I have some biscuit in my pocket. If you’ll let me wash your +face—yes? + +THOMAS. What kind o’ biscuit? + +KATHERINE [_pouring water from the mug upon her handkerchief_]. Oh, +round ones and square ones and some of them sweet. [_Washes his face._] +My stars! What a smudgy little boy! Where’s Mammy? + +THOMAS. Mammy died, three, four, five—oh, a lot of days ago. And +the little baby. The little weeny baby—so long. [_Measures with his +hands._] Daddy put them out there in the ground. I wish Daddy would +come. + +KATHERINE. Don’t cry, dear! Don’t! [_Takes him on her lap._] Play I’m +your mammy. Here are the biscuit! All for you! + +[_Thomas eats the biscuit eagerly._] + +SERGEANT [_answering call_]. Crossways, yes, sir. Ready! [_Takes down +the message._] Airscout reports enemy massing in force, three regiments +of foot estimated, behind the lines, opposite Crossways. Right. Got it, +yes. Good-bye. [_Snaps fingers._] + +FIRST SOLDIER [_going to him_]. Yes, sir. + +SERGEANT. Take this to the Colonel. [_Gives him the written message._] + +FIRST SOLDIER. Yes, sir. + +[_First Soldier goes out through the gateway._] + +SERGEANT. Snappy time round here to-night, young fellow. + +WOODSY BOY [_coming a little toward him_]. Must we kill them some more, +sir? + +SERGEANT. Well, what d’ye think you’re here for? Didn’t think ’twas a +sworry, did you, with swallow-tails and pink tea? My God! The stuff +they’ve sent us since the Conscript Act! Lucky for you, young chap, I’m +on the wire, ’stead o’ teaching you the drill. [_Busies himself with +copying duplicate messages into his book._] + +THOMAS. Are you a little boy’s mother? + +KATHERINE. Yes, dear. + +THOMAS. Where is he? + +KATHERINE [_after a moment_]. In a pleasant place. Where men have +stopped killing each other. Where women don’t have to cry any more. +Where little children are safe and happy. Oh, he’s better off where he +is! Better off! [_Controls herself._] Your mammy is there, too, dear. +Safe and happy. And the wee little baby. + +THOMAS. Oh, no. Daddy put them there in the ground. I wish he’d come. I +want him so. + +KATHERINE. Don’t cry. You must be a brave little boy. Cuddle close and +go to sleep. + +[_She holds the child close. He shuts his eyes. Twilight is deepening. +The Woodsy Boy, who has watched her with the eyes of a lost dog, steals +to her side._] + +WOODSY BOY. Lady! You don’t remember me? + +KATHERINE. I’m sorry. No. + +WOODSY BOY. I came to your place one night, with a dog that had broke +its leg. + +KATHERINE. Not the Woodsy Boy? + +WOODSY BOY. I showed you where to find the primroses, you and Roland. + +KATHERINE. Oh, what are you doing here? + +WOODSY BOY. I was tall enough and old enough, they said. + +KATHERINE. A conscript, of course! You poor little fellow, they might +have let you be. + +THOMAS [_in his sleep_]. Daddy! + +KATHERINE. Hush! Hush! + +WOODSY BOY. We have killed his daddy. He fired at us. We were taking +his cattle. + +KATHERINE. God pity us all! + +WOODSY BOY. At home my father stole a sheep. He was two years in jail. +Here we stole his father’s cattle—so we hanged his father on a tree. I +don’t understand. + +KATHERINE. Just do as they tell you, Heaven pity you! + +WOODSY BOY. At home the Parson told me not to kill. He said God said we +mustn’t. But here they say I must kill. + +KATHERINE. Don’t try to understand! + +SERGEANT. Hi you! Greeny! Cut into the house and fetch some lanterns! +[_The Woodsy Boy goes into the house._] Was he bothering you, ma’am? + +KATHERINE. No, Sergeant. + +SERGEANT. He’s a bit cracked in the head, you can see. Not much like +the chaps they sent us, first of the war. Kind of petering out, they +are. + +[_Through the gateway come in Robert, the Major, the Adjutant, and +Second Soldier._] + +ROBERT. Any report, Sergeant? + +SERGEANT. Just the airscout, sir. + +ROBERT. Take that ladder! Set it up against the shed. [_Second Soldier +sets ladder against the shed. The Woodsy Boy comes from the house with +two lighted lanterns. He hangs one on the porch, so that the light +falls across the table._] Let’s have the binoculars. [_Takes them from +the Adjutant._] Here! Climb up there. Look out for lights on the hills. +Flashes. [_Second Soldier goes up the ladder, hooks his elbows on roof +of the shed, and studies the horizon at right. The Woodsy Boy sets the +second lantern on the telephone table._] Late with that prisoner from +Outpost K. + +ADJUTANT. Believe I hear the motor now, sir. + +ROBERT. Well, bring him on the run. We’ve no time to fool. [_The +Adjutant goes through the gateway. Robert turns to Katherine, and sees +her, under the lanternlight, with the child in her arms. He cries +out._] Kate! + +KATHERINE. Don’t wake him! + +ROBERT. Good God! For half a minute I thought—[_Goes to her, furious +with himself._] What kid is that you’ve got there? + +KATHERINE. Isn’t there a bed inside where I can lay him? Poor little +fellow! + +ROBERT. This is the battle-line. Not much room here for sentiment. + +KATHERINE. It’s his father’s house. + +ROBERT. Well, put him on the bed, if you want to. [_Katherine leads the +half sleeping child to the house._] Better stay inside yourself. Turns +cool here after sunset. Can’t send you back for an hour yet. Go in! Go +in! [_Katherine and Thomas go into the house. Robert, badly shaken, +takes up the mug, dashes out the water that is in it, fills it from his +pocket flask, and takes a stiff drink of whiskey neat. The Adjutant +comes in. Robert turns at his step._] Got him? + +ADJUTANT. We have, sir. + +ROBERT. Well, trot him out. + +[_The Adjutant signals with his hand from the gateway. An infantry +Sergeant comes in, followed by several soldiers. Two of them are half +supporting, half dragging Phil, incredibly altered. He wears the +scorched and torn remains of an aviation lieutenant’s uniform. He is +bareheaded and his forehead and eyes are covered with a blood-stained +emergency bandage. He is further disguised by a fortnight’s growth +of beard. His wrists are closely tied. Not incomprehensible that +Robert, two thirds drunk, should fail to recognize in this soiled and +broken wreck the man who should have been his brother-in-law. Not +incomprehensible either that Phil, blinded, and with senses benumbed +with pain, should fail to recognize in the whiskey voice the voice of +his old friend._] + +SECOND SERGEANT. The aviator, sir, that ran the biplane over St. Jo’s. + +ROBERT. Set him down there! [_The soldiers thrust Phil down on the +stool at the right of the table, and then draw back._] So you’re the +chap that paid us a visit last night. + +PHIL [_desperately trying to hold himself together_]. Yes. + +ROBERT [_sitting at left of the table, opposite him_]. D’ye know what +you did at St. Jo’s? + +PHIL. Yes. + +ROBERT. It was a job to be proud of, eh? + +PHIL. Yes. We got your train-yard—your rolling-stock—locomotives—repair +shop. + +ROBERT. Is that all? + +PHIL. Do you want more? Well—maybe some of our chaps come again. I +can’t. [_Drops head on his arms on the table._] Done for! + +MAJOR [_at the back of the table_]. See here! Don’t you know what you— + +ROBERT. Shut up! Shut up! Is he shamming, Sergeant, or is he badly hurt? + +SECOND SERGEANT. Pretty well shaken up, sir, and a couple of ribs bust +in. Then the tank blew up and he got it in the face. His eyes are done +for. + +PHIL. Yes. + +SECOND SERGEANT. He was pretty keen on killing himself. That’s why we +tied him. + +PHIL [_lifting his head_]. I get out of it pretty quick anyhow. But +it’s no fun waiting. I— [_With his hands outstretched, to Robert._] +Oh, for God’s sake! Let me have some morphine! So for a minute it +stops hurting. So I don’t go crazy. Maybe you’ll be up against it once +yourself. For God’s sake! [_Drops his head on his arms._] For God’s +sake! + +ROBERT. Bad as all that, is it? Well, you shall have your morphine, +sonny. + +PHIL [_piteously_]. Thank you! + +ROBERT. But first you’re going to do something for us, eh? + +PHIL [_lifting his head_]. What do you want? + +ROBERT. The names of the fellows inside our lines that are standing in +with you. + +PHIL. I don’t know them. + +ROBERT. Oh, yes, you do. Come on now! Who were they? Then it’s you to +the hospital. Not before. + +PHIL. Say, you said it was a soldier you were taking me to. This is +nothing but a fat civilian, with his dinner slobbered all over his +waistcoat. You damned bastard, do you think I’d— + +[_Robert springs up and starts toward Phil. The Major intercepts him._] + +MAJOR. Go easy, sir. + +ROBERT [_controlling himself_]. Think you can get me mad enough to hit +a blow might kill you, do you? [_Standing over Phil._] Not a bit of it. +[_Strikes him._] Shell out now! Who were they? + +PHIL. No! [_With a suppressed groan._] Oh! + +ROBERT. Pretty fierce the pain, eh? [_Sitting on the table, beside +Phil._] Think how jolly good you’re going to feel, with something +better than an emergency bandage over your eyes, dropping off to sleep— + +PHIL. No. + +ROBERT. Regular little hero, aren’t you? Well, I guess we’d better +tell you just how much of a hero you really are. Didn’t know perhaps +that there was a train made up and ready to start at daybreak, in the +train-yard at St. Jo’s. + +PHIL. What of it? + +ROBERT. Not much of it, after your bombs smashed into it. [_Phil gives +a short and savage laugh._] Just before then it was full up with +wounded men—three hundred of them—and half of them your own chaps. + +PHIL. No! You’re saying that to torture me. You’re lying. All of you. +If I could only see your faces, I’d know you were lying. + +ROBERT [_rising_]. Well, we’re going to send you where you’ll find +out whether it’s the truth or not. [_Takes pad, and writes while he +speaks._] We’d be well within our rights to hang you, you damned +air-pirate. But we’ll stand you up against the wall instead. + +PHIL. I thank you. + +ROBERT. Set him up there! [_Two soldiers take Phil and thrust him +against the wall at the right of the gateway. Meantime Robert beckons +the Second Sergeant, and shows him the written paper. The Sergeant +takes the paper and by the light of his electric bull’s eye shows it +to the soldiers of his squad successively. Meantime Robert goes on +speaking._] Back him up against the wall. More to the right. Here you, +fetch that lantern. Hang it on that peg beside his head. [_The Woodsy +Boy, shrinking, takes the lantern from the telephone table, and hangs +it on the wall, where the light falls squarely on Phil’s ghastly face. +This done, he darts back into the shelter of the shed, where he remains +throughout a horrified and fascinated witness._] Got anything to say? + +PHIL. Be quick. That’s all. + +ROBERT. We’ll let you give the word to the firing squad. + +PHIL. Yes. + +ROBERT. Sergeant! + +SECOND SERGEANT. Fall in! ’Tention! March! ’Bout face! Ready! Aim! All +ready, sir. + +[_The firing squad is drawn up, behind the table, facing Phil. The +Second Sergeant falls back at the right._] + +ROBERT. How about it now? Going to give us those names? + +PHIL. No. + +ROBERT. You’ll find out in a minute how they died, those three hundred +at St. Jo’s. You’ll be with them. + +PHIL. I’ll chance it. + +ROBERT. Want to pray? + +PHIL. Get through with it. + +ROBERT. Give the word, then! + +[_Katherine, without her cloak and bonnet, comes from the house, and +pauses on the porch. She does not of course recognize Phil. Neither +does she go into hysterics. She is a sensible woman, and no novice at +the sight of horrors. She does, however, stand frozen in her tracks and +takes in all that follows. On Robert’s last word, Phil pulls himself up +to his full height, with chin uplifted. Obviously he is using the last +remnant of his strength of body and of soul to hold him through the +next moment._] + +PHIL. Fire! [_A moment’s ghastly silence._] For God’s sake, fire! + +ROBERT. Fall out! + +[_The soldiers break ranks and stand beneath the tree._] + +PHIL [_going to pieces_]. What are you doing? What are you going to do? +Why don’t you fire? + +ROBERT [_going to him_]. Thought we’d let you off easy as that, eh? Not +a bit of it! + +PHIL. You devils! You devils! Oh! I can’t bear any more! I can’t bear +it! [_Starts to beat his head against the wall._] + +ROBERT [_catching him by the shoulder_]. Cut that out! [_Flings him +away from the wall._] + +PHIL [_falling full length, face down._] O God! Haven’t you any pity! + +ROBERT [_over him_]. You wasted a lot of strength, striking attitudes +there. Come on now, laddie! [_Kicks him._] Be sensible! Give us those +names. + +PHIL. No! + +SECOND SOLDIER. Colonel! A light, sir. + +ROBERT. Where? + +[_Through the ensuing, Phil drags himself toward the table, strikes his +head against the stool, and, having thus placed himself, staggers to +his feet._] + +SECOND SOLDIER. On the wooded hill. Flash, sir. There it comes again. +[_The crash of a gun is heard. A branch falls from the tree into the +courtyard._] Got our range, sir! + +ROBERT [_catching Phil by the shoulders as he rises_]. They’re getting +busy, your friends. Think they’re going to keep on dropping my +chaps, just because you keep your damned mouth shut? [_Thrusts Phil, +struggling hopelessly, down on the stool at the right of the table._] +I’ll pry your jaws open. Won’t speak, eh? + +PHIL [_struggling_]. My God, man! Don’t! Don’t! + +ROBERT. Give us those names! + +PHIL. No! No! + +ROBERT [_jerking Phil’s arms from before his face_]. Damn your soul! +[_Forces his head back upon the table_]. If I get my hand on your +face, you’ll tell in a hurry! + +PHIL [_shrieking_]. Christ! + +KATHERINE [_somehow arrived at the table, clutching Robert’s arm_]. +Rob! Stop! Stop! + +ROBERT. How’d you get here, Kate? What are you doing? + +KATHERINE. For your own sake, stop! + +[_Guns intermittently crash throughout._] + +ROBERT. Hear that? Pounding us to bits, just because he won’t talk. Get +into the house, Kate. This is my job. + +KATHERINE. Not torture! Rob! Rob! No! + +ROBERT. You’re my wife, aren’t you? Do as I tell you, Kate. + +[_The familiar names and the woman’s well remembered voice have reached +even Phil’s pain-crazed senses._] + +PHIL. Kate! Kate! + +[_Robert, for the instant dismayed by the horror of the possibility +suggested, goes back from his victim. Phil staggers blindly to his +feet._] + +PHIL. Don’t leave me! Don’t you know me? I’m Phil. + +KATHERINE [_catching him in her arms as he pitches forward_]. No! No! +[_She eases him down on the bench, scanning what little of his face is +visible._] + +PHIL. The house in the north—Roland—Gertrude— + +KATHERINE. Oh! What have you done, Rob? It’s Phil—Phil that saved our +boy! + +ROBERT. Yes. For his countrymen to butcher. Get away from him! + +KATHERINE [_supporting Phil, with her arms about him_]. No. You’re not +going to touch him. + +ROBERT. You were at St. Jo’s yourself this morning. You saw what they +were bringing out of that train-yard. That’s his work. + +KATHERINE [_drawing back from Phil involuntarily_]. You did that? + +PHIL [_with a despairing cry_]. Then it’s true! + +KATHERINE. God forgive you! + +[_Phil sways forward, half lying on the bench._] + +SERGEANT. Airscout, sir. + +ROBERT. Eh? + +[_Katherine snatches up the mug and fills it at the water-bucket._] + +SERGEANT. Report from Outpost K. The enemy’s foot are advancing against +our trenches. + +ROBERT [_to Adjutant_]. Got your horse ready? + +ADJUTANT. There, sir. [_Indicating gateway._] + +ROBERT. Hurry up those re-enforcements. Ride like hell. + +[_The Adjutant hurries out through the gateway. Robert follows after +him, with the soldiers in attendance, all but the Woodsy Boy, Second +Soldier, and the two Sergeants._] + +KATHERINE [_at Phil’s side_]. Drink it, Phil! + +PHIL [_drinking hurriedly_]. You have not gone away? You have not left +me? + +KATHERINE. No. [_Sets the mug on the table._] + +PHIL. It was the repair shop I aimed at. I didn’t mean—They suffered? +Tell me! Tell me! + +KATHERINE. Some of them, yes. + +PHIL. I thought once—I was going to help put a stop to pain. I thought— +Will you tell her, please, I am not any more a coward! With my own +hands—three hundred cripples killed. She should be proud. Say that! + +[_Robert comes in through the gateway._] + +ROBERT [_to the Major_]. Bring up our own regiment. On the double! + +[_The Major hurries out through the gateway. Robert turns toward Phil. +Katherine steps quickly between them, with her arm about Phil._] + +ROBERT. That’s nonsense, Kate. You can’t stop me. [_To Phil._] I’ll +see you again in a minute, and when I do—by God! you’ll talk! [_To +the Second Sergeant._] Sergeant! Keep an eye on that chap. We’re not +through with him by a long shot. Come on, you! + +[_Robert goes out by the lane at the right, followed by the telephone +Sergeant. The Second Sergeant draws back and paces in the gateway._] + +PHIL. Katherine! Will you do for me one thing? Inside my coat here, +sewn in the lining—I can’t get at it—some stuff will make me sleep. +Won’t you please get it for me? I’d have done it for you. I’d have done +it for Rob. + +KATHERINE. Don’t! I can’t bear that. Because I believe you would. + +PHIL. Then won’t you please—I don’t want to lie screaming on the +ground. In a minute I will. O God! Let up on me! Please, please, +Katherine! For Roland’s sake! + +KATHERINE. Hush! Oh hush! [_Gets the tablets from inside his coat._] +Here, is it? + +PHIL. You have it? + +KATHERINE. Yes. + +PHIL. Put it please into some water. Let me drink it quick. + +KATHERINE. Phil! My poor old chap! What is it? + +PHIL. To make me sleep. + +KATHERINE. For how long? + +PHIL. Don’t ask questions. Give it to me, and then go straight away. + +KATHERINE. I can’t. Oh, I can’t! + +PHIL. Give it to me! Three hundred of them—helpless! But I must not +tell. I must not give up those names. I must have something left, or +I’ll be scared to die. Katherine! Help me not to tell! Katherine! I am +here in hell—and blind—blind! Katherine! Katherine! + +KATHERINE [_snatching up the mug, and putting into it the tablets_]. +Phil! Drink it! [_Thrusts the mug into his hands._] + +PHIL [_drinking_]. God bless you! + +KATHERINE [_putting down the mug, bending over him_]. Phil, dear! Can +you pray? + +PHIL. Pray? + +KATHERINE. Before you—go to sleep? + +PHIL. Oh, yes. Pray—Roland— [_With her arms about him he slips from the +bench to his knees._] Katherine! + +KATHERINE. Yes. I’m here. I’m here. + +PHIL. Now I lay me—keep me kind—make me—a good—boy— + +[_The death spasm grips him. His head goes back. His kneeling body +stiffens. He collapses limply at her feet. She stands rigid and +speechless, gazing down at him. The guns now are almost incessant._] + +MAJOR [_outside_]. Battalion, forward! + +A CAPTAIN’S VOICE. Forward! + +SECOND SERGEANT. Fall in! + +[_Second Soldier comes down the ladder and goes out at the gateway. The +Major comes in. At the same moment Robert comes from the lane._] + +MAJOR. All ready, sir. + +[_Troops of infantry are seen marching toward right along the road +beyond the gateway. The Major takes his place among them. The Second +Sergeant falls in._] + +ROBERT [_to Woodsy Boy_]. Fall in! + +WOODSY BOY [_as unexpectedly as if a sparrow should chirp in the face +of a tornado_]. No, no! I won’t kill them. [_Lets his rifle fall._] + +ROBERT. Pick up that rifle. + +WOODSY BOY. No! No! No! + +ROBERT [_drawing his revolver_]. Fall in, damn you! + +WOODSY BOY. I won’t kill. God said that— + +[_Robert shoots him in the breast. The Woodsy Boy staggers a few steps +forward and falls dead. Across his body Robert goes out at the gateway +and joins the marching troops. There is the flash of a shell, and a +crash. A section of the wall at the right is blown inward. Katherine +staggers back, but the clutch of the little boy, Thomas, roused by +the noise and stolen in terror from the house, brings her to herself. +She holds the child to her, protecting, covering his ears and eyes. +The bursting of shells is now incessant. Another section of wall goes +down. Through the smoke and the dust of the roadway, under the bursting +shells, a horse battery is seen going into action._] + + + CURTAIN + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +_In the two years that have passed since the events of the Prologue, +the country-house has been in the hands of the enemy. The wide open +doorway and the uncurtained casements show springtide country, with +stumps of fruit-trees, trampled fields, and, in the distance, the +burned rafters of a hamlet and the gaunt tower of a ruined church. +Within, the room has been stripped bare of all that made it livable, +hangings, rugs, cushions, pictures, bric-a-brac. The good and heavy +furniture has been replaced with plain and cheap articles. At the left +is a deal table, on which stand a lamp with a green shade, of ordinary +pattern, and an earthen jug with a few sprays of lilac. A wooden chair +is beside the table. At the centre is a plain table, on which is a big +basket of coarse mending. At either side of the table is a rush-bottom +chair. A cottage settle is at right angles to the hearth. Beside the +hearth is a wheel-chair, and near by a wooden chair._ + +_The season is May, eight months after the events upon the battle-line. +The time is late afternoon._ + +_On the bench in the bow-window Thomas, neatly but poorly clad, sits +with a shabby little picture book. Near by the Professor, aged, shabby, +and almost senile, is irritably looking from the window. Lydia, gaunt +and aged, all in black, sits mending at the right of the table. In the +wheel-chair, with a rug across his knees, sits Basil, the haggard wreck +of the boy who meant to end the war in six weeks._ + +PROFESSOR. Dear, dear! Katherine is very late with the mail. + +LYDIA. Well, Kate can’t go like a race-horse, you might remember. She’s +tired, poor girl! And no wonder, with all that she has to do. + +PROFESSOR. But at such a time it is most exasperating not to have the +paper promptly. + +BASIL. Probably Kate ducked in somewhere when that shower came up. + +THOMAS [_going to Lydia_]. Can I go down the lane and meet Aunt +Katherine? + +LYDIA. Yes, Thomas. But mind you don’t go near the soldiers’ camp. + +THOMAS. No, I won’t. + +[_Thomas runs out at the terrace door._] + +LYDIA. That camp is enough to demoralize all the boys and girls in the +district. What there is about brass buttons and a bugle— + +BASIL. Oh, come, Mother! Our chaps are decent enough fellows. + +LYDIA. Well, I’ll be thankful when their camp is broken up. They +demobilize next week, didn’t you say? + +BASIL. They were planning to. But there’s no telling what will happen +with these new complications. + +LYDIA. Fiddlesticks! You needn’t tell me that we’re going to fight +again. We’ve got peace at last, haven’t we? We’ve got the victory, +haven’t we? + +BASIL. I wonder. If we have, I don’t think much of what they call the +fruits of victory. + +LYDIA. Fruits of victory! I don’t see much of them in this house. + +[_Gertrude, in shabby black clothes, white, sullen, and weary, comes in +at the left._] + +GERTRUDE. That last shower did the business. The kitchen roof is +leaking like a sieve. Give me the mending, Mother. + +LYDIA. There’s enough for two. Shoddy stuff they sell us nowadays. + +GERTRUDE. [_Sits left of table, with mending._] There’s a half day’s +work to do on that roof. We need an able-bodied man—and the money to +pay him. + +LYDIA. Well, Robert will be home very soon now. And when he takes hold +of things— + +GERTRUDE. We can’t do much without ready money. And every penny is +eaten up with the new taxes. + +PROFESSOR. It is entirely the fault of the ministry. They should +have stood out for a proper war indemnity. They should have made the +foreigners pay for all our losses. + +BASIL. And what the devil were the foreigners to pay with? I tell you, +they’re worse off than we are. + +LYDIA [_going to sit on the settle near Basil_]. O sonny, how can that +be possible? + +PROFESSOR. Well, well! Here’s Kate at last. And high time, I should +think. + +[_Katherine comes in with Thomas at the terrace door. She wears a plain +and inexpensive walking suit, hat, and blouse. She looks older by ten +years._] + +PROFESSOR. You are late, Katherine. + +[_Thomas gives the Professor a newspaper, which the old man eagerly +spreads open._] + +KATHERINE. I’m sorry, Uncle. The road was a bit heavy. Here’s a letter +for you, Trudie! + +GERTRUDE. Why, it’s from Margaret. It’s months since we’ve had a word +from her. + +BASIL. Give us a look-in, Uncle. + +PROFESSOR. Most annoying! [_Going to Basil._] Only one penny paper a +day, and at a crisis like this—a national crisis. [_Sits on the chair +beside Basil and shares the paper with him._] + +THOMAS. Aunt Katherine! Can I go out and play a little? + +KATHERINE. Yes, dear. Stay in the garden, remember. [_Puts her hat and +coat in the closet._] + +THOMAS. Yes, I will. + +[_Thomas goes out at the terrace door._] + +BASIL. Well, it looks squally, all right. + +GERTRUDE. Bad news, Basil? + +PROFESSOR. At least we are in better shape than we were two years ago. +We have an efficient army of seasoned men. + +BASIL. Seasoned like me, eh? + +LYDIA. We’re not going to fight again? + +KATHERINE. It’s nothing but talk, Mother. [_Sits right of table, takes +mending._] + +BASIL. We have cause enough to fight, and don’t you forget it. + +PROFESSOR. Yes. The conduct of our late associates in arms has violated +every usage of international law. + +BASIL. We’ll teach ’em a thing or two. And we’ve got those that will +help us. + +KATHERINE. You don’t really think we’ll fight against our old comrades? + +PROFESSOR. In the shift of events that is not altogether impossible. + +LYDIA. You mean we’ll actually fight now on the side of the foreigners? +Ignorant wretches! + +BASIL. Oh, they’re not half bad, Mother. Really they’re much more our +sort than our old associates. They were mighty decent to me, you know, +when I was off my head, before Kate found me. + +PROFESSOR. The foreigners are not the worst of people, Lydia. Philip +now, he was a quite likable young man. + +[_Gertrude listens tensely._] + +BASIL. He wasn’t a half bad sort, old Phil. + +PROFESSOR [_turning to his paper_]. Killed in action, didn’t you say, +Kate? + +KATHERINE [_rising_]. Yes. He was killed in a raid at St. Jo’s. +Instantly killed. [_Goes to the window at right._] + +LYDIA. Poor fellow! At least it’s a comfort to think that he did not +suffer. You have that to remember, Gertrude. + +GERTRUDE. Oh, yes! I remember. [_Rises and goes with her letter into +the bow-window._] + +BASIL. Poor old Phil! + +PROFESSOR [_reading the paper_]. Tut, tut! Shocking! Most shocking! + +BASIL. Let’s see, sir. [_Glancing at the paper._] Ah, that’s rotten! + +LYDIA. What is it? + +BASIL. Getting nasty, our late comrades in arms. Women of ours have +been attacked among them. Oh, I say! Little children—butchered! + +KATHERINE. Basil! Two years ago, those are the same stories they told +about Phil’s countrymen. + +GERTRUDE. Here’s interesting news. Margaret is to be married. + +KATHERINE. Not Margaret— Hush! + +[_Lydia lays a hand on Basil’s arm._] + +BASIL. It doesn’t matter. Who waits for a man as good as dead? + +GERTRUDE. She can forget. There are such women. Isn’t she lucky? +[_Turns to the door._] + +LYDIA. Where are you going? + +GERTRUDE. Out where the garden used to be. + +[_Gertrude goes out at the terrace door._] + +LYDIA [_rising_]. Perhaps I’d better follow her. It’s the old folks +have to tend upon the young folks now. + +[_Lydia goes out at the terrace door._] + +BASIL. You can have the paper, sir. + +PROFESSOR. Yes, yes. [_Hurries toward the chair at the left._] The +editorials—their comments are too mild. They do not understand the +principles our late associates have shamelessly violated. [_Sits at +the left and buries himself in the coveted paper._] + +KATHERINE [_laying her hand on Basil’s arm_]. Old man! + +BASIL [_sharply_]. If you don’t mind letting me alone! I beg +your pardon, Kate. About all I can do now is to bite on the +bullet—gracefully, and keep on biting for a little matter of forty or +fifty years. + +KATHERINE. Doctors don’t know everything. Perhaps— + +BASIL. They know enough to know I’m tied to this chair till death do us +part. That’s in the marriage service, isn’t it? [_Breaking down._] Ah! + +KATHERINE. Basil! Don’t! Don’t! + +LYDIA [_outside, excitedly_]. Kate! O Kate! + +KATHERINE. Mother! What’s wrong? + +[_Lydia hurries in at the terrace door._] + +LYDIA. Kate! Here’s Rob come home this very day. Here’s Rob come home +at last. I told you—I kept telling you—they couldn’t fight again. Now +we’ve got Rob back. It’s all right. It’s all right. Come in, Rob! Come +in! + +[_Robert, noticeably aged, in civilian clothes, appears at the terrace +door. He has the look of a man who has just been struck in the face. +Lydia hurries down to the Professor, who rises._] + +ROBERT. I—I hardly recognized the house. Kate! + +KATHERINE [_going to his arms_]. You’ve come back to stay, Rob? You’re +not in uniform. Oh, I was afraid— + +ROBERT [_looking about the dismantled room_]. They did a pretty +thorough job here, didn’t they? + +KATHERINE. You’ll get used to it, Rob. We’re all getting used to it. + +ROBERT [_in the doorway_]. Cleaned out the orchards, didn’t they? All +fruit trees, those were. Just got ’em in condition to bear. + +KATHERINE. I wrote you how things were. + +ROBERT. Yes. I didn’t quite take it in. [_Starts toward the hearth, +stops, smitten at the sight of Basil, then goes to him._] Hello, Bub! +Hard luck, old man! [_Gertrude appears in the doorway, unnoticed by +Robert_]. Cleaned us up here pretty well, the foreigners, didn’t they? +Cleaned us up, while we were getting ready to fight! And now we’re +turning out to help ’em thrash our old comrades in arms. + +KATHERINE. What! + +ROBERT. War was declared at noon to-day. + +KATHERINE. War was declared! + +ROBERT [_going to the Professor_]. Here’s a late paper, sir. + +PROFESSOR. Thank you, Robert, thank you! [_Retires into the bow-window, +where he reads the paper, oblivious of all else._] + +LYDIA. They’re going to keep on fighting! [_Goes to Basil, sits on the +settle._] + +KATHERINE. But you’ve come home. + +ROBERT. Yes. They only want able-bodied men for cannon fodder—young +men, strong men, not chaps like me. Knocked my heart out in the +service. Got rheumatism in those damned trenches. That’s why they gave +me my walking ticket. That’s why I’ve come home. + +KATHERINE. And now we fight for the foreigners. I can’t believe it. + +GERTRUDE [_coming into the room_]. Phil would have been useful now. A +pity, isn’t it, Rob, that you murdered him. + +ROBERT. Trudie! What do you mean? + +GERTRUDE. Ask Kate! + +KATHERINE. Gertrude! + +ROBERT. You talked? + +LYDIA. You shan’t blame Kate. She found my boy. She brought him home. + +ROBERT. You talked, Kate? + +GERTRUDE. In her sleep. I know what you did to him. I’m glad you’ve +come here. At every turn of the stair—in every room of this house that +was home to him—you’ll see Phil now, as I see him, all the days of your +life. + +ROBERT. Kate! In your sleep—you remembered like that? + +KATHERINE. I can’t forget. I can’t forget. + +ROBERT. I’d been drinking. + +KATHERINE. Don’t! Don’t! I know. + +ROBERT. You don’t understand. You’ve got to understand. In the trenches +that winter, with the dirty water at our knees. Days on end, weeks +on end, months on end. Always cold. Always wet. Vermin crawling over +us. Dogs’ food that we snatched like dogs. And all the time the guns +were pounding, pounding, pounding, and we shouted to be heard, and our +ear-drums were cracking. We turned up the filth and slime to bury our +dead, and we came on the rotting dead they’d laid there— + +KATHERINE. Don’t! Don’t! + +ROBERT. Well, I got to depending on the stuff. It deadened things. But +I never went drunk to bed till the night I got your letter—the letter +about Roland. + +KATHERINE. I’m not blaming you. [_Sinking on chair, at the right of the +table._] God help us all! + +ROBERT. Can’t you understand, Trudie? I was half drunk that night when +Phil— No! I don’t mean that. All that I did was right. + +GERTRUDE. Your friend! He was your friend! + +ROBERT. I don’t carry my friendships onto the firing line. He was +nothing to me, that chap. I was ready to make him talk. At any cost. +Yes. [_Gertrude, with a strangled cry, goes into the bow-window._] +But I didn’t do it for fun, Kate. [_Goes to the table._] To save my +own chaps from getting pounded to pieces. I was right. He’s got no +business coming into my dreams. I was right. I’ll say that to you, +Kate, just as I’ll say it to Almighty God. + +KATHERINE. Oh, the long way you’ve come, since you stood together, +you three big, kind men we were so proud of, here in this very room, +fussing over a little hurt beast. The Woodsy Boy came through that +door. The boy you— + +ROBERT [_sitting down opposite her_]. The conscript you saw me shoot? +That was mutiny in the ranks. I was right, under the rules of war. + +KATHERINE. Only two years ago that was, only two years. It was the +day that Roland— Don’t you remember? He asked me about the picture of +Moloch. + +[_Very faint, but continuously swelling louder, is heard outside at the +right the music of the March-out, heard in Act I._] + +GERTRUDE. What’s that? + +LYDIA. It can’t be the March-out that I hear! + +[_Thomas, wildly excited, darts in at the terrace door._] + +THOMAS. O Aunt Katherine! The soldiers are leaving the camp. They’ll +march right by our house. + +[_Thomas darts out again._] + +LYDIA. I can’t live through it again. Oh, I’m too old! + +BASIL. Why don’t you throw flowers, Trudie? + +[_Gertrude, with a hysteric cry, sinks upon the floor in the +bow-window._] + +KATHERINE. And we thought the war was ended. + +ROBERT. Thought the war was over, did you? Not a bit of it. As long as +men are men, there’ll be fighting. + +LYDIA. We can’t bear any more. + +KATHERINE. We’ve nothing left to give. + +ROBERT. Stop crying! There’s an ocean of tears been shed already—an +ocean of blood. Doesn’t make any difference. We’re fighting still. No +end to it. God’s a joke. Got any brandy in the house, Kate? I’m dead +tired. I’m down and out. [_Rests his head on his arms upon the table._] + +THOMAS [_running past the terrace door_]. Oh, the soldiers! The +soldiers! The soldiers! + +KATHERINE. Moloch is hungry still. + +BASIL. And I can’t go with ’em! [_Collapses, sobbing._] + +KATHERINE. More of them—more of them—more of them! + +ROBERT. If they’d only stop that damned noise! + +KATHERINE. Marching—marching—marching— + +[_The March-out is at its fortissimo._] + + + CURTAIN + + + THE END + + + + +[Illustration] + + +“BORZOI” stands for the best in literature in all its +branches—drama and fiction, poetry and art. “BORZOI” also +stands for unusually pleasing book-making. + +BORZOI Books are good books and there is one for every taste +worthy of the name. A few are briefly described on the next page. Mr. +Knopf will be glad to see that you are notified regularly of new and +forthcoming BORZOI Books if you will send him your name and +address for that purpose. He will also see that your local dealer is +supplied. + + + ADDRESS THE BORZOI + 220 WEST FORTY-SECOND STREET + NEW YORK + + + + +[Illustration] + + THE NEW BORZOI BOOKS + + _Published by_ ALFRED A. KNOPF + + + TALES OF THE PAMPAS By W. H. Hudson, author of “Green + Mansions.” Including what Edward Garnett calls “the finest short + story in English.” Three-color jacket. $1.25 + + A DRAKE! BY GEORGE! By John Trevena. A perfectly + delightful tale of Devonshire, with plot and humor a-plenty. $1.50 + + THE CRUSHED FLOWER From the Russian of Leonid Andreyev. + Three novelettes and some great short stories by this master. $1.50 + + JOURNALISM VERSUS ART By Max Eastman. A brilliant + and searching analysis of what is wrong with our magazine writing + and illustrations. Many pictures of unusual interest. $1.00 + + MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY From the Russian of Alexander + Kornilov. The only work in English that comes right down to the + present day. Two volumes, boxed, per set. $5.00 + + THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING From the Russian of + Alexandre Benois, with an introduction by Christian Brinton and + thirty-two full-page plates. The only survey in English. $3.00 + + SUSSEX GORSE By Sheila Kaye-Smith. A wonderfully vigorous + and powerful novel of Sussex. A really masterly book. $1.50 + + RUSSIA’S MESSAGE By William English Walling, with 31 illustrations. + A new and revised edition of this most important work. $2.00 + + WAR From the Russian of Michael Artzibashef, author of “Sanine.” + A four-act play of unusual power and strength. $1.00 + + MORAL From the German of Ludwig Thoma. A three-act comedy + that is unlike anything ever attempted in English. $1.00 + + MOLOCH By Beulah Marie Dix. Probably the most thrilling play + ever written about war. $1.00 + + THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL From the Russian of Nicolai + Gogol, author of “Taras Bulba.” The first adequate version in + English of this masterpiece of comedy. $1.00 + + THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT A handsome holiday edition + of George Meredith’s Arabian Entertainment. With fifteen beautiful + plates and an introduction by George Eliot. Quarto. $5.00 + + + _All prices are net._ + + + 220 WEST FORTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + + Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, + and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. + + Inconsistent hyphenations have been left as is. + + Page 56: “Katherine” typeface corrected from small caps to italics. + Page 74: “froom” replaced by “from”. + Page 83: “Phil Pray?” replaced by “Phil. Pray?”. + Page 92: “replaced table].” replaced by “table.]”. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78389 *** diff --git a/78389-h/78389-h.htm b/78389-h/78389-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..686ef34 --- /dev/null +++ b/78389-h/78389-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5713 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no,date=no,address=no,email=no,url=no"> + <title> + Moloch | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1, +h2, +h3, +h4, +h5, +h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 { + font-weight: normal; +} + +h2 { + font-size: 140%; + font-weight: normal; +} + +p { + text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.49em; +} + +.p2 { + margin-top: 2em; +} +.p4 { + margin-top: 4em; 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+} +.tdc { + text-align: center; +} + +.pagenum { + color: #a9a9a9; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.center { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 { + width: 100%; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} +/* comment out next line and uncomment the following one for floating figleft on ebookmaker output */ +.x-ebookmaker .figleft { + float: left; + text-align: center; + margin-right: 0; +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote { + background-color: #e6e6fa; + color: black; + font-size: small; + padding: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 5em; + font-family: sans-serif, serif; +} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowe8 {width: 8em;} +.illowe10 {width: 10em;} +.illowe12_5 {width: 12.5em;} +.illowp70 {width: 70%;} + +table.spaced td { + padding-left: 1em; + padding-right: 1em; +} + +p.hanging { + text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; +} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78389 ***</div> + +<div class="transnote"> +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + +<p> +Some minor changes to the text are noted at the <a href="#transnote">end of the book</a>. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp70" id="cover"> +<img alt="Original cover" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg"> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<h1><i>Moloch</i></h1> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<table class="autotable spaced" style="border: 2px solid black"> + <thead> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="tdc">THE BORZOI PLAYS</td> + </tr> + </thead> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">I</td> + <td>WAR<br> + <i>By Michael Artzibashef</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">II</td> + <td>MOLOCH<br> + <i>By Beulah Marie Dix</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">III</td> + <td>MORAL<br> + <i>By Ludwig Thoma</i> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">IV</td> + <td>THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL<br> + <i>By Nicolay Gogol</i> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<table class="autotable spaced" style="border: 4px double black;"> + <thead> + <tr> + <td class="tdc fs200" style="border-bottom: 2px solid black;" colspan="3"> + <i>The Borzoi Plays II</i> + </td> + </tr> + </thead> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" style="border-bottom: 2px solid black;" colspan="3"> + <div class="fs250">MOLOCH</div> + <div style="width: 60%; margin-left:auto; margin-right: auto;"> + <i class="fs150">A play in a Prologue, three acts and an Epilogue by</i> + </div> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdc" style="border-right: 2px solid black;border-left: 2px solid black;" > + <div class="fs170" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 25%">Beulah Marie Dix</div> + <div class="p6"> + <figure class="figcenter illowe10" id="i_title"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + </div> + </td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" style="border-top: 2px solid black;" colspan="3"> + <p class="fs150 center"><i>New York · Alfred A Knopf · 1916</i></p> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY<br> +ALFRED A. KNOPF +</p> +<p class="fs80" style="width: 25em; margin: auto"> +THIS PLAY, IN ITS PRESENT PRINTED FORM, IS +DESIGNED FOR THE READING PUBLIC ONLY. ALL +DRAMATIC RIGHTS IN IT ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT, +AND NO PERFORMANCE MAY BE GIVEN +WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE +AUTHOR AND THE PAYMENT OF ROYALTY. +</p> + +<p class="fs90 center p4"> +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +<span class="fs150">KLAW AND ERLANGER</span><br> +<span class="fs120">IN ASSOCIATION WITH GEORGE C. TYLER<br></span> +<br> +Present<br> +<span class="fs120">HOLBROOK BLINN’S COMPANY</span><br> +<br> +in<br> +<br> +<span class="fs150">MOLOCH</span><br> +<br> +<span class="fs90">A PLAY ABOUT WAR</span><br> +<br> +<span style="line-height: 2em;">In a Prologue, Three Acts and an Epilogue</span><br> +<span class="allsmcap">BY</span> BEULAH M. DIX +</p> +</div> + +<table class="autotable" style="height: 100%;"> + <thead> + <tr style="border-bottom: 2px solid black"> + <td><span class="smcap">People</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Characters</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Played by</span></td> + </tr> + </thead> +<tbody> +<tr> + <td>A Man</td> + <td>Robert</td> + <td><i>Holbrook Blinn</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Wife</td> + <td>Katherine</td> + <td><i>Lillian Albertson</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Son</td> + <td>Roland</td> + <td><i>Cornish Beck</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Mother</td> + <td>Lydia</td> + <td><i>Mrs. Thomas Whiffen</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Sister</td> + <td>Gertrude</td> + <td><i>Louise Rutter</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Brother</td> + <td>Basil</td> + <td><i>Creighton Hale</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Uncle</td> + <td>The Professor</td> + <td><i>T. Wigney Percyval</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Servant</td> + <td>Martha</td> + <td><i>Ruth Benson</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>His Friend</td> + <td>Philip</td> + <td><i>Paul Gordon</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>The Woodsy Boy</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Sydney D. Carlyle</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Girl</td> + <td>Frances</td> + <td><i>Laura Iverson</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Another Girl</td> + <td>Margaret</td> + <td><i>Rosina Henley</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Little Boy</td> + <td>Thomas</td> + <td><i>Richard Dupont</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdc"> + Fellow-Countrymen + </td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Major</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Edwin Brandt</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>An Adjutant</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Paul S. Bliss</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Sergeant</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Jules A. Ferrar</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Another Sergean</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Charles Rolfe</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Soldier</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>A. P. Kaye</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Another Soldier</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>A. H. Ebenhack</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Third Soldier</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>John Dupont</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Fourth Soldier</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Thomas Hill</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdc"> + Foreigners + </td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Major</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Redfield Clarke</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Lieutenant</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Gareth Hughes</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Corporal</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Edmund Breese</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Trooper</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Dale Kennedy</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Another Trooper</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Theodore C. Brown</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Third Trooper</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Harry Dean</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>A Fourth Trooper</td> + <td></td> + <td><i>Vincent Phillips</i></td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">PROLOGUE—</td> +<td>Before the War. A Country House.<br> +Interval, Ten Days. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">ACT I—</td> +<td>Mobilization. A Town House.<br> +Interval, Nine Months.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">ACT II—</td> +<td>Invasion. A Town House.<br> +Interval, Seven Months.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">ACT III—</td> +<td>Battle. On the Firing Line.<br> +Interval, Eight Months.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr" style="vertical-align: top">EPILOGUE—</td> +<td>After the War. A Country House.<br> +The Fruits of Victory.</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p class="center"> +Play produced by Mr. Blinn +</p> + +<p>The above, from a program of the New Amsterdam +Theatre, New York, shows the cast at the first New +York performance of this play, Monday evening, September +20, 1915. The play had previously been produced +in Cleveland and in Chicago.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <p class="center nobreak fs150" id="MOLOCH"> + MOLOCH + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span> + </p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <p class="center nobreak fs200" id="MOLOCH_1"> + MOLOCH + </p> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="PROLOGUE"> + PROLOGUE + </h2> +</div> + + +<p><i>The country-house, once a farmhouse of the better +sort, but now become the residence of the owners of the +estate, is a shabby, homelike, livable place. The walls +of the living-room are wainscotted in warm brown, with +plaster above, and hung with sporting prints and pictures +of battle. The ceiling is raftered. At the right +of the audience is a big fireplace, with a trophy of arms +above it. On the mantel-shelf are a brace of old-fashioned +metal candlesticks, and a fair-sized loving-cup of +silver. A low fire burns upon the hearth. At either +side of the fireplace are doors. The one toward the back +of the room leads to a coat-closet, the one toward the +front to inner rooms. At the left of the audience a door +leads to the kitchens, etc. At the back a two-fold outer +door opens on a brick terrace, with a suggestion of garden +lying below. Beyond the balustrade of the terrace +you may glimpse springtide country, with fields under +cultivation, fruit-trees smothered with blossoms, and, in +the distance, the tower of a little church and the roofs of +a peaceful hamlet. At either side of this main door are +casement windows. Those at the left make of that +ample corner of the room a huge bow-window, with +slightly raised floor and cushioned seat. The furniture +is simple, massive and good: a Jacobean settle, at right +angles to the hearth, a chest beneath the windows at the +right, a gate-legged table at the centre, a heavy writing +table, well down at the left, with smokers’ stuff, a lamp, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>a work-basket, a small stand in the bow-window, with a +bowl of gold-fish, and the usual complement of serviceable +and comfortable chairs.</i></p> + +<p><i>The season is May. The time is sunset.</i></p> + +<p><i>In the bow-window, reading in the late light, with +books scattered about him, and the gold-fish at his elbow, +sits the Professor, a scholarly and somewhat opinionated +gentleman of seventy, with a wrinkled, not altogether +unkindly, face and white hair. His sister, Lydia, sixty-odd, +but erect and spirited, sits on the settle, playing +Patience at a little table. She wears a bit of fine lace by +way of cap, but her gown of plum-color is never so little +out of fashion. At the chest Katherine is arranging +flowers in two low bowls, slowly and carefully, as one +who loves flowers and respects them. She is perhaps +thirty, of the type that, for lack of better word, we describe +as Madonna, born to be a mother to everything in +sight, but with her goodness spiced with a saving sense +of humor. She wears a soft gray house-dress. On the +floor at the left kneels Roland, a paper soldier-cap upon +his head, at play with toy soldiers, ranged in ranks, and +a toy gun. He is six or seven years old, the sort of little +lad to make any mother proud. He speaks, as the curtain +rises.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Bang! [<i>Knocks down the toy soldiers.</i>] +See, Mummy, our men have killed all the foreigners.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why do you want to kill them, son?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Because they’re foreigners.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Do let the boy alone! You wouldn’t have +him play with dolls.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I’ll be the colonel, like my grandpa was. +He killed the nasty foreigners, didn’t he, Mummy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>setting flowers on the centre table</i>]. +That was ever so long ago. We are at peace with all +the world now. We shall always be at peace.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Have you seen the newspapers?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>setting flowers on the writing table</i>]. Of +course I haven’t. Not since day before yesterday. But +who cares for the stuff they print? [<i>Sits by the table, +takes up her sewing.</i>] Civilized nations don’t fight each +other.</p> + +<p>[<i>From the terrace come in quickly Gertrude and Basil, +both in tramping clothes. She is in her early twenties, +impulsive, passionate, and altogether charming. He is +in his late teens, with the erect and masterful carriage +that stamps him as a military cadet. Both carry newspapers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Hello, folks! We’ve got the papers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>rising excitedly</i>]. Well, well, well!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>giving him a newspaper</i>]. Yesterday’s. Best +we could do. [<i>Tosses his cap on the chest.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Clear to the Corner we had to tramp to +get them. Of all the luck! To be poked into this dead +and alive place, a hundred miles from everywhere, at +such a time! [<i>Flings paper on table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Hush! Tell me if there’s any news.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude hangs her coat and hat in the closet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I should say there was news.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>reading paper</i>]. Ultimatum! Well, +well!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>startled, but only for a moment</i>]. Ultimatum!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Outrageous! Insolent!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine resumes her sewing.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> They think we’ll back down, just because we +don’t swagger about, armed to the teeth. Well, when it +comes to business, we’ll show them a thing or two.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Yes. When this great nation of ours is +once roused—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Why, I’d back one of our chaps with his bare +fists to do up two of those foreign Johnnies with their +rifles.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>coming to the hearth</i>]. Oh, for goodness’ +sake, talk sense!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> I trust you do not doubt the spirit and +courage of your countrymen?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> No. But you’re all making the mistake +of doubting the spirit and courage of other people’s +countrymen.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Meaning—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> The foreigners are as brave as we are.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Oh, come now!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> If it comes to war, they’ll put up just as +good a fight as we will.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Pshaw! [<i>Disgusted, he retires into the +bow-window with his paper.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> And they’re in condition to fight. They +have bigger guns than ours, explosives we don’t even +know the names of. Phil says—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Oh, it’s Phil’s talk you’re handing us out.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>going up to him</i>]. Yes, and it’s sensible +talk, too.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Well, I must say that I think—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Children! Children!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert has meantime appeared in the outer doorway, +a likable chap of thirty-odd, the best type, perhaps, of +Landjunker or of country squire. He wears country +clothes, and evidently has come from tramping his +fields.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hello! So the war’s broke out right here, +eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>running to him</i>]. Daddy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Trudie’s got to quoting Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> And Basil is absurd. [<i>She retires to the +window at right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> And your mother, I believe, is also absurd.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> There, there! Of course you are not. +Any mail come in?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> They haven’t got that bridge mended +yet.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> They’re still sending round by the Corner, +when they send at all. [<i>He strolls out upon the terrace, +where he lights a cigarette.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Humph! Hoped I’d get word about that +new cultivator. [<i>Goes to the smoking table and gets a +pipe.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland returns to his toys.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Did Phil come in with you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> No. He stopped at the gamekeeper’s. +Seems the baby is coming down with whooping cough or +something.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Did you come round by the ten acre? +[<i>Sits by table centre.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. Ought to get a second crop off it this +season. You know, it will play the mischief with our +getting fertilizers, if the fools should rush us into war.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, but they won’t.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Daddy, will you please mend my soldier?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Sure thing! Been in the thick of the fight, +hasn’t he? Get me the glue, son. [<i>Sits by table centre.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Here you are, Roland. [<i>Gives him a +tube of glue from the writing table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Thank you! Here, Daddy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Right! [<i>Mends soldier, while Roland +leans against his knee.</i>] Poor old chap! Lost both +legs, hasn’t he? That’s what your Uncle Basil is aching +to do, ever since he got to be a cadet. Go out and fight +somebody, anybody, and come home in fragments. +[<i>Looking up at Basil.</i>] Eh, Bub?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Great thing to sit and laugh, when your country +is threatened.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Oh, I’ve lived through two big war scares +in my day. Mother’s lived through half a dozen.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> And through two wars, remember.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Do you realize, Robert, that they have +sent us an ultimatum?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Ever watch two dogs, with a fence between +’em, tearing along, barking, ready to chew each other +up, till they come to an open gate and can get at each +other? Then down go their tails, and home they go. +That’s the way it will be this time. We’ll snarl at each +other till it comes to the point of fighting, and then the +common sense of the average citizen—</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland goes back to his toys.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> That’s what I keep saying. As if people +could fight nowadays!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Nonsense! Men have always fought. They +always will fight. Doesn’t it say in the Bible: “I +come not to bring peace, but a sword”?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. And doesn’t it say also: “Agree +with thine adversary”?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>rising, annoyed</i>]. My dear ladies, those +old legends of Christianity are not at all pertinent. +Now let me tell you—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland! Run fetch some bread for +Uncle’s gold-fish. Run! [<i>Roland runs out at the left.</i>] +Now I know you’re going to say something barbaric.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Barbaric fiddlesticks! Just commonsense.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Thank you, my dear sister. As I was +about to say, if you will read my compendium of international +relations—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. We have! [<i>Goes to closet and +gets string with which he mends the toy.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> You will understand that wars are the +outcome of great folk movements over which individuals +have no control. As a scholar and a philosopher, then, +I must believe—</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland runs in again.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Now may I feed the gold-fish, Uncle?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Yes, yes. As I was about to say—Not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>too fast, sonny! Not too fast! There! Slowly! +That way! I was about to remark that wars after all +work for the good of the race.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Nothing like war to put an edge on a nation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> And not merely are the martial virtues +stimulated, but literature and learning revive and flourish.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> In a bloodstained soil?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> So many of you dear women can see +nothing in war but the pain and suffering that are merely +incidental.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It’s a sentimental viewpoint.</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland in the bow-window takes up and examines one +of his uncle’s books.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Now I solemnly believe that we are on +the eve of conflict.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> The folks that talk like you are doing their +best to get us into one.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> If they want a fight, let ’em have it, I say!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, have a chip on your shoulder, if you +must. But be sure you’re ready for the people that will +try to knock it off.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> This talk about being ready is downright +blasphemous.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Quite a strong word, Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Our country has been victorious in every war +in its history. Doesn’t that prove that God is on our +side? And if God is for us—</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert reseats himself at the table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> National destiny. I, for one, believe +this war is not only inevitable, but desirable.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>coming to his mother, with an open book</i>]. +O Mummy! What’s this horrid picture? He’s eating +folks alive.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Let’s see, son! [<i>Takes book.</i>] “They +made their children pass through the fire to Moloch.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Who was Moloch, Mummy?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> He was their god, laddie. They gave +him their children to devour, and they thought it was a +noble thing to do.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Sun worship merely. Moloch is another +name for Baal.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I wonder if it’s not another name for +the god of war.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> My dear Kate, your mythology is hopelessly +confused. [<i>Retires again to his paper.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, I’m not talking mythology. Just +sense.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> It’s time somebody did.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Steady!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> The god of war—the awful monster +with the flaming jaws, and the nations running joyously +to fling him their youngest and strongest and best.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Sentimental nonsense, Kate.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> And will Moloch eat us, too, Mummy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>kissing him</i>]. Oh, no, no, dear! Of +course not. That was ever so long ago.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> And they were just heathen that didn’t +know any better. Not good sensible Christian people, +like ourselves.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> There, dear, put the book away, and +don’t think any more about it.</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland replaces the book on the window seat and +returns to his toys.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Believe I’ll step down to the village and see +if they’ve done anything about getting the mail across. +[<i>Gets cap.</i>] It will be no joke for me, if my leave’s +been withdrawn and I’ve not got word.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Wait a moment, Basil! You did not +find the air damp, Robert?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Dry as one of your lectures, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Then, Basil, I’ll go with you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I’ll fetch your hat, sir. [<i>Goes to closet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> I, too, have a barbarous interest in what +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>is going on. [<i>Taking hat from Basil.</i>] Thanks, my +boy! Can’t be too careful, you know. I hate to lie +awake at night coughing.</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil and the Professor go out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Uncle Charles is particular about his own +comfort. [<i>Rises.</i>] More than he is about the comfort +of the men he’s so eager to send to do the fighting. +[<i>Goes to the bow-window, obviously waiting and watching +for some one.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Two of a kind, Uncle and Basil. And it’s +the kind that kicks over all our apple-carts. Here’s +your man, son. Good as new!</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland puts away his toys.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Basil’s profession was your father’s profession. +It would have been yours, if you had been physically +fit.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Yes. That astigmatism in my left +eye did me a mighty good turn, when it kept me out of +the army.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Robert!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. Well, well, Mother, I do +enough for honor and glory when I turn out once a year +with a regiment of defensibles. Rest of the time I’m +not keen on being an anachronism in gold braid and an +air-tight helmet. [<i>Sits by table and takes up newspaper.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in at the right, a middle-aged servant, +kindly and commonplace.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> If you please, it’s Master Roland’s bed +time.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I don’t want to go to bed.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Come, come, Master Roland! Why, you’d +ought to see my little niece Patty go when she’s bid.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I don’t want to—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Well, will you come hear me say my prayers, +Mummy?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes, dear. Run along now!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Good night, Aunt Trudie!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>kissing him</i>]. Good night, darling.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Good night, Granny. I’ll take my sword +into bed with me, so you needn’t be scared if the enemy +should come.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Bless the boy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Good night, Daddy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Good night, old man.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Come, Master Roland!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> But you won’t need to wash my hands, +Martha. They were washed once to-day.</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland and Martha go out at the right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why, I didn’t realize it was his bedtime. +[<i>Folds work.</i>] Phil is a long time at the gamekeeper’s.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Rob! [<i>Goes to the table.</i>] If there +should be war—what would happen to Phil?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Don’t begin to worry. There won’t be +war.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Those foreigners will give way, when they +see we’re in earnest. A cowardly lot!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Phil isn’t exactly what I should call a +coward. Cowards don’t win races in monoplanes in a +high wind. [<i>Goes to terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Where going, Trudie?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Just across the garden.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It’s past sunset.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I’m only going a little step.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude goes out.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I can’t help thinking it would be in better +taste just now if Philip went back to his own country.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> He happens to have a year more of work +at the laboratory.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Then let him go back to his old laboratory, +instead of hanging round here, putting notions into my +daughter’s head.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You know his chief ordered him to take +this fortnight off. He was getting a bit seedy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You’ll always make excuses for him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> We owe him something, Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> He did no more than any physician is bound +to do.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Look here, Mother, you weren’t +here, that awful night. You didn’t see Roland +lying there, with his poor little face congested, +fighting for every single breath, a losing fight, and +we, with all our love, just helpless. And then Rob +brought Phil to me.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> We hadn’t been very nice to that lot of +noisy young doctors, camped down by the ford, had we, +Kate?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Why, half of them were foreigners. +[<i>Goes to table.</i>] Until that night, I don’t +think that I’d dreamed that foreigners were quite the +same as ourselves. But when Phil came in I—I just +fell at his feet, as if he had been sent from God Himself, +praying: “Save my only one! Oh, save my +baby!”</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert rises and goes to her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> That’s his business, isn’t it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And when the tube filled up, and we +thought it was all over, Phil put his lips to the tube and +drew out the poison that was suffocating our boy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Other doctors have done as much.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>heatedly</i>]. But Phil had cut his lip, +remember! He took a big risk, with his eyes open, +for a stranger’s child—for our child!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> There, there!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>sits by table</i>]. Well, I shan’t forget +that, ever. [<i>Dries her eyes.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>rises, sets Patience table by the hearth</i>]. +That’s all very fine, but I hope that Gertrude won’t make +a fool of herself over the fellow. Get my shawl, Robert! +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>I’ll take a little step in the garden, too. [<i>Goes +to door.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert gets shawl from closet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Now you know it’s getting a bit +damp, Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Fiddlesticks! If Charles can venture out, +I can. Always an old Betty about his precious +health.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Here you are, Mother. [<i>Folds shawl +about her.</i>] Shall I come with you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I don’t need help yet a while in managing my +own children, thanks!</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia goes out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> She’s got her hands full, this time.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You mean—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I know.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. You know that Phil and +Gertrude are in love with each other?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> He asked my permission this afternoon. +Her guardian and all that sort of thing.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Well, if they’re only one half as happy +as we’ve been—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>his arms about her</i>]. Rubbed along pretty +well, haven’t we, old girl?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I don’t ask for better. There! Run +along after mother, do. Don’t let her break in on them +and spoil this minute. It won’t come again.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I say! Do you remember the night when +we first—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Now don’t be foolish. [<i>Kisses him.</i>] +Run!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert goes out. The room is now dusky with twilight. +Katherine goes to the hearth and lights the candles +on the mantel-shelf. As she is busied with the second +candle, Phil comes quickly from the terrace. A +well built young man, headlong and sufficiently likable. +He wears a Norfolk suit and a cap which he tosses upon +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>the chest. At the slight noise of his entrance Katherine +turns.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> O Phil! I’m to congratulate you. +Yes?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>catching both her hands</i>]. Rob has told you, +then? And I have just this minute spoke with her.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Nearer the stars than ever you came in +your airship, aren’t you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> The airship? Oh, I give up the flying now. +I am getting down to work. To-morrow I go back to +the city.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Oh, yes. I am all rested. I can see straight +what was all thick before. You watch me now, put it +through, for her sake.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>sitting on the settle</i>]. Your research? +You never told us much about it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It is too big a thing almost to speak about. +[<i>Sits by her.</i>] It is, I think, almost I can some day +put my hand on how to cure what we are most afraid of. +Living death, I mean. Death by torture. Cancer.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> A-ah! That was how my mother died. +I watched her. O Phil! If you can do that, it’s like +grace sent down from Heaven.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I don’t say I can. I mean only, with time, +with work—Lord! How I can work now! Funny! +They used, you know, the old chaps, to bring to the +women they loved heads of their enemies, men they’d +killed. To-day maybe we bring to a woman so many +people saved, men and women and little kiddies, perhaps. +That’s a pretty worth-while gift, eh?</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland comes in from the right, in blue pajamas and +slippers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> O Mummy! You never came to hear my +prayers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You bad one! Run to bed, quick!</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland lags snail-like toward the door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Oh, let him stay up for a minute, please! +Come along, kiddie! [<i>Takes Roland on his knee.</i>] +Well, old pal! What have you done all day?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I’ve been playing war. We killed the foreigners.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> So so! And will you kill me, too?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>with his arm about Phil’s neck</i>]. You’re +not a foreigner. If anybody tries to kill you ever, I +will take my sword—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> That’s enough, dear. Come say your +prayers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I want Uncle Phil to say his prayers with +me.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I’m afraid I have forgotten how.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I’ll show you. [<i>Slips from Phil’s knee.</i>] +You kneel, you know, like this. [<i>Kneels before Katherine.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Phil, dear! To-night—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It is, I think, twenty years since—[<i>Glances +from the child to the mother, then kneels beside +Roland.</i>] She would have loved you, my mother.</p> + +<p> + <span class="smcap">Roland.</span> “Now I lay me down to sleep.<br> + <span style="margin-left: 5em;">I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep!”</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent">Make me kind! Keep me clean! Make me a good boy, +for the dear Lord’s sake. Amen!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>half whimsically</i>]. Make me a good boy for +her dear sake!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>her hand on his shoulder</i>]. Amen!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Master Roland! Master Roland!</p> + +<p>[<i>Phil jumps up in some embarrassment and goes to +the other side of the room. Martha comes in at the +right. Roland springs up and runs away from her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Come to bed, sir! Come! [<i>Trying +vainly to catch Roland.</i>] My niece Patty never acted +like this.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>Robert comes in from the terrace. Roland runs to +him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Let me stay up a minute, Daddy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, it’s a special sort of night. [<i>Goes +to the hearth.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>running to Phil</i>]. I’m going to stay up! +I’m going to stay up!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>taking down the loving-cup</i>]. We’ll want +this prize cup of Phil’s, won’t we, Kate?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, yes. And there’s a bottle of the +’97 left.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Fine! [<i>Crosses.</i>] Fill it, Martha.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out at left with the cup.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>going to Phil</i>]. It’s all right, old son. +Trudie is with her mother. And Trudie could persuade +the legs off a brass kettle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>at the terrace door</i>]. Oh, the moon! +[<i>Seizes Katherine’s hand and draws her to the door.</i>] +See the moon, Mummy! There, above the pear-trees. +Will the rabbits come out and dance? The Woodsy Boy +says they do.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Hush! Who is that coming across the +garden?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Oh, it’s my Woodsy Boy!</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland runs out on the terrace.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Who does he mean?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> A little chap that we’ve met in the +wood, Roland and I. Roland! [<i>She follows the child +out upon the terrace.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Yes, Mummy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>outside</i>]. You’ll catch your death!</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland comes into the room from the terrace, with +the Woodsy Boy, a slender lad of sixteen or seventeen, +shy, big-eyed, quick-motioned, like a faun. He is barefooted +and bareheaded, in old brown trousers and shirt. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>In his arms he carries a little cur. Katherine follows +them into the room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Come in! Don’t be scared. My Uncle +Phil can make him well.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> He has broken his leg, please.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hello! Poor little beggar! It’s your job, +Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland! Don’t look! [<i>She leads Roland +to the settle, and places him upon it.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You will let me take him, yes? [<i>Takes the +dog.</i>] It hurts, eh?</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in at the left with the loving-cup.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Here’s the cup, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Put it down. We’re a clinic just now.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha sets the cup on the table at centre.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It’s broken, all right. Lay a paper across the +table, will you, Rob? [<i>Robert spreads a paper on the +writing table.</i>] We’ll want some warm water, Martha, +and some cloths.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out at left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> If you have pencils handy, they’ll make corking +splints. [<i>Brings the dog to the writing table, where +he works over him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hold on! I’ll give you a light. [<i>Lights +lamp on table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Steady, old sport! I’m your friend.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Quiet him, will you, sonny?</p> + +<p>[<i>Woodsy Boy runs to the table and strokes the dog.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What a shame that your pet is hurt!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> He isn’t mine, lady. I found him. +Over there by the upper lake.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But that’s a long distance for you to +walk.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> He was in pain. So I had to bring +him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in again with a basin of water and +some cloths.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Here’s the warm water, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Fine! [<i>Sets basin on table.</i>] Here you +are, Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> We’ll fix him all right now.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Poor creature! I’d better get him something +to eat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Sure thing! Kill him with indigestion. +He’ll die happy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Can’t you find an old basket for him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Oh, yes, ma’am. And I’ll get him a bone, +too.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out at left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Hold on! We haven’t rags enough.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Here you are! [<i>Tearing up his handkerchief.</i>] +Wait a bit!</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil comes in from the terrace, heatedly, and stands +brushing the mud from his trousers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Well, of all the damned luck!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hold your horses, Bub! What’s up?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I can’t get across the beastly river. And +how do I know what’s waiting for me, there at the postmaster’s, +and forty feet of bad water, or fifteen miles of +road between us?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Do you want the mail, Mister?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Do I want it? Rather!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I’ll get it. [<i>Runs to terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Child alive! You can’t get across the +river. The bridge is down.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>laughing</i>]. Oh, yes. But I can get +across. There’s a place I know, and nobody else. You +wait. I’ll show you.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Woodsy Boy runs out.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Hold the light nearer, Rob! Catch hold, Basil, +please! Keep the little beggar still.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>The three men crowd about the writing table. Gertrude +runs in from the terrace.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> O Kate! [<i>Goes to Katherine.</i>] You +know, don’t you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>embracing her</i>]. I’m so happy over it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Mother almost forgave Phil for being a +foreigner.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Give us a splint. Get busy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Nice things, aren’t they, those men of +ours!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Kate! If there should be war!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why, there can’t be. Men like those +three, at each other’s throats, food for cannon— Oh, +it’s madness to think of it!</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in from the left with a basket.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Here’s the basket, sir. [<i>She crosses and +stands by Roland.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Just make him comfy. Then I’ll put him out +in the lean-to.</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil takes the dog in the basket and goes out at left. +Robert goes to the table at centre. Professor comes in +from the terrace, closely followed by Lydia.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Dear, dear! It is long past the hour +for covering the gold-fish. And you didn’t remember, +Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’m sorry, Uncle. [<i>She joins him in +the bow-window.</i>] But I’m sure they haven’t caught +cold. [<i>She helps him to cover the globe with a cloth.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Mother, dear!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I am quite resigned. [<i>She pauses before the +settle.</i>] Philip! [<i>Phil hastily is drying his hands.</i>] +Whenever you are at liberty—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Dear lady! [<i>Goes to her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>giving him her hand</i>]. You have my consent. +[<i>Phil kisses her hand.</i>] No doubt I should be grateful +that you asked it. [<i>She sits on the settle.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil comes in again from the left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>eager to make amends for her mother’s +brusqueness</i>]. Phil dear! [<i>Draws near him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Oh, I say! Is that what you’re driving at, +you two?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Where were your eyes, you bat?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Felicitations, then, are in order?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> What is it all about?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> The biggest thing in the world, kiddie.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Uncle Phil is going to be your really uncle, +not a pretend uncle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Is he, Daddy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Perhaps we’d better let him—if he promises +to be good!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> And he’ll stay with us always? Isn’t that +jolly, Granny?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Well, I suppose it is.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> O Mother, you know you’re just as +happy as the rest of us.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And that’s pretty happy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Right you are! [<i>Takes cup.</i>] Here’s to +you, Sis! And to you, old son! All the love that’s in +all our hearts—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Me, too!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> —out of this loving-cup. Drink first, Trudie!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Thank you, Rob! [<i>Drinks.</i>] It’s your +turn, Phil.</p> + +<p>[<i>Their hands are on the cup, when the Woodsy Boy +runs in from the terrace with newspapers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Here are the papers. I couldn’t read +them. But the people, they all said: War!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, no!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Let me see!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Give it here!</p> + +<p>[<i>Both snatch papers from the Woodsy Boy. Basil +gives a paper to the Professor. Robert sits at table, +flinging open the paper.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It can’t be. [<i>Sets down the cup.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Phil! Oh, but you— What will become +of you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>from paper</i>]. War was declared at midnight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It’s come, then.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Just as I foretold.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, no, no! God wouldn’t let it be.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>from paper</i>]. They’ve stoned our ambassador. +They’ve dragged our flag in the mud.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Exactly what they did thirty years ago.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> A foreigner is always a foreigner.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Racial differences outcrop—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Racial differences? What do you talk of? +This is the twentieth century. We’re past the tribal +stage.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>striking the paper with his fist</i>]. Your people +aren’t even past the caveman stage.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Go easy, Basil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It has come, it seems, Rob, the thing we agreed +was quite impossible.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Old man, nothing is changed between you +and me, remember. Nothing is going to change.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Of course not.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> It can’t make any difference. We won’t +let it make any difference, will we, Phil? Will we?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Between us two? No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> You can’t help yourselves. It’s war now. +War!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>touching Robert’s sleeve</i>]. Is it because +of the war he must go away?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> What do you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> The men down in the village, they +were saying he must go.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> And they’re right. I’ve lived through two +wars.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Mother!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> And I was tending their children, just this +afternoon.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, they can’t mean to drive him +away?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Can’t they? [<i>Beside himself.</i>] Look here! +See what his people have done to our people! [<i>Gives +paper to Robert.</i>] Look! Look!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Good God! Our women—outraged. Little +children, taken out of their mothers’ arms, torn to +pieces.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You believe those stories?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> We know the sort they are, the dirty brutes!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Go slow there!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Am I a—dirty brute?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Basil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Rob! Tell me! In this house, now, where +do I stand?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You are—our guest.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to Robert</i>]. Our friend, Rob. +Our best friend.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, Rob! You don’t mean—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>with authority</i>]. Please, Trudie! Please! +[<i>To Robert.</i>] You take them seriously, then, these lies +to sell your newspapers?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Maybe it’s a lie that our country is honeycombed +with your infernal spy system. Chaps that have +been guests in our houses—chaps like yourself—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>to Basil</i>]. Oh! You dare to—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to Basil</i>]. Be quiet! [<i>To Phil.</i>] Of +course that’s absurd. But your country and my country +are going to fight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You said yourself—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That was before war was declared. And +before I knew how the foreigners fight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Rob!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Now, right or wrong, it’s my country.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Ah!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> They’re right, those men in the village. +Better go, Phil, while there’s still time.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I understand, yes. I leave right away for +town. I go and get my things together now. [<i>Starts +toward door right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> You’re driving him away!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No, no, dear. It’s just commonsense. In +town I see you all again. This war scare blows over +maybe. This is then just a good story, eh? Good +night, Katherine!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>giving him her hand</i>]. Good night, Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>to Robert</i>]. Good night [<i>shaking Robert’s +hand</i>], old enemy! [<i>Turns to Gertrude.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>clinging to him</i>]. You’ll come back? +Oh, you’ll come back?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Of course I will. [<i>Kisses her. Roland slips +to floor and stands awaiting a farewell.</i>] Good-bye!</p> + +<p>[<i>Phil goes out hastily at the right, ignoring the child.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>at the point of tears</i>]. You said he would +stay with us always.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude buries her face in her hands, sobbing +aloud.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Hush! [<i>Draws Roland down on settle beside +her, soothing him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I’ve got to get the eleven o’clock train to +town.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>seated at table, with the paper</i>]. War was +declared at midnight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Less than twenty-four hours. Already +it’s cost us our best friend. Oh, what’s to be the end of +it all? [<i>Her hand on Robert’s shoulder.</i>] What’s to be +the end?</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert looks up at her, wondering.</i>]</p> + + +<p class="center">CURTAIN</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_I"> + ACT I + </h2> +</div> + + +<p><i>The town-house, in its architecture and its furnishings, +belongs to an older generation. The parlor, in the second +story, opens at the back, up three shallow steps +and through a wide arched doorway, hung with dull +green curtains that are looped aside, into a writing room. +The rear wall of this inner room is lined with bookshelves. +A writing table and a chair fill the centre of +the room. In the parlor itself are two long windows at +the right, hung with curtains and formal lambrequins, +and set with window boxes, full of plants in blossom, +and with cushioned window-seats. Between the windows +stands a tall, old-fashioned secretary, topped with +a classic bust, and littered with writing things, among +which are a pair of desk candlesticks and several photographs +in frames. A stand with the globe of gold-fish +is in the window nearer the audience and close by a rocking-horse. +At either side of the door to the writing +room stands a bookcase. Above these bookcases hang +large prints of battle-scenes. At the left is a fireplace, +filled with green branches. Above the narrow mantle-ledge +hangs the picture of a man in uniform, draped with +a flag of three diagonal stripes, dark blue, orange, and +dark blue. Beneath the picture hangs a sheathed sword. +At either side of the fireplace are doors to the outer +passage. Before the fireplace are two armchairs. At +the centre of the room is a table, with three chairs, and +across the table, facing the audience, is drawn a small +sofa. The furniture all is mellowed with use.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span></p> + +<p><i>The season is early June. The time is the middle of +the morning, ten days subsequent to the happenings of +the Prologue.</i></p> + +<p><i>Seated at the table in the writing room, the Professor +drives a busy pen. On the rocking-horse sits Roland, +with toy sword, helmet, and cuirass, and a toy banner, +on a staff, in his hand. At the secretary Katherine is +busy with notes and check-book. Lydia, by the hearth, +is mending a silk flag, the size of a company pennon. +At the table Gertrude, and her two friends, Frances and +Margaret, girls of her own age and class, are deftly making +small nosegays, and putting them into a flat basket, +which already is three quarters filled. The table is littered +with greens and cut flowers. The women all are +in light summer frocks. The sunlight from the long +windows is clear and strong. From the street below +swells the sound of martial music. The girls’ voices at +first are barely audible through the din, but as the regiment +passes, presently it dies.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Every man that is a man is going to the +front.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> That’s just what I told Richard. So of +course he went and volunteered. If he hadn’t, I’d never +have spoken to him again.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> The field uniforms are the sweetest +things.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> I shall have my new coat cut with a military +collar.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Stop talking, girls, and hurry! Don’t +forget the train goes through at half past eleven.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in at the left, rear door, with a note +and a newspaper.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> Won’t the soldiers be glad of the flowers!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You’d much better take them tobacco.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Here’s the Extra, ma’am, they were crying +in the street. [<i>Gives paper to Lydia.</i>] And here’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>a note from the hospital, ma’am. [<i>Gives note to Katherine.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Oh, may we look, too? [<i>Runs +to Lydia.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances</span> [<i>at Lydia’s side</i>]. Another victory. Glorious!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Didn’t I tell you? When once this country +is roused!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Gertrude!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes, dear.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> We’d better cut up all the old linen in +the house.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Are they short of gauze already?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. And another trainload of +wounded will come in to-night.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances</span> [<i>returning to the table</i>]. Did you hear that, +Trudie? Another victory!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, yes. I heard.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Here are the keys, ma’am.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. Are the sandwiches ready?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> I’ve just given the hamper to the porter +to take to the station.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Boil both the hams to-night. The commissary +seems to have broken down. If we don’t feed +the troops that pass through—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> O Martha! Reach us some flowers from +the window boxes. We’re running short.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>at rear window, right</i>]. They’re most all +dying, Miss. It’s the dust the men kick up a-marching +by.</p> + +<p>[<i>A bugle sounds in the street and the jingle of harness.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>at the window</i>]. O Mummy, look! Cavalry!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> If I don’t just love a bugle!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Wouldn’t I just like to be a man and go +fight the nasty foreigners myself!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Martha! Will you please come here?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Yes, sir. [<i>Goes into writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> At last I have caught that troublesome +mouse. Kindly dispose of it! [<i>Gives Martha a wire +trap, which he takes from beneath the writing table.</i>] +I mean, take it away and kill it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>coming into the parlor</i>]. Well, I must say! +I’ve never killed nothing in my life, but flies and mosquitoes. +And if he wants his mouse killed, he can kill +it himself, so there.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. Say, Martha, let’s turn him +loose in the court.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> We will that.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> He’ll be so scared he’ll never come back, +and he’ll tell all the other little mice never to come here, +too.</p> + +<p>[<i>Roland and Martha go out at the forward door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>rising</i>]. There! That is quite done. +[<i>Comes into the parlor, manuscript in hand.</i>] This is +an appeal to be given to the world in this evening’s papers, +a trumpet call to the youth of our land to rally to +the standard.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> What’s the good of their rallying, if +there’s no equipment for them?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> That is beside the point. [<i>Margaret +goes to the rear window for flowers.</i>] Their backwardness +at such a time is appalling.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> So many men have wives and children +and old folks that depend upon them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> The claims of our country are paramount.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> What do you know about it? You’ve nothing +with a claim upon you, except that bowl of gold-fish.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. Let me assure you, my +dear sister, that if my heart were not weak, and if I +were not past the age limit, I should be already at the +front. That is, if it were not true now as always that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>the pen is mightier than the sword. If I can stir a +thousand men to action by my writings, obviously it is +better for the nation that I stay at home and write. +[<i>Goes to the door, but turns, smarting with the sense of +his wrongs.</i>] Anybody but a woman would see that!</p> + +<p>[<i>The Professor goes out, forward door, left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Hurry, Margaret! It’s late!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Just a minute. It’s a lot of volunteers +are passing now. Come see them, Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I can’t bear to look. They’re all so +young.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Oh, Basil! [<i>Turns from window.</i>] +Here’s your brother Basil, just coming up the steps. +And he’s got his uniform at last.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances</span> [<i>rising</i>]. What uniform?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>rising</i>]. They’ve graduated the first class +cadets ahead of time. Basil is a lieutenant now.</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil comes in, forward door, left, in the showy uniform +of a hussar lieutenant, which he carries well. You +love him at sight.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, you beautiful thing!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Chuck it now! [<i>Puts busby and gauntlets on +chair.</i>] Good morning, Frances. Good morning, Margaret.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> My, but you’re splendid!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> How do you like it, Mother?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Come here! That collar isn’t going to rub +your neck?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Devil a bit!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> Don’t you want to do something for me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>going to her, with an exaggerated bow</i>]. My +heart is at your feet.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> I don’t want your heart. I want one of +your coat buttons.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> The penalty for cutting off a button is shooting. +Do you want to put a permanent crimp in my career?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> But you must have an extra button.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I have. [<i>Takes button from pocket.</i>] For +the dearest girl in the world.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> That’s me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>wounded</i>]. Basil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>turning to Lydia</i>]. Will you accept it, +Mother?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>trying to hide her feelings</i>]. Foolishness! +[<i>Pockets button.</i>] I can ease that collar a little. +You’re staying to lunch?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I’m afraid not. Just ran around to say: So +long!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What do you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Ripping good luck! We’ve got our marching +orders.</p> + +<p>[<i>The three girls speak together</i>:]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> How perfectly lovely!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> This very day?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Where are you going?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Marching orders! [<i>Sinks back in her chair, +clutching the flag.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>bending over her</i>]. Mother! I say!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It’s—a little sudden. Don’t mind me! +[<i>Rises, leaving the flag on the chair.</i>] There are some +things to get ready. I’ll be down in a minute.</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia goes out through the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>after an instant’s troubled pause</i>]. These +flowers must go.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> You must have a flower, Basil. To remember +me by. [<i>Puts a flower in his coat.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Is it likely I’d forget you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>offering a flower</i>]. Here, Basil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>taking flower</i>]. But I’ll have to wear one of +them behind my ear!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> Goose! I’m going to kiss you good-bye. +Old playmates! [<i>Kisses him.</i>] Good-bye, Gertrude! +Good luck, Basil!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>Frances goes out, forward door left, with the basket +of flowers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Good-bye, Basil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>taking her hand</i>]. Good-bye, Margaret. +Don’t forget me!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> No, never.</p> + +<p>[<i>He starts to draw her to him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Hurry, Margaret! Hurry! +Hurry!</p> + +<p>[<i>Margaret goes out, forward door, left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>throwing into the wastepaper-basket the flower +that Frances gave</i>]. It gets me how you can have a little +idiot like Frances buzzing round you. [<i>Goes to the +window, right, back, putting Margaret’s flower in his +coat as he does so.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Thank goodness, we’re rid of them at +last.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>in window</i>]. She doesn’t look back.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>impishly</i>]. Frances?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Frances? No! Of course not.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Where are they sending you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Don’t know. [<i>Turns from window, slightly +swaggering, while he gets out a cigarette.</i>] Oh, the firing +line, all right. Great luck! Was afraid the war +would be over before I’d had a crack at it. Can’t last +more than six weeks, you know. We’ve got the beggars +on the run already. So much for all their big guns and +new explosives. It’s the spirit you put into it counts, I +tell you. Hang it all! Got any matches?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Right here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>going to secretary</i>]. Seen the papers, haven’t +you? [<i>Strikes a match.</i>] We’ve had another— Hello! +Still got Phil’s picture standing round? [<i>Toward +table, smoking.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why not?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Just a matter of taste, that’s all. I wonder +if the fellow was a spy.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Now that you’re wearing a lieutenant’s +uniform, it would be a mortal insult to box your ears, +wouldn’t it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> [<i>distinctly embarrassed</i>]. Well?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I should hate to have to insult you. +Better go to your mother. She’s waiting for you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>on way out</i>]. Coming, Trudie?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> In a minute. I’ve got to clear up.</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil goes out through the writing room. Gertrude +throws litter from the table into the wastepaper-basket.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Kate! Basil is right, you know.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> About Phil’s picture? [<i>Rises.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. Gertrude! Have you +thought—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I haven’t done much else, all these endless +days. It’s got to stop. Why, Kate, what else can I +do? Basil is going to the front. Rob is drilling with +his regiment. I belong with them. Not with Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> How much did you ever really care for +him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> So much that if he came in at that door—if +I heard his voice—if I felt his arms about me— What +should I do? [<i>Clings to Katherine, sobbing.</i>] +Oh, I don’t know what I should do.</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert comes in, forward door, left, in civilian +clothes.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hello! Hello! What’s the row?</p> + +<p>[<i>Military music from the street below.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, let me be! Please! Let me be!</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude hurries out, crying, at the rear door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> What’s up?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> She’s tired to death, that’s all. [<i>Sits +on sofa.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Not fretting about Phil, is she?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What should you suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, she’d better drop it. Things being +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>as they are— Can’t you see it’s impossible? [<i>Katherine +hides her face in her hands.</i>] What’s the matter? +[<i>He sits beside her.</i>] Come, come, Kate! That isn’t +like you. Tired, aren’t you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Tired of hearing them marching by. +All day long. All night long. And all the love and +kindness that made our lives, trampled under the feet +that march.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That’s morbid. Come on! Crack a smile, +Kate. That’s a good girl. You don’t want to lose your +grip, you know, so early in the game.</p> + +<p>[<i>Music dies slowly away.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> So early— You mean the war is only +just beginning?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Kate! It hasn’t even begun.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And Basil says: In six weeks!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. And the newspapers report another +victory, every day or so.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You mean they’re telling us—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well—they’re not telling us more than +half the truth. Don’t you worry, dear! In the long +run we’ll knock those damned cock-sure foreigners down +on their knees, yes, and hold ’em there till they promise +to be good. But before we can do that, we’ve got to +make an army out of a lot of raw men that never so +much as loaded a gun. That isn’t done in a day.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, what’s the good of it! What’s the +use of it! What’s the sense of it!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> In ten days’ fighting you’ve undone the +life-work of thousands of people. There ought to be +some other way. There must be some other way.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> There, there!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And you say we haven’t even begun! +But we women, we’ve begun already. Do you realize +what the distress is like in the families of the poorer +men that have volunteered?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Those things will all adjust themselves.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Do you realize how many babies have +been killed already by your war?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> What are you talking about?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> So many dead, because the milk in the +mother’s breast turned poison, when the father went +away to war. So many born dead—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That’s sentimental. The infant death-rate +may soar a bit, but after a war there’s always an increase +in births.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> If Roland should die, would it console +you to know that a dozen children will be born down in +the village next winter?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. There’s no reasoning with you, +Kate. Too bad to disagree to-day, of all days. [<i>Goes +to hearth.</i>] I had something I wanted to tell you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Something—bad, you mean.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Nothing dreadful, only—I might have +mentioned it before, but I thought, in case I didn’t pull +it off, no need to fuss you up for nothing. And as long +as you’re comfortably fixed here—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. Quick! Quick! Tell +me what you’re driving at!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Kate, dear!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You’re going to leave me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> With the men that march?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> My God! [<i>Quietly sits down by the +hearth.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> The country needs trained men. Needs ’em +desperately. You wouldn’t have me hang round home +now, would you? I couldn’t anyhow. Not with his +blood in me [<i>pointing to the picture over the fireplace</i>], +and the chaps that were his fathers before him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I thought—not till later. Your regiment, +just raw defensibles—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I’m not waiting for them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You’ve volunteered?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Changed my major’s commission for a captaincy +in the regulars. Don’t you realize? They’re +short of officers already. I’m to report at Headquarters +to-night.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> This very night?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Had my new uniform sent round here. +Better get into it, perhaps. [<i>Starts toward writing +room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And Basil goes to-day. What will +your mother do? What shall I do?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>turning quickly</i>]. Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> All right. [<i>Controls herself. Rises.</i>] +Yes. Of course. I understand. It’s in the blood. +My fathers weren’t soldiers—but one of them burned +at the stake for the faith that was his. How much time +have we still?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well—about an hour.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No more? Your mother—she’ll want +a moment, alone. Go to her! Speak to Gertrude! I’ll +come in a minute.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Kate! [<i>Catches her to him.</i>] You see, I +didn’t realize that the call would come so soon. Kate, +dear!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t! I can’t bear it. Please go! +I’ll come presently. I’ll come.</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert goes out through the writing room. Katherine +sways and sinks on the sofa, covering her face +with her hands. After a moment Martha comes in excitedly +at the forward door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> If you please, ma’am.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Not now, Martha. I can’t.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> O ma’am! He’s come back.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>looking up.</i>] Who?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Mr. Philip.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> He wants to see you. He’s waiting downstairs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Not here in this house?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Yes, ma’am.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> In this town where everybody knows +him! Why, the people in the street—the very neighbors—if +they should raise the cry of spy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> O ma’am! Not like that poor man they—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Send him up here quick! And don’t +let any one else in. [<i>Martha starts to go.</i>] Say I’m +not at home.</p> + +<p>[<i>Phil comes in headlong at the forward door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>catching her last words</i>]. You’ve got to see +me, Katherine.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, you crazy boy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>grasping her hands</i>]. Listen to me!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why aren’t you safe across your own +frontier? You’ve had ten days.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Ten days? Yes. Ten days like ten years. +I’ve been hiding out in the suburbs. I’ve been waiting +for a word from Gertrude.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Where is she?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Why hasn’t she sent me a word? Didn’t you +get my letters?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Then why hasn’t she written? What’s +wrong? Tell me, Katherine! Tell me! I’ve come +here to find out. I don’t go till I do find out.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude comes in at the rear door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> O Kate! Rob is calling for you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>turning, arms out</i>]. Gertrude!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>instinctively, straight to his arms</i>]. Phil! +Phil! [<i>Recovering herself, she draws back.</i>] Oh, no! +no!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>in the doorway of the writing room</i>]. +Say what you came to say. I’ll go to Rob.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Don’t leave me, Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> He’s risked his life to come here. +You’ve got to listen to him.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine goes out through the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> There’s nothing to say. You belong +there. I belong here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Belong to what? To a lot of crazy savages, +gone drunk with newspaper-lies?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> You shan’t speak so of my countrymen!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> My own precious countrymen are just as wild-eyed +as yours. We don’t belong to either camp. We +belong to each other.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> No, no! That’s all past!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You bet it isn’t. Sit down! Come! [<i>Draws +her down on the sofa, and sits beside her.</i>] Listen to +me, Trudie! Get the noise of the marching out of your +ears. Remember what it was like, spring twilight, there +in the garden, when we first kissed. [<i>Kisses her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>clinging to him</i>]. O Phil! These last +days—they’ve been an awful dream.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> That’s all we’ll let this war be to us, an awful +dream. We’re going to get out of it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> How can we?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Now listen! You sail for America next week. +I’ll send you to an exchange professor that I know. +His wife will look after you. I’ll join you inside the +month. We’ll be married.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> And I thought it was all over and done +with!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> They’ll give me an instructor’s berth, and a +room in the laboratory. I’ll get at the research. While +they’re killing over here, I’ll be hammering out a way +to cure. Isn’t that as worth while?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, yes. Of course!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> And we’ll have a shelter to offer to your +mother and to Katherine, if things go wrong.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> If things— [<i>Slowly comprehending.</i>] +If things go wrong? You mean you think your people +will get the better of my people?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Dear, I only said if.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>rising</i>]. But you think it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> What else can I think? I know the kind of +fight my country is going to make. There’s only one +outcome possible. [<i>Rises.</i>] But all that has nothing +to do with us, dear, has it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes. Everything—everything. I’ve +got to stand by. Because my country is going to need +every ounce of strength that’s in every last man and +woman, too. Because your treacherous country—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Treacherous!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes. Haven’t you been arming yourselves?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It’s hardly fair to call us treacherous because +you’ve chosen to be blind.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> A nation’s got to do one of two things: arm +itself or else stop talking war. You’ve gone about bragging +of your past, with a blunderbuss made in 1830. +Now we’ll turn to with real guns and teach you—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>realizing what he has said</i>]. I didn’t mean it. +I didn’t mean it. [<i>Going to her.</i>] One country is to +me no more than another. Trudie! Please!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> You may believe what you’re saying. +But it isn’t so. You belong with the foreigners, after +all. And they’ve behaved like savages.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Remember, dear, my father and my mother +belong to that race of savages.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes. I remember at last. Oh, I was +crazy! Even for a minute to think that we could +ever—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Listen to me!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>turning from him</i>]. No, no! [<i>Snatches +the flag from her mother’s chair.</i>] This is my flag. +My father fought for it. His father—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Don’t be theatric, dear.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes, that’s just what you would say—a +man who turns his back on his homeland—who runs +away when others fight—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Yes. Running into a laboratory, where I’ve +risked death a hundred times, and no bugles and flags +about it either.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> But I stand by my country. If I +can help one wounded boy that has fought for his country—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You don’t know what you’re saying, Trudie. +[<i>Goes to her.</i>] You’re tired. You’re hysterical. +[<i>Takes her in his arms.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Let me go!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Listen to me! Listen! We’ll give up the +thought of America. I don’t ask you to marry me now. +I ask you only to wait.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> No, no!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Only to say that you love me and you’ll wait. +Only that! O my dear! Don’t you realize it’s our +lives we’re settling now, for keeps?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> And do you think I’ll tie my life to a +coward?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>drawing back, mortally hurt</i>]. Trudie!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert, in the uniform of an infantry captain, comes +through the writing room, followed by Katherine.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Wait, Rob! Wait!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Here’s where I belong. Here’s where I +stay.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>coming into the parlor, to Phil</i>]. What are +you doing here?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Wasting time. [<i>Goes blindly to the right.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil comes through the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> What’s the row? [<i>Seeing Phil.</i>] Come +back, have you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> He wants me to marry him. But I +won’t go with him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>beneath his breath</i>]. You sneak!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Case for the detention camp, this time, Rob.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>facing the brothers</i>]. Well?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Daddy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Keep him out!</p> + +<p>[<i>Before Basil can move to intercept him, Roland runs +in at the rear door left, and casts himself upon Phil.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> O my Phil! Did you come back to see us?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Rob! Please! Please! You know +what brought him here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>after a moment, pointing off through writing +room</i>]. That way is clear. For old sake’s sake, +you’re free to go that way, if you go quick.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Thanks! [<i>Sets down Roland.</i>] I like the +front way better.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Phil! No! If they take you at our +door!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I came safe. I shall go safe. I am the sort +looks out always for safety.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But where are you going?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Back to my own country. Then to hell very +likely.</p> + +<p>[<i>Phil goes out by the forward door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh! They won’t kill him! [<i>Starts after +Phil.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert stops her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>in window at back</i>]. The street’s clear. Or +he wouldn’t have risked it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Good old Trudie!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>curled up on the sofa, sobbing.</i>] Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. Buck up, old man!</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia appears in the doorway of the writing room. +Very faintly from the street sounds the music of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>March-out, which swells louder and louder as the act +goes on.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Boys! It’s time, if you’re to take that train.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Roland! Stop crying. Come, come! +[<i>Leads him to Katherine.</i>] Remember you’re to take +care of your mother.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Give me that flag, Gertrude!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>beside herself, kissing the flag passionately</i>]. +O Mother! Mother!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Hush! It was the flag of your father’s company, +Basil. Bring it home, as he brought it! Bring +it home!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Yes, Mother. [<i>Kisses her, and places her, +half fainting, on the sofa.</i>] Good girl, Sis! [<i>Embraces +Gertrude.</i>] Good-bye! Six weeks from now. We’ll +have them cleaned up by then, the scallawags! [<i>Catching +up busby and gloves.</i>] Come on, Rob, you duffer! +Good-bye, Kate! Six weeks and a captaincy! Good-bye!</p> + +<p>[<i>Basil goes out at forward door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> My little boy! Rob! My little boy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>kneeling before her</i>]. There, there, Mother! +It’s all right. It’s all right. You’ve got Gertrude. +You’ve got Kate. Take care of each other. It won’t be +long. [<i>Turns to Katherine.</i>] Old girl! [<i>Kisses her, +snatches up his cap, goes hurriedly to the door.</i>] Good-bye!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland</span> [<i>running after Robert</i>]. Good-bye, Daddy!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert goes out. The door closes in Roland’s +grieved and puzzled little face.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Basil! My little, little boy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>seated at table, raising her head</i>]. Do +you think you’re the only one that’s given? I’ve given. +All that I have. For my country. Freely. Joyfully.</p> + +<p>[<i>Frances and Margaret run in at the rear door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> Such a crowd! We ran in the back way.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> They’re gone!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frances.</span> No, not yet.</p> + +<p>[<i>The two girls run to the window, rear, Roland to the +front window.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>rising unsteadily</i>]. Quick! The flowers! +All that there are!</p> + +<p>[<i>The three girls crowd in the rear window, tearing up +the flowers from the window boxes, and casting them to +the troops that pass below, with broken cries of “Good +luck!” “Good-bye!” that are drowned in the music of +the March-out. Katherine stands with eyes covered. +Roland tugs at her skirt and draws her to the window +where he stands waving his flag. The music is at its +fortissimo. Lydia nerves herself, rises, and totters a +step toward the window.</i>]</p> + + +<p class="center">CURTAIN</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_II"> + ACT II + </h2> +</div> + + +<p><i>It is the same parlor, where the girls in summer frocks +were making nosegays, but since that morning nine +months of war have passed. The curtains are drawn +across the arched doorway to the writing room. The +windows are half coated with frost. The window boxes +are gone. The gold-fish and their stand are near the +hearth, where a meager coal fire burns. On the bookcase +to the right of the door to the writing room is a +large lighted lamp. On the mantel-shelf a pair of +lighted candles. Upon the table, on a large tray, is a +coffee machine, with its accessories, sugar basin, cups, +and spoons.</i></p> + +<p><i>The season is February, bitterly cold. The time is +early evening.</i></p> + +<p><i>Beside the hearth, wrapped in a shawl, Lydia sits +knitting. With the passing of the months she has aged +and thinned. The Professor cowers on the sofa, with a +gray shawl over his stooping shoulders. In the rear +window stands Gertrude, looking down into the street. +She wears over her house dress a knitted jacket. All +three have the air of people worn out with anxiety and +grief and apathetic with despair. Only Gertrude blazes +with rebellion. From the street sounds monotonously +the roll of the wheels of heavy artillery. After a moment +the Professor speaks.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Are they still marching by?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Don’t you hear the wheels of the artillery?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> The foreigners, in our city!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> How can you bear to watch them?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I want to see the guns that finished us. +Do you remember how we stood at the window, eight +months ago? How we cheered and threw flowers?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It was the day that Basil went to the front.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> The war was to end in six weeks. We +believed it. Fools!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I’ve dropped another stitch.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>going to her, with compunction</i>]. How +can you knit, and your hands so cold?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It takes up my mind.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I’ll fix the fire.</p> + +<p>[<i>She kneels on the hearth, and lays on the coal, a +piece at a time, lifting the pieces with a bit of newspaper, +in order to do it without noise.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Yes, the room is shockingly cold. Dear, +dear! [<i>Sits by the hearth.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Carefully, Gertrude. Don’t waste the coal!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> What’s the sense of saving coal to warm +those foreign brutes? [<i>Rises.</i>] Let’s be comfortable +for an hour. We may not live any longer. [<i>Goes to +the window, front.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Non-combatants in an undefended town! +The invaders are bound by every usage of civilized warfare—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> What’s civilized warfare got to do with +it? Still marching! No end to them. We used to +laugh at them for playing soldier. Playing soldier! It +was we that played. They made a business of it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> But God is on our side. We must triumph +in the end.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Phil said: Either arm, or stop talking +war. We wouldn’t arm, but we liked to talk. And +there are the foreigners marching through our streets. +They’ll be quartered under our roof. They’ll be—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Hush! Listen!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Go to the door. I heard the bell ring.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, it can’t be, Mother. They +wouldn’t ring. And no one else would come.</p> + +<p>[<i>The door bell rings.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I said so!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine comes from the writing room, drawing the +curtains close behind her. She wears a knitted coat over +her house dress.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Some one is ringing. Didn’t you +hear? The noise will wake Roland. [<i>Comes into parlor.</i>] +They must come in.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I’ll go down.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No. You’d better let me.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine goes out at the forward door. The bell +rings again.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>querulously</i>]. Where has she gone?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Listen!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> There is a draught from that door.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Please be quiet, Uncle. [<i>Goes to the +door.</i>] There is some one crying. I can hear them on +the stairs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>outside, sobbing</i>]. I’m so glad to find +somebody. I’m so glad.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, it’s Margaret.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine comes in again, supporting Margaret, very +pale, in a plain hat and loose dark cloak. Gertrude +closes the door after they have entered.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Oh, let me stay here! Let me stay!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What else should you do? Only don’t +cry, silly! You’ll wake up Roland. Let us help you +out of your things. [<i>Takes off her cloak.</i>] There’s a +little coffee left, Gertrude. Start the machine!</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude, at back of table, starts the coffee machine. +Katherine sits by Margaret on the sofa. It is now seen +that Margaret wears on her left arm a Red Cross band +and that her hand rests, bandaged, in a sling.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> We thought you were still at St. Mary’s.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> When did you leave the hospital?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> There isn’t any hospital any more. +They dropped bombs into St. Mary’s night before last. +I got my arm burned, helping to carry out our wounded +men. We couldn’t get them all. [<i>Sobs.</i>] We couldn’t +get them all.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t, dear! You mustn’t. Don’t!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> I wasn’t any use, with only one arm. +So I started. It was the last train into town. Last +night that was. But now—there’s no way to get out.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. It’s too late now.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> But why have you stayed on? I +couldn’t believe my eyes, when I looked up and saw +Gertrude at the window.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Roland has been sick.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> With typhoid, yes. We couldn’t move him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But you—you ought to have gone, +Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Where? The enemy hold the north. +They’re probably stabling their horses in our parlor +now. Cutting down Rob’s young trees to build their +fires.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Mother, you’re shivering. [<i>Rises.</i>] +I’ll bring more coal.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Let me, Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No, you did it last time.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine goes out with the coal scuttle at the rear +door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> The servants have all left you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Yes. Martha was the last.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Why, I never thought that Martha—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> She had to go to help her sister. There +was a baby coming. She’s been gone a month.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> I hope it wasn’t to the north she went.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes. It was.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> And have you any word of—Robert?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> He is on the battle-line in the west. +They have made him a major. He has the medal of +honor.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> And—and—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Basil? No. No word in three months. +Not since the river fight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>in a strained voice</i>]. Once, in his first campaign, +I was seven months without a word from your +father. Seven whole months!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Missing? Not that! Anything but that!</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude sits beside her, comforting.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Missing? Why, it means no more than that +a man is held a prisoner, or maybe wounded in some field +hospital. I’ve lived through two wars. I know what +I’m talking about.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine comes in again with the coal.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> We must try to make this coal last till +midnight. [<i>Lays on a few pieces, carefully and +quietly.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>going to the machine</i>]. It’s lucky we +have the big lamp to help out.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. There’s still a barrel of oil below.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Shall I draw the curtains?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> No, no! The orders are that windows +shall be lighted and unscreened.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Isn’t the coffee ready?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>filling cup</i>]. I’m afraid it’s barely lukewarm.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> No matter!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Here’s the sugar. [<i>Gives cup to Katherine.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>carrying the cup to Margaret, at the +right</i>]. I’m sorry there’s no condensed milk to spare. +But we have to keep it all for Roland.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> They’ll take it when they come. You’ll +see they will, the brutes!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What’s the good of it, Gertrude? +They’re here in the town. Any minute they’ll be in this +house.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> Oh! [<i>Lets the cup fall.</i>] They’re +here—this minute! Look! Look!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Be quiet! What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>pointing</i>]. The door!</p> + +<p>[<i>Slowly the rear door at left is pushed open and +Martha comes in. Her dark dress and coarse shoes are +muddied and a little disordered. Her hair is a little +displaced. Her hat is broken. She is very quiet, only +her eyes are a little too bright.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, Martha!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Blessed woman! Where did you come +from?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> I came in by the back way, as usual, +ma’am. Shan’t I cook you some dinner? I have come +back to stay, if you please.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But how did you ever get here? [<i>Sits +at left of table.</i>] With the enemy filling the roads—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> I came on a train. Then I walked. I +have come back. There is no meat in the larder, but I +can make a soup of tinned things.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I can’t understand. Where did you leave +your sister?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>pleasantly</i>]. Oh, I haven’t any sister. +Look here! [<i>From her bosom takes a child’s little knitted +glove.</i>] That’s Patty’s glove, my little niece with +the pretty curls. I made it myself for her. We heard +in the morning that the foreigners were coming into +the town. A bomb fell right in our street and tore +an old man’s arm off. Sister took the baby. It +was two weeks old. I took Patty. She had her +doll in her arms. We got onto a tram. We was +trying to get the station. They said there still were +trains—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t try to tell us, Martha! Don’t!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Why not? I tell it over to myself all day +and all night. There was a bomb struck a house. +Patty cried. I can feel her little arms round my neck. +There was another bomb, and the tram opened up, just +like a paper box when you hit it. You know how ’tis at +the butcher’s shop, all sort of red and shapeless and +dripping? Well, it was like that where my sister had +been, with the baby. I just took Patty and I ran. I +had her tight by the hand, and I could see the station +at the end of the street. Then I heard ’em screaming +that the soldiers were coming, and horses galloping, and +I fell, and the crowd went over me. When I got up, I +had Patty’s glove in my hand. But I couldn’t find her. +I kept asking folks if they’d seen a little girl, with curls +and a doll in her arms. I kept asking till the houses +began to burn. Then I came away. That’s all that’s +left of my sister and Patty and the little baby. Funny +to think of, isn’t it? [<i>Puts the glove back in her +bosom.</i>] Now I’ll get dinner.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. Listen, Martha! You +must go to your room—your old room. I’ll bring something +that you must take. You must sleep.</p> + +<p>[<i>The door bell rings furiously.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>screaming</i>]. Oh! Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> They’ve come!</p> + +<p>[<i>Heavy knocking on the door below.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. At last. They mustn’t make +that noise. [<i>Starts to the door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> You can’t demean yourself, ma’am. I’ll +go to the door.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out at the forward door left. An instant +of silence and strained listening. Then renewed +beating on the door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh! And we’re helpless! Helpless!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret</span> [<i>half screaming</i>]. I’m afraid—afraid!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Pull yourself together! Remember +what race you belong to. Stop it now!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Non-combatants—our rights are clear +and unviolable. The law of nations—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Corporal</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Make now an end of that! +I go where I shall damn please.</p> + +<p>[<i>Enter at the forward door left, shoving Martha before +him, the foreign Corporal. A man of forty odd, in +shabby cavalry uniform, overcoat and gauntlets, with a +carbine slung across his back. No villain, just a coarse, +common man, capable of rough geniality, even of rough +kindliness. Just now, cold, tired, and hungry, he shows +few signs of either quality.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Trot in and announce me, old girl!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine steps between him and Martha, who retreats +to the right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You are billeted here, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>handing her a paper</i>]. You can bet we +are. The Lieutenant, me, the Corporal, and three of +our men. [<i>Crosses to Martha.</i>] Hurry up, old girl! +We want grub and plenty of it, too. Oh, you’ll get your +taste, do not be afraid. We’re not risking a dose o’ rat +poison in our porridge. [<i>Pulling off his gauntlets.</i>] +May as well bring us up also a bottle or two of wine. +The old chap has some down in the cellar.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>rising</i>]. What!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Oh, you cannot fool me! I was foreman +in a shop on the next street, until the war broke out.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Martha, cook enough for five men. As +quickly as possible.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> Yes, ma’am.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out at the rear door, left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Is this your warmest room?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Well, it is not quite so cold as out o’ +doors. If it’s the best you got, why, you can vacate. +Clear out, I mean. You to the cock-loft. The Lieutenant +must have this room.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> My good man—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Uncle!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Let me point out to you that these +women—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Shut up, you old idiot! I had enough +of your gab last year, drifting into your popular lectures +down the street here. Survival of the fittest, that’s +what you were preaching. And the fit survive, because +they get the fire and the grub. That is logic, eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Charles! Come!</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia and the Professor go out at the rear door left. +Margaret follows after them, shrinking, with her eyes on +the Corporal.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Look here, you don’t need to make like +that, my girl. I am no bold, bad ravisher. None of us +are. We want the grub, and to get warmed up. God! +We’ve seen women enough a’ready. [<i>Gertrude puts her +arm about Margaret and leads her to the door. The +Corporal spies the coffee machine and pounces upon it.</i>] +Hey! What’s this? Coffee? Ah, the blamed stuff is +cold. [<i>To Katherine.</i>] Hold on, you!</p> + +<p>[<i>Margaret hurries out rear door left. Katherine +pauses on stair to writing room. Gertrude runs to her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Katherine!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Go stay with Roland. He might be +frightened. Go to him. I’m all right. [<i>Gertrude goes +into writing room. Katherine comes to the table.</i>] Yes, +the coffee is cold. Wait and I’ll warm it up.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Hurry up, then. Want it hot and plenty +when the Lieutenant comes. Got to treat him nicely. +[<i>Saunters leisurely toward the hearth.</i>] Kid from the +War School. A fine chap, oh yes! But he’s so newly +hatched lieutenant, the shell is still sticking to him. In +Heaven’s name! Do you call that then a fire? +[<i>Catches up coal scuttle.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Stop!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Huh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t make a noise! [<i>Goes to him.</i>] +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>I’ve got a sick child in that room. Put the scuttle down. +I’ll lay on the coal myself.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Damn foolishness! I can’t wait all day. +Let go there!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine clings to the scuttle, facing him, defiant. +The forward door at left is flung open noisily and the +Lieutenant comes in, followed by a Trooper. The Lieutenant +is about twenty, a slender young fellow, unshaven, +sunken-eyed, haggard with exhaustion. He staggers as +he enters.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. Here! Let me, sir!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You do not need to hold my arm. +[<i>Moves unsteadily toward the sofa.</i>] It is twenty years +about since I was last a baby.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> You go down the stairs and make some +fires burn. [<i>Trooper salutes and goes out rear door +left. Katherine kneels and replenishes her fire. The +Lieutenant wavers where he has halted. The Corporal +catches him.</i>] Will you please sit down, sir? [<i>Puts +him on the sofa.</i>] Shall I pull off your boots?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Damn it, no! You touch me, and I +think I break to pieces like an icicle. This damned +country!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>to Katherine</i>]. Have you brandy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’ve no more left. But I’ll have the +coffee ready in a minute.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> To hell with your brandy! It is always +brandy that you say. I do not want brandy. I +want only to be warm. And a little while to sleep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> You stretch out here, sir. I’ll bring +some blankets.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Curse your soul! How can I sleep? +There are the horses. Stable inspection. [<i>Painfully +he tries to draw the gauntlets from his half frozen +hands.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Just stay here quiet, sir, and leave things +to me. Let me pull off those gauntlets.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Look here! I am not a baby. Clear +out, will you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>saluting</i>]. Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Corporal goes out at the forward door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> He is a great fool. Because his +mother nursed me he thinks— Well, where is that coffee?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to the table</i>]. I think it’s ready. +[<i>As she moves the cups she makes a slight noise.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>turning quickly</i>]. Place that machine +at the other end of the table!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>moving the tray</i>]. Certainly. Would +you mind telling me why?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Because ladies of your country have +sometimes, in their playfulness, spilt blazing alcohol +upon men of ours with their backs turned, and given +them by mistake hydrochloride solution instead of water.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Do you know men to whom such things +have happened?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> I know men who know men to whom it +has happened. And I have read in our newspapers. +[<i>Again he wrestles with his gauntlets, but desists with a +gasp of pain.</i>] Ah! [<i>Katherine fills a cup with coffee.</i>] +Oh, I am not scared, you know. Give me that +coffee!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> It’s pretty hot. You can’t drink it yet.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> This rotten country. [<i>His head +droops.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine looks at him, and sees no more than a tired, +half-frozen, miserable boy. Obviously, if he were a +very little younger, he would cry outright. She surrenders +to the eternal mother in her.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I can cool your coffee with some condensed +milk. [<i>Going to the bookcase, she takes a can +from behind the books.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>feebly lifting his head</i>]. That’s a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>funny place to keep milk. [<i>Begins again to work off his +gauntlets.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I have kept it for my boy that is sick. +Kept it hidden. [<i>Puts milk into the coffee.</i>] Sugar?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Two lumps. [<i>Convention asserts itself.</i>] +Please!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>coming to him</i>]. Can you hold the cup?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> My fingers—they are like sticks of +wood.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’ll hold it for you. [<i>Sets the cup to +his lips.</i>] Not too hot?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> No. It’s fine. Go slow! [<i>He +drinks, then pauses, looking up at her.</i>] Tell me! You +are maybe after all on our side? Some of the folks are, +secretly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, no! My husband is at the front. +Have some more?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Yes. [<i>Drinks, then pauses.</i>] I had +forgot, you know. My cap on in the house. [<i>He +makes a futile effort to remove it with his numbed hand.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Shall I take it off?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Yes. Please!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine removes his cap, and lays it on the table, +then pours another cup of coffee.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Shall we get you something to eat?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> I got my throat sore clear into my +ears. I can’t swallow food at all. You know, you do +not want to think they all go to pieces in our army like +me. It is not a month I have been at the front. Pretty +soon I get used to it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Hold the cup in your hands. It will +thaw out your fingers. Can you stand it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Yes. Won’t you—won’t you sit +down?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Thank you. [<i>Takes a chair, sits at a +little distance.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>drinking coffee throughout</i>]. We aren’t, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>you know, really brutes. But you treat us like we +are, and think we are, then we are. Perhaps if we’d +met before the war—and that isn’t yet a year ago—we +might have been nice and polite to each other, and +maybe friends. Funny, isn’t it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> So funny that I think the angels cry +over the joke of it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> I came pretty near coming to your +country last spring on vacation. Might have come to +this very town. I had a cousin was staying here—</p> + +<p>[<i>First Trooper comes in again, with a bucket of coal.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Well, what is it, then?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper.</span> Shan’t I fix the fire, sir? [<i>Starts +to throw on coal.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Please don’t make a noise!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You hear the lady, blockhead! Lay +on the coals, one piece at a time, like she wants.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper.</span> Yes, sir. [<i>Kneels and replenishes +the fire.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You are here alone in the house?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> There are four other women and an old +man.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Where are they, then?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Upstairs.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Are there fires upstairs?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You, there! You will go upstairs and +give to the ladies my compliments. Say they are welcome +to use here the room that is warm. Be civil!</p> + +<p>[<i>First Trooper salutes and goes out at the rear door +left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Thank you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>rising</i>]. We aren’t, you see, brutes, any +more than your own men are, maybe. See here! I +think now I can hold a pen. I will write a paper that +you stick on your door. It will help you maybe.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You’re good.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You are the first woman, of the sort I +have known at my mother’s, to speak decent to me in +four weeks. Oh, I get used to it. We are doing what +is right. What our country orders, it is always right. +But a chap doesn’t like the kids to cry when they see his +uniform. There’s pen and ink there?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to the secretary</i>]. Oh yes. And +here’s paper. [<i>Lights candles on the secretary.</i>] Are +you sure you can manage?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>sitting at the secretary</i>]. Yes. I don’t +need to write much. And I am pretty near thawed out. +Only now I am sleepy. [<i>Writes.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>entering from the writing room</i>]. Katherine!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Come in! [<i>Goes to her.</i>] It’s all +right. He’s a decent little chap. It’s all right.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Have you please a blotter?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>re-arranging the coffee tray</i>]. Three or +four of them on the desk.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Yes, I find them. Hello! [<i>Takes +up a framed photograph.</i>] What is this picture?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> An old friend of ours. He was your +fellow-countryman.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>rising</i>]. He is also my cousin that I +told you of.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> You are Phil’s cousin? [<i>Runs to him.</i>] +Where is he? What’s become of him? Is he alive? +Oh, for pity’s sake, tell me, tell me!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You are maybe the girl he wrote of +once?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes, yes. I’m that girl—his girl. I +know that now. Only I was such a fool. Where is he? +Oh, he isn’t—dead?</p> + +<p><span class="allsmcap">LIEUTENANT.</span> No. That is—I heard last from him +three months ago. He was serving with the aviation +corps.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You mean he is fighting?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> To be sure, yes. What else does a +man do, when his country needs him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> That’s just what I told him, here in this +room. I remember. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> He volunteered, and he is now officer.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And what about his work? The cure +for cancer?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Oh, there isn’t now time for things like +that. He must fight.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Yes. Don’t you understand? Of course +he must fight. And it doesn’t matter—who he fights. +He’s mine. I’m his. And I’m waiting for him, just as +he begged me to wait. Oh, he must know it. Where is +he? Where can I write to him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> I cannot tell you. We do not ever tell +what will make people know where our different troops +are stationed. But I can send a letter maybe for you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, please! Please! I must tell him. +You promise you’ll send it? You promise?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> As sure as I live.</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia, Margaret, and the Professor come in at the +rear door left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> You darling!</p> + +<p>[<i>For the last hour she has been on the edge of hysterics. +Now she falls over the edge and kisses the Lieutenant.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Gertrude! Have you gone crazy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, it’s all right. He’s going to be related +by marriage. He’s Phil’s cousin. And I’m going +to write to Phil this minute. [<i>Gertrude sits at the secretary. +The Professor sits by the hearth, Margaret +stands near him, Lydia is on the sofa, with her eyes riveted +to the Lieutenant, who, not unnaturally embarrassed, +has turned away and is lighting a cigarette at the desk +candle.</i>] How long will it be before he gets it? O +Phil! My own dear! It’s all coming right at last. +It’s all coming right!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude writes rapidly, her face in the candlelight +seraphic with content. The Lieutenant turns and faces +Lydia. She gravely inclines her head. He bows.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You—are their leader?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Yes, Madam.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You are—not very old.</p> + +<p>[<i><ins class="corr" id="TN-1" title="Transcriber's Note—originally formatted with small caps">Katherine</ins> proffers an ash-tray.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Thanks! I think I do not smoke.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You look done out. Can’t you lie down +a bit?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> I ought to keep afoot, I think, till my +corporal reports.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha comes in at the rear door, left, with a tray, +on which are two cups.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>going to Lydia</i>]. Here is hot soup, ma’am. +I made it for you and the Profes—</p> + +<p>[<i>Her voice trails off as she sees the Lieutenant. +Lydia waves aside the cup. Martha gives a cup to the +Professor.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going toward the writing room</i>]. You +could lie down on the couch in the inner room. It is +quite warm. My boy is asleep there. Why, you trust +us, don’t you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>going to her</i>]. I trust you. It is two +nights I have not shut my eyes. I think I will.</p> + +<p>[<i>Martha goes out, rear door, left, with a last glance at +the Lieutenant.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> You are that lady—Katherine—my +cousin wrote about?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’m Katherine, yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant.</span> Was I pretty beastly at first? I’m—tired. +I don’t quite remember.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You’ll feel better when you wake. +Good rest. [<i>Holds out her hand.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant</span> [<i>kissing her hand</i>]. Yes. That’s what +I want. Rest!</p> + +<p>[<i>The Lieutenant goes into the writing room. The +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>curtains close upon him. Lydia, on the sofa, takes up +and fondles his gauntlets. Presently she cries silently.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>querulously</i>]. This soup is weak. +[<i>Margaret takes his cup and sets it on mantle.</i>] +Thanks! But it is good to see Martha moving about.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Why, Mother! Mother! [<i>Goes to +Lydia.</i>] You’re not crying? Oh, no! That isn’t like +you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> He made me think of Basil. The same age—the +cavalry uniform. He looked so tired! So cold! +O God! My little boy—somewhere—tired, cold, suffering! +My little boy! Send him home to me, God! +That’s all I ask. That’s all I’ll ever ask. Send him +home! Dear God! [<i>Sobs.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, hush, dear! Hush!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Be reasonable, Lydia. Only compute +how many people, on both sides of the frontier, are +praying in just those terms. How can you believe that +there is a God to hear and—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Why should He hear the foreigners? Superstitious +wretches! They don’t know how to pray. +But we have always served God and fought His good +fight. He will listen to us. He must listen. Oh, my +little boy! Let me see him again. Only let me see him. +I’ll be satisfied.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> What was that?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Listen, Mother! Please!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Margaret.</span> I thought I heard Roland speak.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. It was in that room. [<i>She goes +to the door of the writing room, and parts the curtains +a very little.</i>] No. It’s all quiet. It’s all right. +[<i>Goes to Gertrude.</i>] How are you coming on, Trudie?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> I’m the happiest girl in the world. And +I haven’t deserved it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Dear! Don’t be too—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Too sure? Why, I’m as sure of Phil as +I am of the stars in Heaven. If he’s alive—and he is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>alive. I know it. I feel it. And when he gets my letter— Bless +that little lieutenant! Bless my Phil! +God bless us every one this night. [<i>Writes.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>The Corporal comes in at the left forward door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Well! Where’s the Lieutenant?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> He is lying down in the inner room. +[<i>The Corporal starts toward the writing room.</i>] Must +you disturb him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> I’ll look once at him. [<i>Parts the curtains +slightly.</i>] Dark in there! Give us here a candle. +[<i>Katherine fetches a candle from the secretary.</i>] He +is, you see, my foster-brother, and my old woman, she +will have my skin, if I let him come down with pneumonia.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>giving him the candle</i>]. Here you are! +Go softly, won’t you?</p> + +<p>[<i>The Corporal goes into the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> You see, it is as I assured you. There +are established rules of warfare, as you women fail to +realize, and under those rules—</p> + +<p>[<i>The Corporal appears in the doorway of the writing +room. His quietude is dreadful. At sight of him the +Professor is paralyzed into silence.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Which of you did it?</p> + +<p>[<i>All rise. The Corporal thrusts aside the curtains, +between which he is standing. The interior of the writing +room is disclosed, under the flickering light of the +candle, which he evidently has set at one side. Across +the wall, where formerly stood the bookcases, is a crib, on +which lies Roland, cowering beneath the bed-clothes. +Diagonally, head to the crib, is drawn a couch, upon +which, half covered with a rug, lies the Lieutenant, +stretched upon his back, with one arm trailing on the +floor. There is a dark smear across his throat, and upon +the pillow and the sheet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Come! Speak up!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>babbling</i>]. What, what, what!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> O my God!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>in a suffocated voice</i>]. Roland! Roland! +[<i>Rushes to the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>intercepting her, grasping her arms</i>]. +No, you don’t! Make a man to lie down and rest, and +he trusting you, you hell-cat!</p> + +<p>[<i>Several troopers rush into the room by the door left +back.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>shrieking</i>]. Roland! Roland! Have +they killed you, too?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper.</span> What’s the matter?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Cut the Lieutenant’s throat, and he +asleep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>rushing to Katherine’s aid</i>]. No, no! +[<i>Flings herself upon the Corporal.</i>] Let go of her!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Mummy! Mummy!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine breaks from the Corporal, rushes to the +crib, and lifts Roland in her arms.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes, yes! Mother’s here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Don’t let her hurt me! I’m afraid.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Shut your eyes! Don’t look, dear! +Don’t look! [<i>Brings him down into the main room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Why did she do it? With the kitchen +knife. Why did Martha do it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Martha!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> She came through the door. O Mummy! +I’m afraid.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine sits on the sofa, with Roland in her arms. +Lydia hurries to her, and puts her shawl about him. +Katherine drags off her knitted jacket to wrap around +the child.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Call in the patrol.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper.</span> Yes, sir. [<i>Runs to window right +forward.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Find that other woman!</p> + +<p>[<i>Two Troopers go out through the writing room.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper.</span> Hey! They’re just making the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>rounds. [<i>Dashes window open.</i>] Hey, come in here! +If you please, sir. [<i>Turns to Corporal.</i>] It’s grand +rounds, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I’m cold, Mummy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> That draught— Oh, close the window, +in pity’s name!</p> + +<p>[<i>The Troopers come in from the writing room, dragging +Martha between them.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Trooper.</span> Here she is, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Martha! You couldn’t have done it. No, +no!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Oh, I’m afraid.</p> + +<p>[<i>At the forward door, left, come in two Troopers, +who stand aside at attention. The Foreign Major follows +them in—a tall, thin man, pale-featured, impersonal +as Death, and as weary.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Well? What is now here?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Our lieutenant, sir, murdered while he +was asleep. There’s the woman did it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major</span> [<i>going to Martha</i>]. Have you anything to +say?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>taking the child’s glove from her bosom</i>]. +That is Patty’s glove I knitted. That is all. My sister, +the little baby, Patty—all three. When your soldiers +came into our town.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> It was in the north, your town?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha.</span> It used to be.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> The man you killed was three hundred miles +away from there. You were stupid to do this. [<i>Turns +to the Troopers.</i>] Take her down into the street. +Shoot her. Let the neighbors see.</p> + +<p>[<i>The two last-comers of the troopers lay hold of +Martha.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, no! Can’t you see for yourself +that she’s insane?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Take her along!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Martha</span> [<i>breaks loose, rushes to Lydia</i>]. No, no, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>no! I wouldn’t so much as kill a mouse. You know I +wouldn’t. [<i>The Troopers seize her and drag her to +the door.</i>] No, no! I’m afraid of the guns. Don’t +kill me! Oh, oh! The guns! Don’t kill me! No, no, +no!</p> + +<p>[<i>The Troopers drag Martha out at the forward door, +left. The door goes to upon her cries.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Clear the house at once. Then burn it.</p> + +<p>[<i>At a sign from the Corporal, two Troopers go into +the writing room, cover the body of the Lieutenant +with a sheet, and remove the couch, with the body upon it.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Where are we to go?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Outside our lines. See that they go! +[<i>Turns away to the door.</i>] It is merciful we do not +shoot you all.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>running to him</i>]. Oh! Can’t you see +my mother is old—and the little boy is ill—and this +paper—he left this paper. See! He asked that we +be protected.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Yes. You have killed the one man would +have saved you. Tear up your paper now. In three +minutes. Burn the house.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Major goes out at the forward door, left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Trudie! Bring shoes for Roland!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> No, you don’t! Right as you stand, all +of you. Come on now! [<i>Comes down into the room.</i>] +Clear the house!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>rising</i>]. No, no! The boy—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>starting feebly to snatch down the sword +from beneath the picture</i>]. My father’s house—his +sword! I will not go alive!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal</span> [<i>striking him contemptuously</i>]. You +damned old fool! Get out!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>broken</i>]. O my God!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. That is foolish, Charles. +Before you were right. There is no God. Come!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></p> + +<p>[<i>Moving with dignity, Lydia leads out the old man at +the left. Margaret hurries after them.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> All of you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> It will kill my boy.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> It was a mother’s boy you killed in there. +Will you get out? Or shall we—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Trooper</span> [<i>at the window</i>]. Hi! They’ve got +her up against the wall. She’ll get it now. [<i>From the +street comes Martha’s shriek.</i>] Damn ye, go burn!</p> + +<p>[<i>Simultaneously with the shriek and his cry, sounds +a volley of rifles.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> Mummy! Mummy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Dear, we’ll carry you. Come, Gertrude!</p> + +<p>[<i>Carrying between them the child, huddled in the +shawl and the knitted jacket, the two women move toward +the door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Roland.</span> I’m so cold, Mummy! I’m so cold!</p> + +<p>[<i>As Katherine and Gertrude go out, forward door, +left, with Roland, Troopers rush in through all three +doors. First Trooper with his carbine smashes the glass +in the secretary. Others tear down the hangings, demolish +the chairs, smash the bookcases, all with half audible +imprecations. The Corporal directs the havoc.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Corporal.</span> Bring more petrol! There’s a barrel +below. Tear down that rag. It will make a blaze. +We’ll show them! Hurry up that petrol! [<i>A Trooper +tears down the flag from beneath the picture and casts +it among the débris. A Third Trooper runs in with a +can of petrol, which he pours upon the mass.</i>] Kill our +men sleeping, damn them!</p> + +<p>[<i>With his carbine the Corporal smashes the chandelier +above the table. A Fourth Trooper snatches from +the hearth blazing coals in a shovel and hurls them upon +the heap of broken furniture.</i>]</p> + + +<p class="center">CURTAIN</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_III"> + ACT III + </h2> +</div> + + +<p><i>The little farmstead, which has been seized by the +advancing army, lies close to the firing line. At the +left is the farmhouse, a small, mean building, of stone, +with casement windows, and an inset porch, from which +the entrance door opens. At the side of the porch, +nearer the audience, is a bench, on which stands a water-bucket. +Not far distant is a rough table, fetched from +the house, with a stool at either side, and, before it, a +bench. On the table are a pad of paper, several pencils, +a map, held in place by small stones, and a mug +with a little water. Farther back is a tree, the branches +of which overshadow the roof of the house. Across the +courtyard, at the back, runs a high wall of brick, with a +slight coping of thatch, which is pierced at the centre +by a wide gateway. Through the gateway is seen a +glimpse of rugged autumn country, and in the foreground, +passing the gate, a heavy road. At the right is +an open shed. Beneath this shed is a ladder, and near +by a heap of straw and a few broken farm implements. +Toward the front of the shed is a table, on which rest +two field-telephones. Beside it, by way of seat, an old +box. Between the shed and the audience is a lane, +masked by a clump of trees, and with a barred gate that +stands open.</i></p> + +<p><i>The season is September. Seven months have passed +since the town-house burned. The time is late afternoon.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the left of the table the Adjutant, a keen young +martinet of thirty, is busily writing. At the telephone, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>with the headpiece in place, sits a Sergeant, a heavily +built man of forty odd. Huddled in the straw beneath +the shed lies Thomas, a child of six or seven, barefooted, +in a soiled smock and trousers, with a white, soiled face. +At the back, by the gateway, two soldiers are on sentry +duty. One of them is the Woodsy Boy, a different being +in his stiff uniform and service boots. He is gnawing +surreptitiously at a piece of bread. From the distance +comes the boom of heavy guns, heard intermittently +throughout the act.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant</span> [<i>receiving a message</i>]. Yes, sir. This is +the outpost at Crossways. I’ll hold the line. [<i>To Adjutant.</i>] +Headquarters, sir. They want the Colonel.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant</span> [<i>to First Soldier</i>]. Headquarters calling. +Tell the Colonel.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier.</span> Yes, sir. [<i>Turns to gateway.</i>] +He’s just here.</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert comes through the gateway. He wears the +shabby service uniform of a colonel of infantry, and a +not very well kept mustache. In the months of fighting +he has in every way “gone off.” His voice when he +speaks is almost a “whiskey voice.” At his heels, with +a map in his hand, comes the Major, a dull, commonplace +man of forty.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> We’ve got ’em on the run, I tell you. +Cleaned ’em off the heights here. Chased ’em across the +river there.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Humph! Watch out for the come-back.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> We can smother them with numbers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> They’re on their own doorstep now. With +their backs up.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Headquarters on the line, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Eh? Then why in hell—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Just this minute, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Right! [<i>Goes to the telephone. The Major +seats himself at the table and goes over the maps +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>with the Adjutant.</i>] Headquarters?— Yes, sir. We +are entrenching a kilometer beyond the farm-house.— Yes, +sir. We can hold it.— How many, sir?— Fine! +Thanks. [<i>To Sergeant.</i>] Get the commissary! [<i>Goes +to the table.</i>] Two more regiments before midnight. +If they try to rush us, they’ll get what’s coming to them.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas steals out from beneath the shed and very +timidly takes up and eats the crumbs that the Woodsy +Boy has let fall.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Not much like it was a year ago.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> No. We can beat ’em now at their own +game. Anything in your flask, old man?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> About enough to drown a fly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Let’s see the color of it. [<i>Reluctantly the +Major hands over his flask.</i>] Sorry—between friends. +Ebb tide here, till the supplies get through. [<i>Goes +toward house.</i>] And I’ve got another touch of rheumatics +coming on.</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert goes into the house.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Rather a pity!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Pity your grandmother! He’s a better soldier +drunk than half of ’em sober. Give us your pencil! +If there’s half a minute, I’ll scratch a letter home. +September—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Twenty-first.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Hm! That’s my oldest girl’s birthday. +[<i>Writes.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>holding out his piece of bread, to +Thomas.</i>] Here, Kid! Take it. Come on. Don’t be +scared.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas snatches the bread and retreats a little.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier</span> [<i>going to the Woodsy Boy, but keeping +a wary eye on the two officers.</i>] You’re green, all right. +When you’ve seen as many stray brats as I have—well, +you’ll eat what little grub you get your paws on.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> What becomes of him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier.</span> Why, a nice young lady nurse will +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>come along and feed him out of a silver mug, and tuck +him up in a pink crib, with a woolly baa lamb beside +him, huh? Say, ain’t you got any sense at all?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Do you mean, when we go away, he +will be left alone?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> My daddy is coming back pretty soon. He +said he would. [<i>Goes back into the shed.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Where d’you suppose his daddy’s gone?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier.</span> If you shin that wall, you’ll see a +clump of trees over yonder. Daddy’s there. “Rockabye +baby, on the tree-top.” With the rope that tethered +one of his own cows tied round his neck.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> What for?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier.</span> Just sniping. Got two of ours before +we settled his hash. That was a bit o’ the fun you +weren’t in on, Greeny.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Adjutant, rolling himself a cigarette, chances to +look up. First Soldier withdraws to the left of the +gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>to Thomas, fumbling in his pocket</i>]. +Here! That is chocolate. Extra ration. It’s good. +Eat it.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas snatches the chocolate and runs back into +the shed.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Commissary on the line, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Hold it! [<i>Goes to house door.</i>] +Colonel! Ready the commissary.</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert comes in from the house.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to the Major</i>]. Fooled me that time, old +man. [<i>Gives back the flask.</i>] Not enough to drown a +flea. Well?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Commissary, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Right! [<i>Goes to telephone.</i>] Hello, Commissary! +Where in hell are those supplies? Can’t live +on air, you know. Can’t suck our paws like blasted +bears.— Well, I don’t give a damn! We’ve been entrenching +for forty-eight hours. Not a blamed thing to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>eat but the bread in our haversacks, and a little beef on +the hoof.— What’s that?— Well, that’s more like +it.— Hold on! I say! You’re sending us some +brandy, too, eh? [<i>The Major and the Adjutant exchange +glances.</i>] Need it badly. Got some cases of +sickness. All right. So long. [<i>Turns to the Adjutant.</i>] +Four motor-trucks will be at the foot of the +lane, any minute. See that the commissary sergeant is +on the job.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Right, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I say! [<i>Detaining him.</i>] Look out yourself +for that stuff consigned to me. It’s important.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Adjutant goes out through the gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>at the back of the table</i>]. Well! What +writing?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Just a line home.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That’s a nice thing to have, a home. +Those chaps didn’t happen to leave me mine.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Outpost K is calling, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Yes. This is Crossways. What?— They +got that biplane, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>Major turns alertly.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>excited</i>]. No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Smashed the pilot to bits. Mixed the +other fellow up with red-hot petrol.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Can talk, can’t he?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Can he talk?— Yes. He can talk, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Send him over here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> The Colonel says: Send him over!— Is +that all, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That’s all, Sergeant. [<i>Goes to centre of +the courtyard, to the Woodsy Boy.</i>] Come here, you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>coming to him, saluting</i>]. Yes, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You’re the man saw the biplane go westward +night before last?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Why in hell couldn’t you have given the +alarm?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I thought ’twas just a big bird, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, when birdie dropped a bomb, down in +the field where our men happened to be sleeping, you +woke up and took a little notice, maybe?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Yes, sir. [<i>Shuddering.</i>] I heard ’em +scream.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Did you see a light on the hill beyond?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Plain as I see you, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> And a light far off as you could see, there +in the west?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to the Major</i>]. That’s our water tower. +Birdie just missed it. [<i>To Woodsy Boy.</i>] That’s all! +[<i>The Woodsy Boy salutes and returns to his post. +Robert sits on the bench in front of the table.</i>] There’s +been too many lights on the hills. Too many camp +fires by day. To-night I’m counting on finding out the +name and address of the folks that are setting those +fires.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> You think you’ll get that from the aviator?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Why not? St. Jo’s reported that he landed +inside our lines, didn’t they? Reported that he stocked +up with petrol, didn’t they?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, then! He’s likely to know where he +got the petrol and who helped him. When we get one +man, we get the next, and so on, till we get the whole +damned gang.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> The country is rotten with treachery.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> And there’s a real enemy in front. Don’t +forget that! We’re not out of the woods yet. And it +will help things along to clear out some of the snakeweed +and skunk cabbage. When I get hold of that biplane +chap, he’s going to squeal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Well—there are—er—rules of the game.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Not a hunting man, are you, old chap?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> No.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> If you were, you’d know there aren’t any +rules when you’re dealing with vermin. Let me +once get hold of the fellow who dropped the bombs into +St. Jo’s—</p> + +<p>[<i>As he is speaking the Adjutant comes in through the +gateway, followed by Katherine. She wears the dusty +and rather shabby dress of a Red Cross nurse, with +cloak and bonnet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant</span> [<i>saluting</i>]. A lady, sir, that wants to see +you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> A lady? Here? You’re off your head. +How’d she get here?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Red Cross nurse, with a pass from +Headquarters. Came on the commissary truck.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Well, put her on the truck and +send her back where she came from.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, please, no! Let me stay long +enough to say— How are you, Rob? [<i>Goes to him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>embracing her</i>]. Kate! How in God’s +name did you get here?</p> + +<p>[<i>The Major and the Adjutant fall back a little.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> A little eager, perhaps, to see you. +It’s been months and months now, and—and a good +deal has happened, Rob.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. I know. Sit down here, come. +[<i>Seats her on the bench.</i>] Pity we haven’t some +brandy! Major, my wife. My Adjutant.</p> + +<p>[<i>The two officers bow and retire to the back of the +courtyard.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> We must fix it to send you back to the base. +This is the last place— You know we may be attacked +before morning. What ever possessed you—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I got into St. Jo’s last night.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> The devil you did! Then you were—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Rob! Don’t talk about it, please. I +thought I was hardened to every horror, but—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>sitting beside her</i>]. There, there!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Well, I came on to Headquarters this +morning. They’re trying to get me a pass to go through +the lines, and meantime, when I found you were stationed +here—the chance to see you—I haven’t much +else left.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You shouldn’t have taken the risk.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’ve been running risks, such as they +are, for four months now.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You shouldn’t have started on this fool’s +errand. You ought to be at home.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> There is no—home, Rob. So I +started out to see if I couldn’t find some trace of Basil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Just waste of time. Poor kid! We shan’t +see him this side of Jordan.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t say that, please! If you could +see your mother! If you could hear her, night and day, +crying for her boy. I can understand.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. I know. Our boy— Did he suffer +much, Kate?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Not for long.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Did he speak of me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. He cried for you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Poor little kid! Poor old girl!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Better not, Rob. I mustn’t cry here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> No. It’s over and done with now. +[<i>Rises.</i>] Can’t help him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> It wasn’t for my boy alone. [<i>Rises.</i>] +Just the comfort—to find you again. To have you, +just the same, to cling to, when the whole world reels. +[<i>Robert embraces her.</i>]</p> + +<p>[<i>Second Soldier enters through the gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant</span> [<i>approaching Robert</i>]. Beg pardon, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Seven o’clock, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. Must go the rounds. We’re a bit +short of officers, you know. [<i>To Soldier.</i>] Got my +horse there?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Soldier.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Be back soon, Kate. We shan’t be sending +away the trucks for half an hour. We’ll have a minute +together yet. Ready, gentlemen!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert, the Major, the Adjutant, and Second Soldier +go out through the gateway. Thomas steals from the +shed and stands watching them. The shadows are deepening. +Katherine watches Robert off. Then her eyes +fall upon Thomas. Her arms go out toward him yearningly.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What’s your name, dear?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Thomas.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>sitting on the bench</i>]. And whose boy +are you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas</span> [<i>shyly approaching her</i>]. Daddy’s.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And where’s Daddy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> He’s coming back. He told me to wait.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> When did you wash your poor little +face last? Are you hungry?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I have some biscuit in my pocket. If +you’ll let me wash your face—yes?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> What kind o’ biscuit?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>pouring water from the mug upon her +handkerchief</i>]. Oh, round ones and square ones and +some of them sweet. [<i>Washes his face.</i>] My stars! +What a smudgy little boy! Where’s Mammy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Mammy died, three, four, five—oh, a lot +of days ago. And the little baby. The little weeny +baby—so long. [<i>Measures with his hands.</i>] Daddy +put them out there in the ground. I wish Daddy would +come.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t cry, dear! Don’t! [<i>Takes him +on her lap.</i>] Play I’m your mammy. Here are the biscuit! +All for you!</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas eats the biscuit eagerly.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant</span> [<i>answering call</i>]. Crossways, yes, sir. +Ready! [<i>Takes down the message.</i>] Airscout reports +enemy massing in force, three regiments of foot estimated, +behind the lines, opposite Crossways. Right. +Got it, yes. Good-bye. [<i>Snaps fingers.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. Yes, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Take this to the Colonel. [<i>Gives him +the written message.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">First Soldier.</span> Yes, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>First Soldier goes out through the gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Snappy time round here to-night, young +fellow.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>coming a little toward him</i>]. Must we +kill them some more, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Well, what d’ye think you’re here for? +Didn’t think ’twas a sworry, did you, with swallow-tails +and pink tea? My God! The stuff they’ve sent us +since the Conscript Act! Lucky for you, young chap, +I’m on the wire, ’stead o’ teaching you the drill. [<i>Busies +himself with copying duplicate messages into his +book.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Are you a little boy’s mother?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes, dear.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Where is he?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>after a moment</i>]. In a pleasant place. +Where men have stopped killing each other. Where +women don’t have to cry any more. Where little children +are safe and happy. Oh, he’s better off where +he is! Better off! [<i>Controls herself.</i>] Your mammy +is there, too, dear. Safe and happy. And the wee +little baby.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Oh, no. Daddy put them there in the +ground. I wish he’d come. I want him so.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t cry. You must be a brave little +boy. Cuddle close and go to sleep.</p> + +<p>[<i>She holds the child close. He shuts his eyes. Twilight +is deepening. The Woodsy Boy, who has watched +her with the eyes of a lost dog, steals to her side.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> Lady! You don’t remember me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’m sorry. No.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I came to your place one night, with a +dog that had broke its leg.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Not the Woodsy Boy?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I showed you where to find the primroses, +you and Roland.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, what are you doing here?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I was tall enough and old enough, they +said.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> A conscript, of course! You poor little +fellow, they might have let you be.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas</span> [<i>in his sleep</i>]. Daddy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Hush! Hush!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> We have killed his daddy. He fired +at us. We were taking his cattle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> God pity us all!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> At home my father stole a sheep. He +was two years in jail. Here we stole his father’s cattle—so +we hanged his father on a tree. I don’t understand.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Just do as they tell you, Heaven pity +you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> At home the Parson told me not to +kill. He said God said we mustn’t. But here they say +I must kill.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t try to understand!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Hi you! Greeny! Cut into the house +and fetch some lanterns! [<i>The Woodsy Boy goes into +the house.</i>] Was he bothering you, ma’am?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No, Sergeant.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> He’s a bit cracked in the head, you can +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>see. Not much like the chaps they sent us, first of the +war. Kind of petering out, they are.</p> + +<p>[<i>Through the gateway come in Robert, the Major, the +Adjutant, and Second Soldier.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Any report, Sergeant?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Just the airscout, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Take that ladder! Set it up against the +shed. [<i>Second Soldier sets ladder against the shed. +The Woodsy Boy comes from the house with two lighted +lanterns. He hangs one on the porch, so that the light +falls across the table.</i>] Let’s have the binoculars. +[<i>Takes them from the Adjutant.</i>] Here! Climb up +there. Look out for lights on the hills. Flashes. +[<i>Second Soldier goes up the ladder, hooks his elbows on +roof of the shed, and studies the horizon at right. The +Woodsy Boy sets the second lantern on the telephone +table.</i>] Late with that prisoner <ins class="corr" id="TN-2" title="Transcriber's Note—original text: froom">from</ins> Outpost K.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> Believe I hear the motor now, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, bring him on the run. We’ve no time +to fool. [<i>The Adjutant goes through the gateway. +Robert turns to Katherine, and sees her, under the lanternlight, +with the child in her arms. He cries out.</i>] +Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t wake him!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Good God! For half a minute I thought—[<i>Goes +to her, furious with himself.</i>] What kid is that +you’ve got there?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Isn’t there a bed inside where I can lay +him? Poor little fellow!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> This is the battle-line. Not much room +here for sentiment.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> It’s his father’s house.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, put him on the bed, if you want to. +[<i>Katherine leads the half sleeping child to the house.</i>] +Better stay inside yourself. Turns cool here after sunset. +Can’t send you back for an hour yet. Go in! +Go in! [<i>Katherine and Thomas go into the house. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>Robert, badly shaken, takes up the mug, dashes out the +water that is in it, fills it from his pocket flask, and takes +a stiff drink of whiskey neat. The Adjutant comes in. +Robert turns at his step.</i>] Got him?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> We have, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, trot him out.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Adjutant signals with his hand from the gateway. +An infantry Sergeant comes in, followed by several +soldiers. Two of them are half supporting, half +dragging Phil, incredibly altered. He wears the +scorched and torn remains of an aviation lieutenant’s +uniform. He is bareheaded and his forehead and eyes +are covered with a blood-stained emergency bandage. +He is further disguised by a fortnight’s growth of beard. +His wrists are closely tied. Not incomprehensible that +Robert, two thirds drunk, should fail to recognize in this +soiled and broken wreck the man who should have been +his brother-in-law. Not incomprehensible either that +Phil, blinded, and with senses benumbed with pain, +should fail to recognize in the whiskey voice the voice of +his old friend.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sergeant.</span> The aviator, sir, that ran the biplane +over St. Jo’s.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Set him down there! [<i>The soldiers thrust +Phil down on the stool at the right of the table, and then +draw back.</i>] So you’re the chap that paid us a visit last +night.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>desperately trying to hold himself together</i>]. +Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>sitting at left of the table, opposite him</i>]. +D’ye know what you did at St. Jo’s?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> It was a job to be proud of, eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Yes. We got your train-yard—your rolling-stock—locomotives—repair +shop.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Is that all?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Do you want more? Well—maybe some of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>our chaps come again. I can’t. [<i>Drops head on his +arms on the table.</i>] Done for!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major</span> [<i>at the back of the table</i>]. See here! Don’t +you know what you—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Shut up! Shut up! Is he shamming, Sergeant, +or is he badly hurt?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sergeant.</span> Pretty well shaken up, sir, and a +couple of ribs bust in. Then the tank blew up and he +got it in the face. His eyes are done for.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sergeant.</span> He was pretty keen on killing +himself. That’s why we tied him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>lifting his head</i>]. I get out of it pretty quick +anyhow. But it’s no fun waiting. I— [<i>With his +hands outstretched, to Robert.</i>] Oh, for God’s sake! +Let me have some morphine! So for a minute it stops +hurting. So I don’t go crazy. Maybe you’ll be up +against it once yourself. For God’s sake! [<i>Drops his +head on his arms.</i>] For God’s sake!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Bad as all that, is it? Well, you shall have +your morphine, sonny.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>piteously</i>]. Thank you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> But first you’re going to do something for +us, eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>lifting his head</i>]. What do you want?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> The names of the fellows inside our lines +that are standing in with you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I don’t know them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Oh, yes, you do. Come on now! Who +were they? Then it’s you to the hospital. Not before.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Say, you said it was a soldier you were taking +me to. This is nothing but a fat civilian, with his +dinner slobbered all over his waistcoat. You damned +bastard, do you think I’d—</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert springs up and starts toward Phil. The +Major intercepts him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> Go easy, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>controlling himself</i>]. Think you can get me +mad enough to hit a blow might kill you, do you? +[<i>Standing over Phil.</i>] Not a bit of it. [<i>Strikes him.</i>] +Shell out now! Who were they?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No! [<i>With a suppressed groan.</i>] Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Pretty fierce the pain, eh? [<i>Sitting on the +table, beside Phil.</i>] Think how jolly good you’re going +to feel, with something better than an emergency bandage +over your eyes, dropping off to sleep—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Regular little hero, aren’t you? Well, I +guess we’d better tell you just how much of a hero you +really are. Didn’t know perhaps that there was a train +made up and ready to start at daybreak, in the train-yard +at St. Jo’s.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> What of it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Not much of it, after your bombs smashed +into it. [<i>Phil gives a short and savage laugh.</i>] Just +before then it was full up with wounded men—three +hundred of them—and half of them your own chaps.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No! You’re saying that to torture me. +You’re lying. All of you. If I could only see your +faces, I’d know you were lying.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Well, we’re going to send you +where you’ll find out whether it’s the truth or not. +[<i>Takes pad, and writes while he speaks.</i>] We’d be well +within our rights to hang you, you damned air-pirate. +But we’ll stand you up against the wall instead.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I thank you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Set him up there! [<i>Two soldiers take Phil +and thrust him against the wall at the right of the gateway. +Meantime Robert beckons the Second Sergeant, +and shows him the written paper. The Sergeant takes +the paper and by the light of his electric bull’s eye +shows it to the soldiers of his squad successively. Meantime +Robert goes on speaking.</i>] Back him up against +the wall. More to the right. Here you, fetch that lantern. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>Hang it on that peg beside his head. [<i>The +Woodsy Boy, shrinking, takes the lantern from the telephone +table, and hangs it on the wall, where the light +falls squarely on Phil’s ghastly face. This done, he +darts back into the shelter of the shed, where he remains +throughout a horrified and fascinated witness.</i>] Got +anything to say?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Be quick. That’s all.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> We’ll let you give the word to the firing +squad.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Sergeant!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sergeant.</span> Fall in! ’Tention! March! +’Bout face! Ready! Aim! All ready, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>The firing squad is drawn up, behind the table, facing +Phil. The Second Sergeant falls back at the right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> How about it now? Going to give us those +names?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You’ll find out in a minute how they died, +those three hundred at St. Jo’s. You’ll be with them.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I’ll chance it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Want to pray?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Get through with it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Give the word, then!</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine, without her cloak and bonnet, comes from +the house, and pauses on the porch. She does not of +course recognize Phil. Neither does she go into hysterics. +She is a sensible woman, and no novice at the sight +of horrors. She does, however, stand frozen in her +tracks and takes in all that follows. On Robert’s last +word, Phil pulls himself up to his full height, with chin +uplifted. Obviously he is using the last remnant of his +strength of body and of soul to hold him through the +next moment.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Fire! [<i>A moment’s ghastly silence.</i>] For +God’s sake, fire!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Fall out!</p> + +<p>[<i>The soldiers break ranks and stand beneath the tree.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>going to pieces</i>]. What are you doing? What +are you going to do? Why don’t you fire?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>going to him</i>]. Thought we’d let you off +easy as that, eh? Not a bit of it!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You devils! You devils! Oh! I can’t bear +any more! I can’t bear it! [<i>Starts to beat his head +against the wall.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>catching him by the shoulder</i>]. Cut that +out! [<i>Flings him away from the wall.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>falling full length, face down.</i>] O God! +Haven’t you any pity!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>over him</i>]. You wasted a lot of strength, +striking attitudes there. Come on now, laddie! +[<i>Kicks him.</i>] Be sensible! Give us those names.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Soldier.</span> Colonel! A light, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Where?</p> + +<p>[<i>Through the ensuing, Phil drags himself toward the +table, strikes his head against the stool, and, having +thus placed himself, staggers to his feet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Soldier.</span> On the wooded hill. Flash, sir. +There it comes again. [<i>The crash of a gun is heard. A +branch falls from the tree into the courtyard.</i>] Got our +range, sir!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>catching Phil by the shoulders as he rises</i>]. +They’re getting busy, your friends. Think they’re going +to keep on dropping my chaps, just because you keep +your damned mouth shut? [<i>Thrusts Phil, struggling +hopelessly, down on the stool at the right of the table.</i>] +I’ll pry your jaws open. Won’t speak, eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>struggling</i>]. My God, man! Don’t! Don’t!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Give us those names!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> No! No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>jerking Phil’s arms from before his face</i>]. +Damn your soul! [<i>Forces his head back upon the table</i>]. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>If I get my hand on your face, you’ll tell in a +hurry!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>shrieking</i>]. Christ!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>somehow arrived at the table, clutching +Robert’s arm</i>]. Rob! Stop! Stop!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> How’d you get here, Kate? What are you +doing?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> For your own sake, stop!</p> + +<p>[<i>Guns intermittently crash throughout.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hear that? Pounding us to bits, just because +he won’t talk. Get into the house, Kate. This is +my job.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Not torture! Rob! Rob! No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You’re my wife, aren’t you? Do as I tell +you, Kate.</p> + +<p>[<i>The familiar names and the woman’s well remembered +voice have reached even Phil’s pain-crazed senses.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Kate! Kate!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert, for the instant dismayed by the horror of +the possibility suggested, goes back from his victim. +Phil staggers blindly to his feet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Don’t leave me! Don’t you know me? I’m +Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>catching him in her arms as he pitches +forward</i>]. No! No! [<i>She eases him down on the +bench, scanning what little of his face is visible.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> The house in the north—Roland—Gertrude—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh! What have you done, Rob? It’s +Phil—Phil that saved our boy!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. For his countrymen to butcher. +Get away from him!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>supporting Phil, with her arms about +him</i>]. No. You’re not going to touch him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You were at St. Jo’s yourself this morning. +You saw what they were bringing out of that train-yard. +That’s his work.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>drawing back from Phil involuntarily</i>]. +You did that?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>with a despairing cry</i>]. Then it’s true!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> God forgive you!</p> + +<p>[<i>Phil sways forward, half lying on the bench.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Airscout, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Eh?</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine snatches up the mug and fills it at the +water-bucket.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant.</span> Report from Outpost K. The enemy’s +foot are advancing against our trenches.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to Adjutant</i>]. Got your horse ready?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adjutant.</span> There, sir. [<i>Indicating gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Hurry up those re-enforcements. Ride +like hell.</p> + +<p>[<i>The Adjutant hurries out through the gateway. +Robert follows after him, with the soldiers in attendance, +all but the Woodsy Boy, Second Soldier, and the two +Sergeants.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>at Phil’s side</i>]. Drink it, Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>drinking hurriedly</i>]. You have not gone +away? You have not left me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> No. [<i>Sets the mug on the table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> It was the repair shop I aimed at. I didn’t +mean—They suffered? Tell me! Tell me!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Some of them, yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> I thought once—I was going to help put a +stop to pain. I thought— Will you tell her, please, I +am not any more a coward! With my own hands—three +hundred cripples killed. She should be proud. +Say that!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert comes in through the gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to the Major</i>]. Bring up our own regiment. +On the double!</p> + +<p>[<i>The Major hurries out through the gateway. Robert +turns toward Phil. Katherine steps quickly between +them, with her arm about Phil.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> That’s nonsense, Kate. You can’t stop me. +[<i>To Phil.</i>] I’ll see you again in a minute, and when I +do—by God! you’ll talk! [<i>To the Second Sergeant.</i>] +Sergeant! Keep an eye on that chap. We’re not +through with him by a long shot. Come on, you!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert goes out by the lane at the right, followed +by the telephone Sergeant. The Second Sergeant draws +back and paces in the gateway.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Katherine! Will you do for me one thing? +Inside my coat here, sewn in the lining—I can’t get at +it—some stuff will make me sleep. Won’t you please +get it for me? I’d have done it for you. I’d have done +it for Rob.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t! I can’t bear that. Because I +believe you would.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Then won’t you please—I don’t want to lie +screaming on the ground. In a minute I will. O God! +Let up on me! Please, please, Katherine! For Roland’s +sake!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Hush! Oh hush! [<i>Gets the tablets +from inside his coat.</i>] Here, is it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> You have it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Put it please into some water. Let me drink +it quick.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Phil! My poor old chap! What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> To make me sleep.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> For how long?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Don’t ask questions. Give it to me, and then +go straight away.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I can’t. Oh, I can’t!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Give it to me! Three hundred of them—helpless! +But I must not tell. I must not give up +those names. I must have something left, or I’ll be +scared to die. Katherine! Help me not to tell! +Katherine! I am here in hell—and blind—blind! +Katherine! Katherine!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>snatching up the mug, and putting into it +the tablets</i>]. Phil! Drink it! [<i>Thrusts the mug into +his hands.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil</span> [<i>drinking</i>]. God bless you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>putting down the mug, bending over +him</i>]. Phil, dear! Can you pray?</p> + +<p><ins class="corr" id="TN-3" title="Transcriber's Note—Period separating speaker was originally missing."><span class="smcap">Phil</span>. Pray?</ins></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Before you—go to sleep?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Oh, yes. Pray—Roland— [<i>With her +arms about him he slips from the bench to his knees.</i>] +Katherine!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes. I’m here. I’m here.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phil.</span> Now I lay me—keep me kind—make me—a +good—boy—</p> + +<p>[<i>The death spasm grips him. His head goes back. +His kneeling body stiffens. He collapses limply at her +feet. She stands rigid and speechless, gazing down at +him. The guns now are almost incessant.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major</span> [<i>outside</i>]. Battalion, forward!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Captain’s Voice.</span> Forward!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Second Sergeant.</span> Fall in!</p> + +<p>[<i>Second Soldier comes down the ladder and goes out +at the gateway. The Major comes in. At the same moment +Robert comes from the lane.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major.</span> All ready, sir.</p> + +<p>[<i>Troops of infantry are seen marching toward right +along the road beyond the gateway. The Major takes +his place among them. The Second Sergeant falls in.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>to Woodsy Boy</i>]. Fall in!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy</span> [<i>as unexpectedly as if a sparrow should +chirp in the face of a tornado</i>]. No, no! I won’t kill +them. [<i>Lets his rifle fall.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Pick up that rifle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> No! No! No!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>drawing his revolver</i>]. Fall in, damn you!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Woodsy Boy.</span> I won’t kill. God said that—</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert shoots him in the breast. The Woodsy Boy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>staggers a few steps forward and falls dead. Across +his body Robert goes out at the gateway and joins the +marching troops. There is the flash of a shell, and a +crash. A section of the wall at the right is blown inward. +Katherine staggers back, but the clutch of the +little boy, Thomas, roused by the noise and stolen in terror +from the house, brings her to herself. She holds the +child to her, protecting, covering his ears and eyes. The +bursting of shells is now incessant. Another section of +wall goes down. Through the smoke and the dust of the +roadway, under the bursting shells, a horse battery is +seen going into action.</i>]</p> + + +<p class="center">CURTAIN</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="EPILOGUE"> + EPILOGUE + </h2> +</div> + + +<p><i>In the two years that have passed since the events of +the Prologue, the country-house has been in the hands of +the enemy. The wide open doorway and the uncurtained +casements show springtide country, with stumps +of fruit-trees, trampled fields, and, in the distance, the +burned rafters of a hamlet and the gaunt tower of a +ruined church. Within, the room has been stripped bare +of all that made it livable, hangings, rugs, cushions, pictures, +bric-a-brac. The good and heavy furniture has +been replaced with plain and cheap articles. At the left +is a deal table, on which stand a lamp with a green shade, +of ordinary pattern, and an earthen jug with a few +sprays of lilac. A wooden chair is beside the table. +At the centre is a plain table, on which is a big basket +of coarse mending. At either side of the table is a rush-bottom +chair. A cottage settle is at right angles to the +hearth. Beside the hearth is a wheel-chair, and near by +a wooden chair.</i></p> + +<p><i>The season is May, eight months after the events upon +the battle-line. The time is late afternoon.</i></p> + +<p><i>On the bench in the bow-window Thomas, neatly but +poorly clad, sits with a shabby little picture book. Near +by the Professor, aged, shabby, and almost senile, is irritably +looking from the window. Lydia, gaunt and +aged, all in black, sits mending at the right of the table. +In the wheel-chair, with a rug across his knees, sits +Basil, the haggard wreck of the boy who meant to end +the war in six weeks.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Dear, dear! Katherine is very late with +the mail.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Well, Kate can’t go like a race-horse, you +might remember. She’s tired, poor girl! And no wonder, +with all that she has to do.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> But at such a time it is most exasperating +not to have the paper promptly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Probably Kate ducked in somewhere when +that shower came up.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas</span> [<i>going to Lydia</i>]. Can I go down the lane +and meet Aunt Katherine?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Yes, Thomas. But mind you don’t go near +the soldiers’ camp.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> No, I won’t.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas runs out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> That camp is enough to demoralize all the +boys and girls in the district. What there is about brass +buttons and a bugle—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Oh, come, Mother! Our chaps are decent +enough fellows.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Well, I’ll be thankful when their camp is +broken up. They demobilize next week, didn’t you say?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> They were planning to. But there’s no telling +what will happen with these new complications.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Fiddlesticks! You needn’t tell me that we’re +going to fight again. We’ve got peace at last, haven’t +we? We’ve got the victory, haven’t we?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> I wonder. If we have, I don’t think much of +what they call the fruits of victory.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Fruits of victory! I don’t see much of them +in this house.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude, in shabby black clothes, white, sullen, and +weary, comes in at the left.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> That last shower did the business. The +kitchen roof is leaking like a sieve. Give me the mending, +Mother.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> There’s enough for two. Shoddy stuff they +sell us nowadays.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> [<i>Sits left of table, with mending.</i>] +There’s a half day’s work to do on that roof. We need +an able-bodied man—and the money to pay him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Well, Robert will be home very soon now. +And when he takes hold of things—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> We can’t do much without ready money. +And every penny is eaten up with the new taxes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> It is entirely the fault of the ministry. +They should have stood out for a proper war indemnity. +They should have made the foreigners pay for all our +losses.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> And what the devil were the foreigners to +pay with? I tell you, they’re worse off than we are.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>going to sit on the settle near Basil</i>]. O +sonny, how can that be possible?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Well, well! Here’s Kate at last. And +high time, I should think.</p> + +<p>[<i>Katherine comes in with Thomas at the terrace door. +She wears a plain and inexpensive walking suit, hat, and +blouse. She looks older by ten years.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> You are late, Katherine.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas gives the Professor a newspaper, which the +old man eagerly spreads open.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’m sorry, Uncle. The road was a bit +heavy. Here’s a letter for you, Trudie!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Why, it’s from Margaret. It’s months +since we’ve had a word from her.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Give us a look-in, Uncle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Most annoying! [<i>Going to Basil.</i>] +Only one penny paper a day, and at a crisis like this—a +national crisis. [<i>Sits on the chair beside Basil and +shares the paper with him.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Aunt Katherine! Can I go out and play a +little?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Yes, dear. Stay in the garden, remember. +[<i>Puts her hat and coat in the closet.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> Yes, I will.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas goes out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Well, it looks squally, all right.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Bad news, Basil?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> At least we are in better shape than we +were two years ago. We have an efficient army of seasoned +men.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Seasoned like me, eh?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> We’re not going to fight again?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> It’s nothing but talk, Mother. [<i>Sits +right of table, takes mending.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> We have cause enough to fight, and don’t you +forget it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Yes. The conduct of our late associates +in arms has violated every usage of international +law.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> We’ll teach ’em a thing or two. And we’ve +got those that will help us.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You don’t really think we’ll fight +against our old comrades?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> In the shift of events that is not altogether +impossible.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You mean we’ll actually fight now on the side +of the foreigners? Ignorant wretches!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Oh, they’re not half bad, Mother. Really +they’re much more our sort than our old associates. +They were mighty decent to me, you know, when I was +off my head, before Kate found me.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> The foreigners are not the worst of people, +Lydia. Philip now, he was a quite likable young +man.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude listens tensely.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> He wasn’t a half bad sort, old Phil.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>turning to his paper</i>]. Killed in action, +didn’t you say, Kate?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Yes. He was killed in a raid +at St. Jo’s. Instantly killed. [<i>Goes to the window at +right.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Poor fellow! At least it’s a comfort to think +that he did not suffer. You have that to remember, Gertrude.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Oh, yes! I remember. [<i>Rises and goes +with her letter into the bow-window.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Poor old Phil!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor</span> [<i>reading the paper</i>]. Tut, tut! Shocking! +Most shocking!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Let’s see, sir. [<i>Glancing at the paper.</i>] Ah, +that’s rotten!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Getting nasty, our late comrades in arms. +Women of ours have been attacked among them. Oh, I +say! Little children—butchered!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Basil! Two years ago, those are the +same stories they told about Phil’s countrymen.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Here’s interesting news. Margaret is +to be married.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Not Margaret— Hush!</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia lays a hand on Basil’s arm.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> It doesn’t matter. Who waits for a man as +good as dead?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> She can forget. There are such women. +Isn’t she lucky? [<i>Turns to the door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Where are you going?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Out where the garden used to be.</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude goes out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>rising</i>]. Perhaps I’d better follow her. It’s +the old folks have to tend upon the young folks now.</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia goes out at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> You can have the paper, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Yes, yes. [<i>Hurries toward the chair at +the left.</i>] The editorials—their comments are too mild. +They do not understand the principles our late associates +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>have shamelessly violated. [<i>Sits at the left and +buries himself in the coveted paper.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>laying her hand on Basil’s arm</i>]. Old +man!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil</span> [<i>sharply</i>]. If you don’t mind letting me +alone! I beg your pardon, Kate. About all I can do +now is to bite on the bullet—gracefully, and keep on +biting for a little matter of forty or fifty years.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Doctors don’t know everything. Perhaps—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> They know enough to know I’m tied to this +chair till death do us part. That’s in the marriage service, +isn’t it? [<i>Breaking down.</i>] Ah!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Basil! Don’t! Don’t!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia</span> [<i>outside, excitedly</i>]. Kate! O Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Mother! What’s wrong?</p> + +<p>[<i>Lydia hurries in at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> Kate! Here’s Rob come home this very +day. Here’s Rob come home at last. I told you—I +kept telling you—they couldn’t fight again. Now +we’ve got Rob back. It’s all right. It’s all right. +Come in, Rob! Come in!</p> + +<p>[<i>Robert, noticeably aged, in civilian clothes, appears +at the terrace door. He has the look of a man who has +just been struck in the face. Lydia hurries down to the +Professor, who rises.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I—I hardly recognized the house. Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine</span> [<i>going to his arms</i>]. You’ve come back +to stay, Rob? You’re not in uniform. Oh, I was +afraid—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>looking about the dismantled room</i>]. They +did a pretty thorough job here, didn’t they?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> You’ll get used to it, Rob. We’re all +getting used to it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>in the doorway</i>]. Cleaned out the orchards, +didn’t they? All fruit trees, those were. Just got ’em +in condition to bear.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I wrote you how things were.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. I didn’t quite take it in. [<i>Starts +toward the hearth, stops, smitten at the sight of Basil, +then goes to him.</i>] Hello, Bub! Hard luck, old man! +[<i>Gertrude appears in the doorway, unnoticed by Robert</i>]. +Cleaned us up here pretty well, the foreigners, +didn’t they? Cleaned us up, while we were getting +ready to fight! And now we’re turning out to help ’em +thrash our old comrades in arms.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> What!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> War was declared at noon to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> War was declared!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>going to the Professor</i>]. Here’s a late paper, +sir.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Professor.</span> Thank you, Robert, thank you! [<i>Retires +into the bow-window, where he reads the paper, +oblivious of all else.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> They’re going to keep on fighting! [<i>Goes to +Basil, sits on the settle.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> But you’ve come home.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Yes. They only want able-bodied men for +cannon fodder—young men, strong men, not chaps like +me. Knocked my heart out in the service. Got rheumatism +in those damned trenches. That’s why they +gave me my walking ticket. That’s why I’ve come home.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And now we fight for the foreigners. +I can’t believe it.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude</span> [<i>coming into the room</i>]. Phil would have +been useful now. A pity, isn’t it, Rob, that you murdered +him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Trudie! What do you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Ask Kate!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Gertrude!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You talked?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> You shan’t blame Kate. She found my boy. +She brought him home.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You talked, Kate?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> In her sleep. I know what you did to +him. I’m glad you’ve come here. At every turn of the +stair—in every room of this house that was home to +him—you’ll see Phil now, as I see him, all the days of +your life.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Kate! In your sleep—you remembered +like that?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I can’t forget. I can’t forget.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I’d been drinking.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t! Don’t! I know.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> You don’t understand. You’ve got to understand. +In the trenches that winter, with the dirty +water at our knees. Days on end, weeks on end, months +on end. Always cold. Always wet. Vermin crawling +over us. Dogs’ food that we snatched like dogs. And +all the time the guns were pounding, pounding, pounding, +and we shouted to be heard, and our ear-drums were +cracking. We turned up the filth and slime to bury our +dead, and we came on the rotting dead they’d laid +there—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Don’t! Don’t!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Well, I got to depending on the stuff. It +deadened things. But I never went drunk to bed till the +night I got your letter—the letter about Roland.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> I’m not blaming you. <ins class="corr" id="TN-4" title="Transcriber's Note—Originally the period was erroneously placed outside directions.">[<i>Sinking on +chair, at the right of the table.</i>]</ins> God help us all!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Can’t you understand, Trudie? I was half +drunk that night when Phil— No! I don’t mean +that. All that I did was right.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> Your friend! He was your friend!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> I don’t carry my friendships onto the firing +line. He was nothing to me, that chap. I was ready to +make him talk. At any cost. Yes. [<i>Gertrude, with a +strangled cry, goes into the bow-window.</i>] But I didn’t +do it for fun, Kate. [<i>Goes to the table.</i>] To save my +own chaps from getting pounded to pieces. I was right. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>He’s got no business coming into my dreams. I was +right. I’ll say that to you, Kate, just as I’ll say it to +Almighty God.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Oh, the long way you’ve come, since +you stood together, you three big, kind men we were so +proud of, here in this very room, fussing over a little +hurt beast. The Woodsy Boy came through that door. +The boy you—</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert</span> [<i>sitting down opposite her</i>]. The conscript +you saw me shoot? That was mutiny in the ranks. I +was right, under the rules of war.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Only two years ago that was, only two +years. It was the day that Roland— Don’t you +remember? He asked me about the picture of Moloch.</p> + +<p>[<i>Very faint, but continuously swelling louder, is heard +outside at the right the music of the March-out, heard +in Act I.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gertrude.</span> What’s that?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> It can’t be the March-out that I hear!</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas, wildly excited, darts in at the terrace door.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas.</span> O Aunt Katherine! The soldiers are leaving +the camp. They’ll march right by our house.</p> + +<p>[<i>Thomas darts out again.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> I can’t live through it again. Oh, I’m too +old!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> Why don’t you throw flowers, Trudie?</p> + +<p>[<i>Gertrude, with a hysteric cry, sinks upon the floor +in the bow-window.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> And we thought the war was ended.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Thought the war was over, did you? Not +a bit of it. As long as men are men, there’ll be fighting.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lydia.</span> We can’t bear any more.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> We’ve nothing left to give.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> Stop crying! There’s an ocean of tears +been shed already—an ocean of blood. Doesn’t make +any difference. We’re fighting still. No end to it. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>God’s a joke. Got any brandy in the house, Kate? I’m +dead tired. I’m down and out. [<i>Rests his head on his +arms upon the table.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas</span> [<i>running past the terrace door</i>]. Oh, the +soldiers! The soldiers! The soldiers!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Moloch is hungry still.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Basil.</span> And I can’t go with ’em! [<i>Collapses, sobbing.</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> More of them—more of them—more +of them!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Robert.</span> If they’d only stop that damned noise!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Katherine.</span> Marching—marching—marching—</p> + +<p>[<i>The March-out is at its fortissimo.</i>]</p> + + +<p class="center">CURTAIN</p> + + +<p class="center p4">THE END</p> + +<div class="p2 chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowe12_5" id="i_decor"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_decor.jpg" alt="" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Borzoi</span>” stands for the best in literature +in all its branches—drama and fiction, +poetry and art. “<span class="smcap">Borzoi</span>” also stands for +unusually pleasing book-making.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Borzoi</span> Books are good books and there +is one for every taste worthy of the name. +A few are briefly described on the next +page. Mr. Knopf will be glad to see that +you are notified regularly of new and forthcoming +<span class="smcap">Borzoi</span> Books if you will send him +your name and address for that purpose. +He will also see that your local dealer is +supplied.</p> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Address THE BORZOI</span><br> +<span class="smcap">220 West Forty-Second Street</span><br> +<span class="smcap">New York</span> +</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 chapter"> +<table class="autotable"> + <thead> + <tr> + <td style="border: 2px solid black; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"> +<figure class="figleft illowe8" id="i_decor_2"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_decor.jpg" alt="" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + <p><span class="smcap fs200">The New Borzoi Books</span></p> + <p class="fs150"><i>Published by</i> ALFRED A. KNOPF</p> +</td> + </tr> + </thead> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="border: 2px solid black;padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"> +<p class="hanging">TALES OF THE PAMPAS By W. H. Hudson, author of “Green +Mansions.” Including what Edward Garnett calls “the finest short +story in English.” Three-color jacket. <span style="float: right">$1.25</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">A DRAKE! BY GEORGE! By John Trevena. A perfectly +delightful tale of Devonshire, with plot and humor a-plenty. <span style="float: right">$1.50</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">THE CRUSHED FLOWER From the Russian of Leonid Andreyev. +Three novelettes and some great short stories by this master. <span style="float: right">$1.50</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">JOURNALISM VERSUS ART By Max Eastman. A brilliant +and searching analysis of what is wrong with our magazine writing and +illustrations. Many pictures of unusual interest. <span style="float: right">$1.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY From the Russian of Alexander +Kornilov. The only work in English that comes right down to the +present day. Two volumes, boxed, per set. <span style="float: right">$5.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">THE RUSSIAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING From the Russian of +Alexandre Benois, with an introduction by Christian Brinton and thirty-two +full-page plates. The only survey in English. <span style="float: right">$3.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">SUSSEX GORSE By Sheila Kaye-Smith. A wonderfully vigorous +and powerful novel of Sussex. A really masterly book. <span style="float: right">$1.50</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">RUSSIA’S MESSAGE By William English Walling, with 31 illustrations. +A new and revised edition of this most important work. <span style="float: right">$2.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">WAR From the Russian of Michael Artzibashef, author of “Sanine.” +A four-act play of unusual power and strength. <span style="float: right">$1.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">MORAL From the German of Ludwig Thoma. A three-act comedy +that is unlike anything ever attempted in English. <span style="float: right">$1.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">MOLOCH By Beulah Marie Dix. Probably the most thrilling play +ever written about war. <span style="float: right">$1.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL From the Russian of Nicolai +Gogol, author of “Taras Bulba.” The first adequate version in English +of this masterpiece of comedy. <span style="float: right">$1.00</span></p> + +<p class="hanging">THE SHAVING OF SHAGPAT A handsome holiday edition +of George Meredith’s Arabian Entertainment. With fifteen beautiful +plates and an introduction by George Eliot. Quarto. <span style="float: right">$5.00</span></p> +<p class="center"><i>All prices are net.</i></p> + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" style="border: 2px solid black;"> +<p class="center">220 WEST FORTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK</p> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="p2 chapter"> +<div class="transnote" id="transnote"> +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE<br> + +Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, +and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.<br> +<br> +Inconsistent hyphenations have been left as is.<br> +<br> +Page <a href="#TN-1">56</a>: “Katherine” typeface corrected from small caps to italics.<br> +Page <a href="#TN-2">74</a>: “froom” <i>replaced by</i> “from”.<br> +Page <a href="#TN-3">83</a>: “Phil Pray?” <i>replaced by</i> “Phil. Pray?”.<br> +Page <a href="#TN-4">92</a>: “replaced table].” <i>replaced by</i> “table.]”.<br> +</div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78389 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78389-h/images/cover.jpg b/78389-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..72b6aa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/78389-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78389-h/images/i_decor.jpg b/78389-h/images/i_decor.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cce832 --- /dev/null +++ b/78389-h/images/i_decor.jpg diff --git a/78389-h/images/i_title.jpg b/78389-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e98944 --- /dev/null +++ b/78389-h/images/i_title.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..216f9fb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #78389 +(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78389) |
