Initial commit of ebook 78762 filesHEAD main

author: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-05-26 19:37:52 -0700
committer: www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> 2026-05-26 19:37:52 -0700
commit: bb4719bd7897b91fc4f8c6ec0493e04f3a11196a (patch)
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+      Van Zorn | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78762 ***</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="cover" style="max-width: 106.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book cover">
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[i]</span></p>
+</div>
+<h1>
+VAN ZORN
+</h1>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[ii]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="colophon" style="width: 200px;">
+  <img src="images/colophon.jpg" width="200" height="65" alt="Macmillan Company Colophon">
+</figure>
+
+<p class='center'>
+  THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br>
+<span class='fs80'>  NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS<br>
+  ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO<br></span>
+  <br>
+  MACMILLAN &amp; CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br>
+<span class='fs80'>  LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA<br>
+  MELBOURNE<br></span>
+  <br>
+  THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br>
+<span class='fs80'>  TORONTO</span>
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center fs200 ls2">VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class="center mt1">A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS</p>
+
+<p class="center mt2">BY</p>
+<p class='center'>EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON</p>
+
+<p class="center blackletter mt4">New York</p>
+<p class='center'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p>
+<p class='center'>1914</p>
+
+<p class="center mt1 fs80"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[iv]</span></p>
+</div>
+<p class='center'>
+  <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1914</span><br>
+  <span class="smcap">By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br>
+  Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1914<br>
+  <br>
+  <span class="smcap">Copyright in</span> GREAT BRITAIN,<br>
+  All acting rights reserved by the author
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class='center'>
+  TO<br>
+  HERMANN HAGEDORN</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><a id="Page_vi"></a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p>
+  <p class='center fs200'>
+    VAN ZORN
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHARACTERS">
+    CHARACTERS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class='poetry-container'>
+<ul>
+  <li>VAN ZORN</li>
+  <li>GEORGE LUCAS</li>
+  <li>WELDON FARNHAM</li>
+  <li>OTTO MINK</li>
+  <li>MRS. LOVETT</li>
+  <li>VILLA VANNEVAR</li>
+  <li>JENNY</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_I">
+    ACT I
+
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p>
+<p class='stage-direction'><span class="smcap">Weldon Farnham’s</span> <i>studio in Macdougal Alley, New York. In
+the rear is a long window, beneath which is a wide cushioned
+seat, extending from the left wall to a vestibule on the right,
+from which a door, front, opens into the studio. The door is
+hidden by a tall screen. Further down on the right is another
+door, and still further down is an antique cabinet, upon which
+rests a bust of Shakespeare. To the left of the cabinet, well
+into the room, is a table, upon which are a few books and,
+among other objects, an ornamental cigar box of polished
+mahogany. Half way down the left wall, which is built
+diagonally into the stage, cutting off about one-third of the
+rear wall, is an open grate with a mantel. Well to the front,
+on the left, is an upright wheeling easel, upon which a framed
+portrait faces the rear. There are several chairs, for the most
+part plain and small; but one of them, near the table, to the
+left, is large and comfortable.</i></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'><i>The curtain rises, revealing</i> <span class="smcap">Weldon Farnham</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Otto
+Mink</span>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>is a well-conditioned and well-satisfied
+man of thirty, or a little more, with a certain complacent
+hardness about his face, which suggests an aggressiveness
+that does not really exist. He stands surveying</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>a
+younger man—short, plump, pink and loquacious—who in
+turn stands surveying the picture on the easel. His hands
+are in his trousers pockets, and he stands from time to time
+on the tips of his toes during the process of his scrutiny.</i></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, Otto, aren’t you going to say something?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly, with a frown</i>]</p>
+
+<p>So this is Villa Vannevar.&#x2060;<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>&#x2060;</p>
+
+<div class='footnotes'>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Pronounced Vannee´-vr.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Not exactly. It’s a picture of her.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You don’t care for it, I see—Lucas and Petherick think
+it’s rotten.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Did Lucas say that?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, but he smoked it. He might as well have said it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Leaving the picture and lighting a cigarette</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You can’t always tell what Old Hundred means—when
+he doesn’t say anything. Or when he does, for that
+matter.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m sorry, Otto, that you don’t like the picture.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Showing his teeth</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There’s genius in it. Is that what you wanted me to
+say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>But a poor likeness—eh?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Likeness?—Farnham, you make me sick.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>scowls quickly and laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I beg your pardon, but you do,—just now, I mean.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sniff</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You and your pictures!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Are they all so bad as that, Otto?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Irritated</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I suppose it’s <i>you</i> that I’m talking about, not your pictures.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With patronage</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You don’t seem to be improving matters very much.
+What have <i>I</i> done?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With affectionate disgust</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You? You haven’t done anything. Destiny, or something
+or other, has done it for you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But I don’t believe much in destiny. I believe in work.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>You didn’t work very hard to get the best girl in New
+York.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>If I didn’t know you, Otto, I might be offended.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>What’s the matter with you today, anyhow?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With all sincerity</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I understand. You think I’m jealous, but I’m not.
+I’m not such a dam fool.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Otto, don’t be so impulsive.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Impulsive? You don’t know what the word means.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a grimace</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You might at least look glad, or say something foolish
+once in a while,—just to let a fellow know that you’re
+human.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’ll take back a part of what I said, Otto. There may
+be a large element of destiny in my—we’ll say my very
+great good fortune.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I wouldn’t say as much as that to Van Zorn.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Van Zorn? He’s a fatalist, isn’t he?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know just what he is. He’s the best man living,
+and he’s my best friend.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cheerfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And he’s worth about how many millions?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With animation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know. Twenty or twenty-five. I don’t care
+much about that part of it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>You know, Farnham, I believe you when you say that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Moving to the Right</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If I didn’t, I shouldn’t hang around your place any more.
+You think you wouldn’t miss me if I didn’t, but you
+would. I’m a tender shoot, and I’m delicate, and you’ll be
+dam sorry when I’m dead.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>pauses before the bust of Shakespeare, looks at it thoughtfully,
+places his hat upon it carefully, and surveys the result with
+satisfaction</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>watches him with patronizing
+amusement. Presently, when the two men stand looking at
+each other, the bell rings</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at his watch</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That sounds like Lucas. It can’t be Mrs. Lovett—yet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>It’s Old Hundred, I’ll bet a sequin. Let him in.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>admits</i> <span class="smcap">George Lucas</span>, <i>who is a square-jawed and
+somewhat cadaverous looking man of thirty, with a melancholy
+and highly intellectual face. His clothes are well kept, but
+unmistakably the worse for wear, and there is a whimsical
+weariness in his manner that might be suggestive of latent
+tragedy. He looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>as if he expected
+them to say something</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Good morning, Phœbus-Apollo.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a benignant smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Good morning.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>half quizzically</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good morning.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>He looks at the decorated bust of Shakespeare, and then at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>.
+<i>He smiles once more and removes his hat, which</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>
+<i>takes and tosses on to window seat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Have you come to join the celebration?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Celebration of what?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I don’t know. You take your choice. You might
+celebrate the publication of my new book, or you might
+celebrate the rotation of the planet Neptune—on his axis.
+Or, you might celebrate the engagement of our friend
+Farnham to the radiant Miss Villa Vannevar.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Motioning towards the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>There she is—or, I should say, a picture of her.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With gathering surprise and difficulty</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I have seen the picture, but I had not heard of the engagement.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving his hand to</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>but as if with unconscious reluctance</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, let me congratulate you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking his hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Thank you, Lucas.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>goes towards the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I fear that some of us get rather more than we deserve in
+this life.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Affecting indifference</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I don’t know about that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Studying the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So this is Villa Vannevar.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Promptly, with his hands in his pockets</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s what <i>I</i> said.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Comfortably</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Your congratulations are quite enough, Lucas. You
+needn’t feel obliged to praise the picture.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Solemnly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wasn’t going to praise the picture.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing on his toes and grinning at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>with satisfaction</i>]</p>
+
+<p>“Heaven is not reached with a single bound.” You can’t
+have everything at once, Farnham, even if you are a
+genius. But you might give Lucas a drink, and you might
+give me a bottle of cold beer.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, Otto? Isn’t this something new?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nodding at the bust</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare did it, and I wish to do everything that
+Shakespeare did—so far as in me lies.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing, as if</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>were a child</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, all right, if I’ve got it.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>He goes out at the right</i>, <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>leaves the picture, frowning to
+himself, and returns to</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>who is standing near the corner
+of the vestibule</i>. <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>turns</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>gently and assists him
+towards the cabinet, from which</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>takes out a bottle of
+whiskey and a glass, going with them to the table nearby.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>returns with a bottle of beer and a glass</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a look at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Here you are, Stratford.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>goes to the window seat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Don’t you want some water, Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>No, thank you. It won’t be necessary.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With mild insistence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Better for the heart.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Prying the cap from the bottle</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Lucas hasn’t got any heart.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He pours out a glass of beer with care</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Well, Farnham, you man of iron, <i>morituri salutamus</i>. I’m
+a tender shoot, and I shan’t be with you very long. Neither
+will Lucas, if he doesn’t drink some water one of
+these days.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>There is a sinister note in his last words, and it is evidently caught
+by the other men</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a dry flourish</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, you are a man of parts, and once more I
+congratulate you. I’m a man of parts myself, as a matter
+of fact, but some of my parts don’t exactly fit, and as a
+consequence</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a hard, insincere laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>as a consequence, I—I rattle. Your health and happiness.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He drinks, and shivers a little</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And now,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Exploring the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If you will give me a small cigar</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes a large one from the box</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’ll tell you what a great man you are going to be.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He puts back the bottle and moves again towards the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Who has been watching</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>with a patronizing smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And now if you two fellows will kindly make yourselves
+at home, I’ll be back in a little while. I’m going over to
+Petherick’s to get some photographs of his comical bust
+of Poe for Mrs Lovett; and if anyone comes in while I’m
+gone, I’ll trust you two to be agreeable.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But what does this mean, Farnham? If you expected
+visitors, why didn’t you say so?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Soothingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>They are coming to see the picture in its new frame.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Hesitating</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Of course you remember Mrs. Lovett—and Villa
+Vannevar?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In a dry voice</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I remember them. Villa Vannevar and I used to be
+rather good friends.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Indifferently</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I doubt if Mrs Lovett remembers me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>At the door</i>]</p>
+
+<p>She must.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sitting down</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why do you say that?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>She must,—for you are not the kind that women forget.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He laughs and goes out, and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>follows him with his eyes.
+He remains for a time as if in retrospection</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>From the window seat, after a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me that Farnham might have done a little
+better than that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>gives him a quick look</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I don’t know,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In half soliloquy</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>perhaps he couldn’t, after all.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>studies the beer-bottle as if it were a rare vase, and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>,
+<i>leaning forward on his chair, rubs his fingers together thoughtfully</i>.]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Phœbus,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>looks at him</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>wake up.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I am awake.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>The devil you are.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up and stretching himself</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Let’s have another look at Farnham’s picture. Petherick
+thinks it’s rotten.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Mercifully</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But then, Petherick’s a sculptor.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Can’t sculptors tell when things are rotten?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Briskly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Apparently not—if we are to judge them by what they
+have done for our fair city.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rising and smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are severe this morning, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In a fatherly way</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I hope you aren’t going to be severe with <i>me</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at him sharply</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I <i>was</i> going to be—but I won’t now.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning before the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So this is Villa Vannevar.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s what <i>I</i> said.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still frowning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Weldon Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing up his hands</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Lucas, I can’t make it sound right.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What’s wrong about the sound of it? Farnham is a
+good fellow, isn’t he?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With emphasis</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He’s a fine fellow; and he’s one of his own best friends.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling grimly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, that makes for prudence—and for longevity.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Very good indeed. What do you think of this picture,
+Phœbus, anyhow?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>It’s a pretty good picture. All things are relative.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Promptly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then you agree with Petherick.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Not necessarily.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks around him uncomfortably</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I don’t believe, Otto, that I’ll stay here any longer.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>moves toward him</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You can entertain these women without me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Backing</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>into his chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There! You try that for a while. Farnham said you
+were to stay here till he came back.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes another chair and sits facing</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Phœbus, you may kick me if you like, but I’m sorry for
+you. I’m dam sorry.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a doubtful scowl</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What do you think you are talking about, Otto?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Plunging</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Phœbus, I like you. I like you a lot. I’ve liked you for
+ten years—ever since I met you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So far as I count for anything, I suppose I’m as good a
+friend as you have in the world.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pleased and embarrassed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m glad to hear you say that, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With more confidence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You’d better wait till I’m done with you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Go on. I’m at your service.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Clasping his knee and becoming very serious</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Very well. Tell me when to stop.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Phœbus, how much does Farnham know about you?
+Did he know anything about you before he came to
+New York? Let me see, that was four years ago.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Surprised</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Probably not.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Well, then, did Farnham know Villa Vannevar before
+he came to New York?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Surprised</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Not to my knowledge.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Am I getting too personal?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Fighting with his curiosity</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You haven’t said anything injurious.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Good. Now does Farnham.... Oh, the devil! I
+suppose I ought not to ask you this, but I’m going to, all
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>the same. Does Farnham know that Villa Vannevar cared
+more for you at one time than she cares now for any other
+man living?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rubbing his hands slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I rather think, Otto, that you may as well stop.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Are you going to kick me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>No. Your motive is good, and I try to judge a fellow
+by his motive.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking a cheap watch from his pocket, he looks at it and shakes it
+at his ear</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>What time is it?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With much vigor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Phœbus, you can’t put me off. I’ve got you now, and
+I’m going to tell you what I think of you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking his watch at his ear</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What do you think of me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nettled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, I think you are going to the devil, for one thing.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Grinning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Only going? I was told the other day that I had
+arrived—with banners.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Did Farnham tell you that?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>That was Farnham’s hidden meaning.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, Phœbus, I can’t speak for Farnham. But there
+was a time when the rest of us would have said that you
+had empires up your sleeve.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impressively</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at his sleeve</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then they must be there yet. I’ve never shaken them
+out.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With more fervor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>They may be there, but all the devils in hell, with
+microscopes, couldn’t find them there this morning. As
+you are fond of reading, you may have gathered, from
+various authorities, that empires don’t run themselves,
+exactly. When they do, they run down.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Like my watch.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He shakes it, and returns it to his pocket</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up with a sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Phœbus, why don’t you try to find out where you are,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>and stop pickling your brain with rum, and quit bewildering
+your inferiors, and go back to school? If you
+don’t, there will be a funeral one of these days, and you
+won’t have to walk. And what I say is all as true as God
+made great whales and little squirrels.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rubbing his knees and grinning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good. Say on.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>gives a snort of disgust and moves towards the bust of
+Shakespeare, his hands in his trousers’ pockets and his face
+puckered with a scowl</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Watching</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>with weary amusement</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto, tell me something more about this much-travelled
+Odysseus of many devices, whom Farnham calls Van
+Zorn.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>removes his hat from the bust</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I thought you would do that, Otto.</p>
+
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>puts his hat on his head and gives</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>a look of
+discouragement</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Tell me about Van Zorn, Otto, and take off your hat.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>spins his hat at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who catches it deftly and throws it
+over to the window seat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I understand that he’s a fatalist—or something or other.
+Where does he live?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Piqued</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He doesn’t live anywhere. He doesn’t have to. He’s
+worth about twenty-five millions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>That isn’t very much. Is he in town?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impatiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, he’s in town.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>How long is he going to stay?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How the devil do I know? I suppose he’ll stay as long
+as he likes the place. That’s what I should do, if I had
+twenty-five millions.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Becoming more rancid</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And then, if the fancy seized me, I should pack my suitcase
+and go in for the irrigation of Mesopotamia.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still leaning forward and rubbing his hands slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>When is Farnham to be married?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know. Didn’t you hear about the engagement?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up and speaking without apparent interest</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No.... I don’t hear about things any more.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>The bell rings and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>turns with a start</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I wonder who that is.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes his watch from his pocket nervously and pretends to look
+at it</i>]<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling as he looks at his own watch</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If you wish to know what time it is, it’s five minutes to
+twelve.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>opens the door and admits</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Miss Villa
+Vannevar</span>. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>is a short lady of fifty, with a
+manner that is slightly affected, but not comically so. She
+is dressed in black, and in a manner calculated to suggest
+rather than to express mourning.</i> <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>is rather
+tall and very handsome, inclined to be unconventional and at
+times careless, naturally vivacious, but evidently not satisfied
+with her existence. She wears a walking suit of bright gray,
+with a smart hat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With familiar mock-ceremony</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are to come in—both of you—and you are to make
+yourselves entirely at home.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To Mrs Lovett</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The genius of the place has gone to get some photographs
+of your friend Petherick’s bust of Edgar A. Poe, the
+eminent literary man.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Turning to</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who has found something interesting on the
+table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Both of you remember Mr. Lucas, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In a voice of friendly surprise</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why it’s George!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She goes to him and gives him her hand, which he takes slowly, and
+holds a little longer than he means to</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Why, Auntie, it’s George!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You remember my aunt, don’t you, George?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I remember Mrs. Lovett very well.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>without warmth</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Of course I remember Mr. Lucas.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And now, Otto, you bad child</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding up her finger</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>oh, yes! I have read your wicked books, and I know just
+how bad you are</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>—Villa and I are perishing to see the picture in its new
+frame.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Shall we wait for dear Weldon to come back? Artists are
+so queer, you know, and</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>with a smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So very sensitive.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Very sensitive indeed. Have you read my last one—<i>Au
+Cinquième</i>? It came out day before yesterday.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m sorry, Otto, but we haven’t even seen it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Briskly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>In that case,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>you cannot possibly know how bad I am.—As for the frame,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Moving towards the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>the frame is a beautiful piece of work. In point of fact, I
+don’t quite see how you are going to get along without it.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>follows him and they stand together before the picture</i>.
+<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>remain near the table, she becoming very
+serious and he pretending, not very well, to take a humorous
+view of the situation</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a silence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Aren’t you coming to see yourself, Villa?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I’ll watch you and Otto—and talk with George. I know
+just how the picture looks, and I haven’t seen George for a
+thousand years.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>frowns a little and</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>smiles to himself significantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh—dear!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She sighs and looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>who stands on his toes for a moment
+and then shakes his head</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Turning from</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>, <i>and laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What’s the matter, Auntie?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With ample resignation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know what to say about it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who does not see her, and then looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'><i>You</i> say something, Otto. I simply don’t know how.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>I would gladly be of assistance, my dear Madam, but
+I don’t know how to say anything about it either.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But there’s Lucas; he knows how to say something about
+it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a quick frown</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Tell me the truth, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She sighs again</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Turning and laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If you do, Otto, I’ll tell Weldon everything you say.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking from</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>, <i>with a grimace</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You seem to know the truth already. If you don’t, I
+cannot tell a lie.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Very distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>In the last analysis, then, the thing is worse than—than
+office-hours.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With determination</i>]</p>
+
+<p><i>I’m</i> going to say something now. I’m going to ask Otto
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>to turn that picture to the wall until Weldon comes back.
+I won’t have it abused.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>with sorry laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The only trouble with that picture is that it isn’t <i>me</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, that is one trouble with it.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>looks at him strangely, and laughs again as before</i>. <span class="smcap">Mrs.
+Lovett</span> <i>looks at her with mild disapproval</i>. <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>grins,
+and begins to sing the swan-song in Lohengrin with subdued
+satisfaction as he turns the easel. As</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>comes back to
+the center of the stage, the bell rings, and all appear to be
+suddenly disturbed</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Now who in the world is that? We don’t want people.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>You might find out, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Aye, aye, sir.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'><i>[Becoming more exuberant, he propels himself towards the door
+with a series of quasi-nautical hitches, trumpeting with his
+lips the opening chorus in “Pinafore.”</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>watches him
+with a weary smile</i>, <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>laughs, and</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs.
+Lovett</span> <i>looks bewildered</i>. <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>opens the door and stands
+back, in whimsical obeisance</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>You may come in, for I know your name. Your name
+is Van Zorn, and I’ve seen you before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn Enters.</span> <i>He is rather tall, well built, bronzed, and
+has powerful, penetrating eyes. His manner, though courteous
+and possibly a bit too dignified, is also a little heavy.
+He seems to be in constant fear of being taken too seriously;
+and yet he is a very serious person, inclined to a certain intangible
+melancholy that is easy to recognize but difficult to
+describe. His voice is rich, deep, and musical, his laugh is
+rare but pleasing, but his smile is frequent and engaging.
+There is at times something childlike in his acceptance of unusual
+situations and events, and there is something almost
+unreal in his easy persistence along lines that few men would
+ever think of pursuing. While he is for the most part self
+explanatory, there remains a fringe of mystery about him to the
+end</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking</i> <span class="smcap">Otto’s</span> <i>hand and smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And I should remember <i>your</i> name. Your name is ...</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Mink.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Indeed? Then you must have two names.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As the two move into the room</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I have. The grand total is Otto Mink.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I remember now that Farnham called you Otto. I am
+very glad to see you again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With expansion</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And now it devolves upon me to present a few of Farnham’s
+friends. Here, for example, is Mrs. Lovett.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She smiles at Otto, and receives Van Zorn with unqualified
+approval</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And here is Miss Villa Vannevar. She’s another friend of
+Farnham’s, and you’ve met her before.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>gives</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>her hand, and he looks at her, in spite of
+his efforts, as if he were fascinated. The two appear to be
+very serious, until</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>presents</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>when she laughs—but
+with no great amount of spirit</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And here is Mr. Lucas. Sometimes we call him Phœbus—on
+account of his sunny disposition.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>shakes hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>with great cordiality and
+looks at him as long as he looked at</i> <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span>, <i>but
+with an entirely different expression. There is a kindness
+and a certain satisfaction in his eyes that surprises</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>
+<i>and embarrasses him</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>That object over there is a portrait of Miss Vannevar, but
+we are not to see it again until Farnham comes back. You
+won’t like Farnham any better after you see it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That doesn’t sound altogether complimentary to
+Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cheerfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It isn’t.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps I don’t quite understand you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>You will.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a look of amused inquiry at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>You surprise me. I have come to think of Farnham as
+one of the best of living painters.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With his hands in his trousers’ pockets</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He is. That’s partly what ails him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Why, Otto,—you ridiculous child!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>If you don’t believe me, ask Phœbus—I mean Lucas.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I think I’ll wait and ask Farnham himself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He may bite you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I know Farnham’s bite. It isn’t very dangerous.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>He thinks it is.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Moving nearer to her, as if drawn</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How soon do you expect him back?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Suddenly serious</i>]</p>
+
+<p>At any moment.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>begins a silent investigation of the studio, while</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs.
+Lovett</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>talk together</i>, <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>apparently
+amused and perhaps a little scandalized by his childlike
+narrations. She looks frequently and almost eagerly at</i> <span class="smcap">Van
+Zorn</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>who stand near the table. They seem to be
+laboring under a mysterious constraint, which</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>tries
+to put off with an assumed light humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You talk as if you thought me a doubtful character.
+I trust that Farnham hasn’t given me one.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Weldon has praised you so much that we are all a little
+afraid of you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I shall have to stop that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do you remember the day when you and Mr.—</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Glancing at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Mr. Mink—went over my boat with Farnham and me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Of course I do. That was the day before you sailed
+away to the other side of the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Thank you for remembering that day.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still nervous</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I remember the day—and I remember that you frightened
+me somehow.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You made me think of Captain Kidd and the Flying
+Dutchman—both together.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know about Captain Kidd, but I suppose I <i>am</i>
+a sort of Dutchman.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a little shiver</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Not the Flying Dutchman—I hope?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a quaint seriousness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No—not exactly. As a matter of fact, I have undertaken
+to be a doctor.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Bewildered</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Medicine, Philosophy or Divinity?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a melancholy laugh.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>All three, in a measure—and I shall be my own patient.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quite seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I must have a place in the scheme of existence, and I have
+had a presentiment that I am soon to find it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drawing back a little and laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You?... A place in the scheme of existence?...
+I’m beginning to be positively creepy. I thought you had
+everything.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking his head</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then you are greatly mistaken. I have nothing—yet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impulsively</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What a very unfortunate person! I beg your pardon a
+thousand times, but you make me laugh.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>You needn’t be apologetic, and you needn’t laugh.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Bewildered</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What—are you going to do—first?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling faintly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I have thought of several plans to make my existence
+worth while, but I am not yet sure of any of them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sigh and a laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, I don’t know what you expect me to say. You
+don’t speak a language that a poor girl can understand.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>She looks over her shoulder and meets the eyes of</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who by
+this time has made a circuit of the studio and taken a casual
+inventory of its contents. She looks at him, smiling, and then
+at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who is looking at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>with a slight frown
+that is both friendly and inquiring</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if George—Mr. Lucas—could be of any service
+to you. He isn’t a doctor, but he knows almost everything.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pleasantly, after a slow nod at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Does he know himself?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I regret to say that he does.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then Miss Vannevar is right. The man who knows
+himself does know almost everything.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>There has been a brief pause in</i> <span class="smcap">Otto’s</span> <i>animated conversation
+with</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>, <i>and now</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>looks keenly at</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>,
+<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p>The man who knows himself must be inspired.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Otto couldn’t keep from being inspired if he tried. Otto
+is a poet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Grinning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do I look like one?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>You look like a rose of Sharon, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Glancing towards the door</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I thought I heard something.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding up his finger</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Hist! There it is again!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to the door mysteriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It’s the Thing itself.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>is heard in the vestibule, singing carelessly to himself
+the air of the Conspirators from “La Fille de Madame Angot.”</i>
+<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>opens the door with a flourish, and</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>soon
+enters</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>You are late, and the show is half over.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Putting his hands into his trousers’ pockets</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The next thing on the programme will be the eminent
+comedians, Van Zorn and Lucas, in “The Old Oaken
+Bucket.” Song and dance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With languid primness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto, you might take your hat and go home.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett’s</span> <i>hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, don’t send him home. He can’t help it. The trouble
+is in his brain.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">He</span> <i>shakes hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>and smiles</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But <i>you</i></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>and looking at him with eager
+satisfaction</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>—you might have let a fellow know that you were coming.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>looking around</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I suppose there is no need of introductions.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming</i>]</p>
+
+<p>None whatever. We are all happily acquainted.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After giving</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>a patronizing scrutiny</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There are the photographs, Mrs. Lovett, and if you
+don’t find them sufficiently bad, it won’t be Petherick’s
+fault. Poor Poe!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nodding to</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'><i>He</i> could tell you something about Destiny, if he were
+alive.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He nods at the envelope</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at one of the photographs</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Poe was a wonderful creature.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>There are no records to prove that he ever denied it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>with his most confident smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Have you seen the picture, and the frame?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He gazes at the easel, frowns for a moment, and then laughs drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Who turned it to the wall? Did you do that, Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto did it. I told him to.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rather drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That was very considerate of you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">He</span> <i>moves the easel back to its former position</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Well, there it is.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Confidently</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And now you may all do your worst. Otto and Lucas
+needn’t say anything, for I know what they think already.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cheerfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You may not. We’ve never told you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a short laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, if you haven’t, you needn’t.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>stands before the picture and studies it ominously</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Well, which is it—life, or death?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With annihilating deliberation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I should say that it was neither. I am not satisfied
+with it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a dry laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Were you ever entirely satisfied with anything?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Gently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We are not here on earth to be entirely satisfied, are we?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I don’t know about that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I hope most sincerely that you are not satisfied with this
+picture.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>I thought it had a kind of merit.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It has. It’s a work of genius, if you like.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Promptly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s what <i>I</i> said.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Patiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I know it Otto—And now I should like to hear what
+Mrs. Lovett has to say.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>But, dear Weldon, you can’t possibly care what I
+think—a poor old thing like me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking through her glasses</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Of course you have flattered the poor child almost to
+death.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Genially</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t see how you can say so.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Help! help!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>But you are a wonderful creature, all the same, and I
+shall have to forgive you. Two very intelligent men</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming on</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>have called you a genius, and surely that should be enough
+for one morning.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Three, Mrs. Lovett, Phœbus—I mean George—called
+him one before you came in.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a look at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>I am very glad to hear it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Briskly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I knew you would be.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And now, Phœbus—I mean George—it’s time for you
+and me to go out and have something to eat. I have a
+premonition that you and I are in a way to become superfluous.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With motherly tolerance</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto, are you going to talk nonsense all the rest of your
+life?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Spinning his hat on the end of his stick</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If youth but knew.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With animation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why can’t we all go out and lunch somewhere together?
+I’ve got some money.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>You forget, my child, that we are to have luncheon
+with Mrs. Dyce.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Give my love to Mrs. Dyce, and to the Pomeranian
+twins. And now Phœbus and I are going over to the
+Brevoort House and have something with a squeezed lime
+in it. After that we shall have a morsel of bread, and
+Phœbus will tell me what he thinks of my new book—<i>Au
+Cinquième</i>, I call it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You haven’t seen it. Are you going to be at home this
+afternoon?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Otto,—to <i>you</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>All right. I’ll bring around a copy of <i>Au Cinquième</i>.
+[<i>cheerfully</i>] I wrote it with my heart’s blood.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>briskly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Come along, Phœbus.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and holding out her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good-bye, George.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking her hand and speaking strangely</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good-bye.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>his hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am very glad to have met you, Mr. Lucas—very glad
+indeed.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">He</span> <i>speaks with a peculiar earnestness that causes</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>
+<i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>to look at each other. But</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>appears to
+be abstracted and indifferent</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>At the door, declaiming solemnly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>“So now for a season we leave you, taking with us our
+various musical instruments. Presently we shall return,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>bringing with us nothing but our accordeons.” <i>Auf
+wiedersehen.</i></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>go out</i>. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>and</i>
+    <span class="allsmcap">FARNHAM</span> <i>look
+after</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>and laugh</i>. <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span>,
+<i>who stands gazing at the floor. Her face is troubled and she
+bites her under lip as if to keep it under control</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto should be ashamed of himself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>He will be—sometime.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>He is going to take that poor unfortunate Mr. Lucas
+over to the Brevoort House and give him liquor.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an unfeeling grin</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t see any way out of it now. As for poor Mr.
+Lucas, this man</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>will tell you that he is in the hands of Destiny—gin-rickeys
+and all.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>We can do nothing for him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rising with a sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It may be so, poor fellow. If he were not so thoroughly
+impossible, he would be rather interesting.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>looks at her almost angrily</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>May I venture to ask, Mrs. Lovett, if you are final in
+your judgment?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With apologetic vivacity</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Dear me, no! I don’t judge anything—not even a fly.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling, as if with effort</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am very glad, for I have begun to believe that Mr.
+Lucas and I may be of service to each other.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>looks at him eagerly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled and not wholly pleased</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t understand what you mean, and I’m not going
+to try.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am not always sure that I understand myself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a nervous laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m glad to know it, for I’m not either.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Come along, Auntie, or Mrs. Dyce’s little dogs will eat
+up all the luncheon.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Pomeranian twins!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving her hand to</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Good-bye.... I’m glad you aren’t the Flying Dutchman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Nothing half so distinguished, I assure you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Not wholly at ease</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Or so unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Letting her hand go, slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am not so sure about that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Weldon thinks you are the greatest man in the world</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>—except himself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And the most wonderful creature.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Weldon has made a mistake.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>You are too modest.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Do you think so?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With the same constrained laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps I don’t know you well enough to say.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>We may come to know each other better in the future.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I feel sure of that. I should like to know you better.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You may be disappointed in me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If I am, I’ll tell you so.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Who has been watching the two with bewildered approval</i>]</p>
+
+<p>She means that she will say, on all occasions, the first
+thing that comes into her silly little head.—But we must
+go now. Good-bye.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">They</span> <i>shake hands</i>. <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>look at
+each other with a smile of half-fascinated intensity. The two
+women go</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Coming from the door and touching</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>on the shoulder,
+laughing curiously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, Childe Harold, for a sedate and rather melancholy
+Ancient Mariner, you seem to be getting on.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing in thought</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I am getting on in years.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Oh, cheer up. We are only thirty two. “We are children
+still,” and we “grope in the dark for what the day will
+bring.”</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to the table and reaching for the cigars</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s what we do: we “grope in the dark for what the
+day will bring”.... Here—have a cigar.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Absently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, thank you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding out the box</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It’s a Pedro.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>No, thank you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Coaxingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Colorado.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Not now.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking a cigar and putting back the box</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, is there anything that your serene excellency
+<i>would</i> like, that I can give you—this fine October morning?
+You’ll have a drink, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking his head</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, Farnham. But I may—I may ask you for your
+advice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Lighting his cigar</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And you couldn’t possibly do better. What seems to be
+weighing most heavily on your noble mind?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pointing to a chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Sit down.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>takes the large chair mechanically and remains for a
+time in silence</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>sits expectantly in a small chair
+not far from the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, I wish you would tell me something about
+this man Lucas.... About his life, and his death, and
+his possibilities.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>His death, did you say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Simply</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes. He seems to have died.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Carelessly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know but you are right. And if you refer to his
+possibilities in the way of drink, I can recommend him
+without qualifications. There is nothing else in town that
+is quite like him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am not joking, I assure you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Neither am I. Old Hundred is no joke.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Then you might tell me something about him. Who is
+he? What is he? And why is he where he is?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Where <i>is</i> he?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>He appears just now to be at what we might call the
+crossways. Whether he takes one way or the other, will
+depend upon events.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a short laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why don’t you say Destiny, and be done with it?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Very well—we’ll call it Destiny. How old is Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>About twenty-nine. Abundantly old enough to know
+better.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You might say that of <i>me</i>. It is possible that Lucas and
+I may have a great deal in common.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He taps the arms of his chair with his fingers and looks into the
+distance</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing impatiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I thought of that when I saw you together.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Crossing his legs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Well, you ask me to tell you about Lucas, and I find that
+I haven’t much to tell. I haven’t known him very long,
+when it comes to that; but from what I have gathered and
+inferred, it would seem that his father was a good deal of a
+metropolitan rounder—before the days of the Great White
+Way. Whether that made any difference or not, I don’t
+know. All I can say for certain is that Lucas’s father
+didn’t spend all his evenings holding his little one on his
+knee, or teaching him the binomial theorem.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a tired sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Little Georgie was undoubtedly neglected. But what of
+it?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at the bust</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So was Shakespeare, I fancy.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And Lucas’s mother?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>She had the good fortune to die. You needn’t look at me
+like that, for the old man was a bad egg.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Disappointed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is that the best you can do for me?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impatiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What more do you want? It’s for Lucas to do the rest.
+He has ability enough to fit out a dozen ordinary men,
+but he can’t use it—or he won’t. He isn’t peculiar to
+New York. You’ll find him over all the world.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And Lucas has run down—like a watch.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Yes, or rather like the Old Clock on the Stairs. And
+I’m afraid he’s past winding up.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Tapping with his fingers</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And what will be the outcome of all this?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Weary of the subject</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I don’t know. I shouldn’t wonder if I were to take
+up a newspaper some morning and read that one George
+Lucas had blown the top of his head off in one of our public
+parks—probably in Washington Square, not far from the
+statue of Garibaldi. That statue beats anything of
+Petherick’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if I have made a mistake. I don’t often make
+mistakes in my judgment of men.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>That’s interesting. How about women?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>We are not talking about women—</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With emphasis</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>at present.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>All right; excuse me. But what if you <i>do</i> make mistakes?
+You can charge them all up to Destiny, and go on about
+your business. The rest of us poor devils, who think we are
+burdened with free will, have to pay for our mistakes—with
+complex interest.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>No matter about that. But what if <i>I</i> were to run down—after
+the manner of Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>But Lucas’s case hasn’t anything to do with yours.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>How do you know?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You couldn’t let yourself run down.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>How do you know?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up, with a laugh of protest</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Because that isn’t the way we do things nowadays—if
+we have any sense. If you say “How do you know”
+again, I’ll....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, has it occurred to you that Lucas’s problem
+may not be half so simple as you have made it out to be?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You can’t expect me to tell you what I don’t know.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Significantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Or all that you do know—possibly.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>says nothing, but smokes</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>In the light of what you say, I wonder that you should
+trouble yourself to have this man Lucas around.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>More Destiny I suppose. We can’t beat Destiny.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Certainly not. But Destiny can beat <i>us</i>, and it can make
+us do better than we have done in the past.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sharp look</i>]</p>
+
+<p>So Lucas is going to have greatness thrust upon him,
+is he?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>“Van Zorn and Lucas, the eminent comedians.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing a little and looking at the bust</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wonder what Shakespeare would do if he were in my
+place.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>He might kill Polonius, or he might mix himself a drink.
+That would depend entirely upon Destiny.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly ... and we might say more about Destiny....
+But whether or not we ought to say it....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>According to your convenient doctrine, I don’t see that
+there is any “ought” or “ought not” about it—unless you
+think you ought to congratulate me on my engagement
+to Villa Vannevar. Do you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly, after a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Most assuredly <i>not</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>drums with his fingers on the arms of his chair and
+looks straight before him</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>watches him with a
+gathering hardness in his look and at length breaks the
+strained silence with a flat laugh, to which</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>pays
+no attention</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Uncomfortably</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is this a new kind of joke that you have brought with
+you from India? If it is, I don’t seem to care much for it.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wish, Farnham, that you would wait a little before
+you talk like that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a short laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>All right—I’ll wait. There’s nothing else for me to do.
+It’s going to be Destiny anyhow, and I can’t help myself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After getting up and looking at the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, there is something wrong here.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">He</span> <i>moves slowly towards him</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>There is something in the air. I can feel it. I have felt
+it ever since I came in.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unpleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Shall I open a window and let it out?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I think it would be quite sufficient if we were to—lift a
+curtain.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>On your past life?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>On mine—and yours. Past, present, and future.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You are sure that you are quite well?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nods slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am sure.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With mock relief</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s good. Now a man in your condition ought to
+have a cheerful, not to say optimistic, outlook on life.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">He</span> <i>shrugs his shoulders and forces another laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I may not see life as it is, but I see it as I see it. And
+I am confident that I see one rather important aspect of it
+as it is going to be if you have your way. I mean, rather,
+if your vanity and your obstinacy have <i>their</i> way.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sign of resignation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Go on.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You are the best thing we have had since Samson and the
+foxes. Well, with my Vanity and your Destiny working
+together, we ought to arrive somewhere, as I have no
+doubt we shall.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>And where do you think we shall arrive?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>If you’ll be good enough to raise that magic curtain of
+yours, we may find out.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If I raise it—yes.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then why the devil don’t you?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing as before</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I can stand it—Destiny and all.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With assumed lightness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I am enjoying what you say, thus far; and I have no doubt</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sitting down</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>that I shall be interested in what may follow.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After watching</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Then I may as well come to my subject. Do you know
+that I have been coming to it for a long time—for more
+than four years, in fact?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know what you are talking about, but go ahead,
+all the same.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I will. And I’ll begin by asking you one or two direct
+questions. If they seem too direct, you must try to pardon
+me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Farnham, does the approaching unhappiness of three
+people, who might as well be happy, commend itself to
+you as an attractive picture, or as a desirable state of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>affairs? Have you said to yourself that your Vanity and
+my Destiny, to use your own words, might as easily work
+together for joy and for good, as for misery and for evil?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Squirming</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What name does your doctor give to this?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Don’t you think we are beyond that now?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Beyond recovery? I hope not.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Haven’t I raised the curtain?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You have raised the devil. That’s about what you have
+done.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another dry laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>What have you been doing since you went away?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quietly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You give me a leverage when you ask that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impulsively</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then for God’s sake use it, and send this curtain of yours
+up a little higher.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With irony</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If I can be of any assistance....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, my career, during the past four years, has
+consisted for the most part in <i>seeking</i> ... seeking for
+guidance.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You might have done worse. “He that seeketh”....
+You know about that fellow.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly, but with finality</i>]</p>
+
+<p>“Findeth.”</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With strained humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good. Are you sure you won’t have a cigar?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Solemnly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you remember what the text goes on to say of him
+that knocketh? I wonder what you think would be likely
+to happen if I were to—knock.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>moves to the fireplace and stands gazing into the grate</i>.
+<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>looks at him and waits for him to speak</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly and incredulously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What are you driving at, anyhow? Are you in love
+with Villa Vannevar?... You have never told me about
+this.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>You have not been exactly available.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You might have come back before.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>And I might have made a mistake in doing so. I waited
+for what seemed to be the appointed time, and then I came.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>And here you are.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With more spirit</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Now I don’t know much about the appointed time, as you
+call it, but I suppose I do know what you mean by knocking
+at doors.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks at the picture and scowls</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>May I ask</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unpleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>how many times you intend to knock? And when you
+intend to begin?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In a level, musical voice</i>]</p>
+
+<p>My intention was to knock once, this afternoon, if it
+could be arranged.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Incredulously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You and your boat must have made a record, if that’s
+the way you feel.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if led along reluctantly by the humor of the situation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, I dare say it can be arranged—and I infer that you
+count on me to do the arranging.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I shall never knock under other conditions.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And what do you intend to do after you get in? Something
+in the Lochinvar line? Carry the young lady away
+on a horse—or in a limousine?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If I were to be admitted, and if I were to satisfy myself
+that my convictions are correct, that three people are on
+their way to unhappiness and disaster.... What should
+I do then? What ought I to do then?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You look at me as if you thought I was afraid of something.
+I wish you would tell me what <i>I</i> ought to be beginning
+to think of <i>you</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quietly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You should think of me at all times as the best friend
+you have in the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>lights a match on the box that he has taken from the
+mantel and watches the flame until it burns down to his fingers.
+Then he puts his hands into his pockets and looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Van
+Zorn</span> <i>intently</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How long has this been going on? How long have you
+been planning to marry Villa Vannevar?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I said something about four years. But time, in your
+sense of the word, doesn’t mean very much to me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Almost with a sneer</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It may come to mean more—eventually.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nods slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That remains to be seen.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>As you see it?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>nods again</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>My fatalistic friend, you may not care much to know what
+I have been doing during the past four or five years, but
+what I have been doing during the past four or five minutes
+may be of interest to you. If so, I have been asking myself
+why it is, in spite of my agreement, that I have been
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>taking the trouble to listen to you. You must be aware
+that I would not have listened to the same talk from any
+other man living.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a strange innocence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What possible fear can you have, if you have no doubts—or
+misgivings?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Scowling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Fear? Doubts? Misgivings?—what the devil are you
+driving at now?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You might lead me to believe that you think me capable
+of treachery.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Treachery?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a nasal laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>By treachery, I suppose you mean</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Letting his words out half-angrily, in detached phrases</i>]</p>
+
+<p>the repeated visitations—of an irresistible personality—on
+the unschooled emotions—of a young lady who is about
+to do me the honor of becoming my wife.... Am I
+about right?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You speak now as if you thought me capable of almost
+anything—beginning with murder.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I don’t think that. For I know now that even you
+have your limitations.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With tightening lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes; and I am limited, for the present, at any rate,
+to one interview—subject to your consent and arrangement.
+If by any chance you should choose to change
+your mind....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Half-angry</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What do you mean by that? Why should I change my
+mind? Just because you have elected to be plain crazy—with
+your appointed time, and your—your Destiny—do
+you think I’m going to be such an ass as to take you
+seriously? I don’t care much for this sort of thing, and
+I don’t mind telling you so; but if you insist upon making
+a show of yourself, I don’t know that I am bound by
+courtesy to interfere, or by law to be responsible—under
+the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>That will be first rate—especially under the circumstances.
+Now let me be sure that we both understand.
+If I call to see Miss Vannevar this afternoon at four
+o’clock, by special appointment,—or, if not then, at the
+earliest opportunity....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an incredulous laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, you’ll get in. You needn’t worry about that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He smiles to himself and shakes his head, with a long sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Shall we go out now and have something to eat?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Don’t you think, Farnham, that we had better give each
+other a short leave of absence?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>As you say.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sorry laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>As you see it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Will you dine with me this evening?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>I’m sorry, but I can’t. But I’ll be here at ten, if that
+will do you any good.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing a little</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then I shall see you at ten. And you will telephone me
+at my hotel—we’ll say at three-thirty?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an easy snarl</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I’ll telephone.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>The Knickerbocker.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I know it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Then I’ll say good-bye until—ten.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>More wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I understood what you said. You said ten.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>After a pause</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>goes out</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>returns from the
+vestibule with his hat and stick. After turning the picture
+to the wall, he stands for a while near the window seat, shakes
+his head slowly, puts his hat on slowly, sits down, and smiles
+incredulously to himself. He draws figures on the floor
+with his stick as the curtain falls</i>]</p>
+
+
+<p class='center mt2'><span class='smcap'>Curtain</span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_II">
+    ACT II
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='stage-direction'><i>A diagonal view of a room in</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett’s</span> <i>house. The right
+corner is revealed, with half of the right wall. In the corner
+is a small grand piano, and to the right is a window. To the
+left, half way down, is the entrance, a wide arched doorway
+with curtains. Well down in front, somewhat to the right,
+is a table, before which are two comfortable chairs that
+partly face each other. Against the wall, to the left and below
+the entrance, is a couch. There are several pictures on the
+walls, and over the piano is a portrait of</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett’s</span> <i>late
+husband, showing the beardless face of a man of fifty, melancholy
+and rather glowering. The room has the unmistakable
+appearance of a place where people live and make
+themselves at home.</i></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'><i>As the curtain rises</i>, <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>is at the piano, playing
+in a listless, abstracted manner the cantabile part of Chopin’s
+Nocturne, Op. 37, No. 2</i>. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>, <i>sitting in the chair
+at the right of the table, listens, frowns, stamps her foot, and
+finally speaks out with evident impatience</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Villa Vannevar, do for heaven’s sake keep still, or play
+something that has a little life in it. You play that thing
+as if you were crying through the ends of your fingers.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Turning about and facing</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Would you have me always laughing, Auntie—like this?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She makes a ridiculous face and laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>No, you silly child. But you needn’t look forever as
+if life were nothing but one long funeral. I don’t like
+funerals.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know about that. It seems to me sometimes
+that funerals are better than weddings. When we go to
+funerals, we know what has happened; but when we go to
+weddings, we don’t even pretend to know what is <i>going</i>
+to happen.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at her foot</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I think I like funerals best.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>You crazy child, you are positively wicked.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Oh no, I’m not, Auntie. I’m good.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up with a sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’m good enough to be a fool.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if scared</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Villa Vannevar!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Auntie, that’s what’s the matter with me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Otto Mink and George Lucas believe already that I <i>am</i> one.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Child! Do you know what you are saying?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Moving about with her hands behind her</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I know perfectly well what I’m saying. They think
+I’m a fool for marrying Weldon Farnham—when he doesn’t
+more than half want me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Significantly, after a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You haven’t married him yet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I have not.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I wonder if the other man—Mr. What-you-call-him—thinks
+I’m a fool.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With excited sarcasm</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Don’t you know what <i>he</i> thinks?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>How should I know what he thinks? I don’t even know
+that he thinks at all.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a pleasant nervousness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do <i>you</i> know what he thinks?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>I know that he considers you a very charming person,
+for one thing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How nice of him! He didn’t tell me so.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>He may not have told <i>you</i>, but he did tell <i>me</i>. I am too
+old to be deceived.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then you must be the oldest woman in the world.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With decayed archness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Possibly I am. In any case, I am old enough to see that
+he considers you not only very charming, but exceedingly
+impertinent.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Then he must be a beast.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>He isn’t a beast. He’s a wonderful creature. And I am
+surprised out of my senses that he should be coming here
+to see you again this afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If you don’t go away with your wonderful creatures,
+I shall throw things out of the window and shriek. For
+Mr. Van Zorn isn’t a wonderful creature in the least. He’s
+just a big overgrown man with a heap of money that he
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>doesn’t know what to do with, and he’s coming to get you
+and carry you off in a taxicab.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">She</span> <i>sits at</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett’s</span> <i>feet and looks up into her face</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And I’ll never see my Auntie any more. And then I
+suppose there’ll be nothing left for me to do but to go
+melancholy mad. I shall prowl around all by myself like
+a shut-up cat, and I’ll sit down in all sorts of corners and
+cry like anything.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pleased</i>]</p>
+
+<p>So you have found his name at last, have you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I like his name. It sounds like a bassoon. But I don’t
+like his eyes as well as I do the other man’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Disturbed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you mean Weldon Farnham’s?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Calmly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I was thinking for the moment of George Lucas’s
+eyes. Mr. What’s-his-name’s are too much like blue
+search-lights.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>You needn’t call him Mr. What’s-his-name—and you
+needn’t mention George Lucas. I am sorry that he has
+come to be what he is, but I don’t care to have his name
+mentioned in my house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>But you used to like him once, Auntie,—and this wonderful
+creature of yours liked him at first sight. As a
+matter of fact, he likes him better than he likes any of the
+rest of us.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Don’t talk such nonsense.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I’m not talking nonsense.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Anyhow, Auntie, your wonderful creature has taken a
+wonderful fancy to George—I beg your pardon—and I
+don’t know how you are going to change the course of
+events, even if you tell me that I have a head like an Edam
+cheese—which I haven’t, in the least. My head makes
+Otto think of a very nice horse. He said so.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Otto may have said so because you act so much like a
+donkey.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I don’t act in any respect like a donkey, and I don’t
+think you ought to say such things. For I am an extremely
+well-behaved young lady—except at times.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If you look at me like that much longer, Auntie, I’ll say
+bow-bow; and then I’ll put both my paws on your shoulders,
+and then I’ll bite you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She snaps her teeth and laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Reluctantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>My dear Villa, why did you bring up George Lucas’s
+name again?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a kind of triumph</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why do <i>you</i> bring it up again, Auntie?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>At any rate, he never injured anybody.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sharply</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But he disappointed everybody—and that’s as bad as
+injuring them. I’m not sure that it isn’t worse.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>But something may have happened.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Something always happens. What would be the use of
+living if things didn’t happen?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I know. But if they happen at the wrong time, and
+under the wrong conditions....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a sniff</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, what do you mean? Do you mean that when a
+boy with more than ordinary brains chooses to make an
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>utter fool of himself, and continues to do so until he grows
+up and everybody loses all patience with him....</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She stops and looks angrily at her fingers</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up and speaking thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I don’t mean just that ... George’s father must
+have been a very strange man.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rapidly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It doesn’t make any difference what you mean. Besides</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly, with significant vagueness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>if you consider yourself engaged to Weldon Farnham, you
+ought not to think of other men at all. And you are not
+supposed to know anything about men like George Lucas’s
+father.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You did that very badly, Auntie.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With mock-deliberation</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And so you want this new man with the queer name—this
+wonderful creature—all to yourself!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going behind</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>and putting her hands on her cheeks</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And you’re a dear, and you’re a pig, and you want him all
+to yourself, and it’s nearly time for him to come.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking her head free and looking over her shoulder</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you know that you grow sillier and sillier every day
+of your life?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drawing</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>back and looking down into her eyes</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, would you have me stay forever and ever the
+same?... If you will roll your eyes back just a little
+farther, Auntie, I shall see myself in them—as I did when
+I was a little girl.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>THE MAID</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In the doorway</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There is a gentleman to see Miss Villa. He gave me
+this card.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking the card and examining it</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But there’s nothing on it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She gives the card to</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>and laughs nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Dear me! I hope he isn’t going to be eccentric.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>He may be an anarchist or something.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shrugs and laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Go downstairs, Jenny, and find out the creature’s name,
+and what he wants. If he asks for fish, give him a serpent.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Reprovingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Villa!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MAID</p>
+
+<p>His name is Mr. Lucas.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Then why didn’t you say so?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Tell him to come upstairs, Jenny.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Maid</span> <i>goes out</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Bewildered</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What in the world does this mean? And what in the
+world do <i>you</i> mean by asking him to come upstairs?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Heaven only knows, Auntie. I don’t seem to know what
+anything means today.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>sits and frowns, and looks at her hands</i>. <span class="smcap">Villa
+Vannevar</span> <i>goes to the window and stands with her hands
+behind her back. Presently</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>turns and gazes
+at her, evidently much disturbed, and remains gazing at her
+until</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>enters</i>. <span class="smcap">He</span> <i>is pale, and his manner shows
+a constraint that he cannot wholly conceal. His clothes have
+been through some process of hasty renovation since his appearance
+in Act I</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a certain huskiness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I hope, Mrs. Lovett, that you will pardon this—I’ll
+say this last intrusion on my part.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>comes to him and takes his hand cordially, looking at him
+as if disturbed and anxious</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Without warmth</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Are you leaving New York, Mr. Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With assumed lightness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes; and it might have been better for me if I had gone
+long before this.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p>Indeed?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With impulsive directness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I came in the hope of seeing Miss Villa for a few moments
+before going away.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rising slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I understand.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Reluctantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>In that case, I will leave you two to yourselves.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>look at each other as she goes out. The faces
+of both are very serious and in hers there seems to be an expression
+of fear</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why did you send me a blank card?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a thin laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, I don’t know. Because I drew it, I suppose. It
+wasn’t a very brilliant performance on my part.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With feeling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t think it was at all brilliant—or at all kind. You
+ought not to do such things, or say such things—to me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With weak humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I knew it wasn’t brilliant as soon as I had done it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>At a venture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Your aunt was very good to leave us here together.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Auntie is always good—</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Hesitating</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>or means to be.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a vague smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am glad to know that, for I should be sorry to leave
+you with an aunt who was not good. But I came only to
+say good-bye,—not to talk of family history, or of old
+times.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Would any harm come of it if we did talk of old times?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She sits down on the chair at the right of the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Please sit down.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>No harm, I suppose, and not much good.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a forced smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>No great good seems to have come of anything that I
+have done.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning anxiously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But I don’t know what you have done.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You speak as mysteriously as Mr.—Mr. Van Zorn did this
+morning when he talked about his business.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sitting down</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Van Zorn and I have a great deal in common.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He speaks and smiles with mild bitterness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You may have. I couldn’t keep from seeing that he
+took a great interest in you this morning.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if tired, but still interested</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If you could see that, you ought to be able to see almost
+anything. You ought even to be able to see what I have
+done.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Angry with herself</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But I didn’t mean to say that. You know I didn’t.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>You might as well have meant to say it, for you must see
+that I have done nothing. Even Van Zorn took the
+trouble—did me the honor, if you insist—to see as much
+as that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Lamely</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He saw that you were not—well, not quite satisfied.
+Isn’t that what you mean?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Do you know anyone who is quite satisfied?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I know two or three who seem to be, but they are in
+asylums.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a forced laugh and a shiver</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh! So that’s where they are. I thought there must be
+something wrong.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing up and speaking earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are quite right. There <i>is</i> something wrong. We
+see it in the streets, we live it in our lives, we feel it in our
+hearts. And there you have my reason for coming to say
+good-bye to you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frightened</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You mustn’t speak like that—as if we were never to see
+you again.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And there you have my reason for wanting to go away
+into—what shall I call it?—into another kind of life, and
+to make a new beginning. It seems to be absolutely
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>necessary, for many reasons, that I should make a new
+beginning. Yes, I want to get away from all this dust and
+deceit and disillusion; I want to get away from all this
+noise and poison; I want a place where I can be quiet for a
+while, away from streets and faces; I want a place where
+there are no roofs between me and the sky; I want a place
+where the sun shines down on a fellow, and where the stars
+are.... Oh yes, I know well enough what I want, and
+I know that I’ve waited too long. I might as well have
+gone away years ago....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking down</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it might perhaps have been as well.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>It would have been better—far better.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking up and hesitating</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Won’t you tell me where you are going?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am going—west.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>You are not very confidential.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I would be more so if I could.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Mightn’t it be better if you were to go in the other
+direction—towards the sunrise?... Was that a silly
+thing for me to say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>It will come to the same thing, for I shall follow the sun.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Some people do that all their lives—in order to keep warm.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Also trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is that why you are going away? But you told me why
+you were going. I forgot.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I don’t want you to forget that. What I want you to
+forget are some things that happened a long time ago.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do be careful. You speak as if I were a hundred years
+old.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With strange earnestness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’ll be very careful, or at least I’ll try to be. And will
+you be good enough to pardon me for not knowing at one
+time as much as I know now?—which God knows is little
+enough. I thought I knew myself then, but I’ve seen since
+that I was wrong. It was you who knew me. Yes, you
+knew me, then, and you know me still. And I am glad
+for that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Doubtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You don’t speak as if you were glad.... And I wonder
+if it is really worth while for us to be so serious over a
+matter that is—past—and—</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Forgotten?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, there is nothing that I wish to forget. We all make
+mistakes, don’t we? How can we help ourselves?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She smiles sorrowfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>We were younger then than we are now.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Forcing another laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know what I shall do if you keep on telling me
+how old I am. Do you know that I pulled three gray
+hairs out of my poor scalp this morning?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks at her solemnly, and her face becomes suddenly serious</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How long do you intend to stay in—the west?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Her question is obviously a makeshift to break the silence</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>There seems to be no answer to that question—for the
+present.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>But you are coming back sometime?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Who can tell? I may become so deeply attached to the
+region where I am going that I shall not wish to come back.
+Besides one has to consider the wisdom of his ways in this
+life—or he <i>should</i> consider them.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>He speaks with a rather disastrous attempt at lightness that serves
+only to make</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>more dissatisfied and unhappy than
+before</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Troubled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t understand what you mean.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an effort</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t mean very much.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling faintly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I came to say good-bye before going away—not to
+talk about wisdom.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at him as she rises</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It was good of you to come.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It was magnanimous of me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With deep feeling</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I wonder if you know how good you have been to me today?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying again to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>My aunt has just been telling me that I am wicked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After looking about the room</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, good-bye.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He holds out his hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding his hand and speaking as if unwillingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good-bye ... and I wish you every kind of good
+fortune.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And I shall remember you—always—if you care.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With difficulty</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Always?... Thank you.... Good-bye....</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>As they stand looking into each other’s eyes, the</i> <span class="smcap">Maid</span> <i>appears
+in the doorway and announces</i> “<span class="smcap">Mr. Van Zorn</span>”]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Dropping</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas’s</span> <i>hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Very well, Jenny. Tell him to come upstairs.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Maid</span> <i>disappears</i>, <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>continue to look at
+each other, and both appear now to be embarrassed. She
+speaks again, after a pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Please don’t go—quite yet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>Why should I stay longer?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I suppose I ought to keep him waiting, but I won’t.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>For you are going away, and I feel sure that he would like
+to see you before you go.... Isn’t it odd that you two
+should be here together this afternoon?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It may be odd.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Or it may be fate. Anyhow, I shan’t let you go until
+you see him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With tightened lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Apparently not, unless I run.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>You aren’t angry with me, are you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I’m never angry, except with myself.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>There is another pause, and</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>enters. He looks at</i>
+<span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>and at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>but shows no surprise.
+He smiles pleasantly and shakes hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Ah! I’m very glad to see you again.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And I’m very glad to see Mr. Lucas again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I thought you would be glad to see him—for he is going
+away.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a slight frown</i>]</p>
+
+<p>May I ask when he is going?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He turns to</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>inquiringly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rather thickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I was on the point of going when you came.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>May I ask how long you intend to stay away?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I expect to be gone indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a friendly smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You may shake down one of my best castles if you do
+that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>I should be sorry to shake down any man’s castle.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I’m sure of that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Stroking his chin thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I wonder, Miss Vannevar, if you would pardon me if I
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>were to make a somewhat surprising request. You may
+think it even eccentric.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Who enters while he speaks</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We like eccentric people.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming and holding out her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’m so glad to see you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But what is this awful request of yours?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I was going to ask</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling at</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span>, <i>who smiles in return</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>if you would be kind enough to leave Mr. Lucas alone here
+with me for a few minutes. I fear that he is plotting
+against me, and I should like to know, before he leaves
+this house, that his plot has been abandoned.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I am quite well aware that this request is unusual.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking</i> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Lovett</span> <i>by the arm and laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, that’s nothing! Everything is unusual today, and
+it’s all the fault of Weldon’s picture. Come along, Auntie,
+and we two will wait for what happens.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>MRS. LOVETT</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Beaming, but bewildered</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m sure I don’t know what any of you are talking about,
+but of course I’ll do as I’m told.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drawing her towards the door</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Of course you will. What else can you do when two
+conspirators drive you out of your own room?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pleased</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Thank you. And when we have conspired sufficiently,
+I will play on the piano. Then you may come back.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>The two women go out</i>, <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span> <i>singing “Quand on
+Conspire” and laughing at the same time</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you object to being corralled in this unconventional
+manner, Mr. Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am entirely at your service.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>In a very friendly voice</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, to begin, it may possibly make you feel better to
+know that your friends have been talking about you behind
+your back.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He sits down on the piano stool, with his back to the keyboard</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I refer to Farnham and myself.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>looks more puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’ll be quite honest with you and tell you that I began it;
+and I may as well come to the point at once and tell you
+that I shall probably need you in my business,—assuming,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>you understand, that you are available. I have had three
+or four schemes in my head for some time, and I’m sure
+that you will find at least one of them congenial. Are you
+interested?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking an ivory paper cutter from the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I am interested, but I don’t want you to make a
+mistake.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I shall make mistakes, whether you want me to or
+not. And as for what Farnham said—to go back for a
+little....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Let us go back, by all means. What Farnham said
+about me ought to make rather good copy.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Curiously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>What sort of stuff has he been telling you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>He didn’t tell me much. In fact, far less than I hoped
+for.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing a little</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>So you needn’t worry about Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at something on the wall and breaking the ivory paper
+cutter in his abstraction</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wasn’t worrying about Farnham.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Fitting the pieces together</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I was wondering about you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do you know what you are doing?... Do you know that
+you are taking me seriously?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a friendly smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If I were not taking you seriously, I should hardly have
+resorted, in a strange house, to this method of getting
+hold of you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Half laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Don’t you care to be taken seriously? Or do you prefer
+to be taken as a joke?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Hesitating</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why do you ask me if I care?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Partly for the sake of saying something, and partly because
+I should like to know.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With tightened lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why don’t you ask me the other question—and have
+it off your mind?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Indulgently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>At your own suggestion, I will. I will ask if you care
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>enough to begin the game all over again, and let the past
+sink.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cynically</i>]</p>
+
+<p>The past ought to be pretty well drowned by this time.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Kindly, but very distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, I have been led to infer that you have
+put yourself to a great deal of trouble and expense to keep
+it floating, so to speak. As a rule, I don’t mean to meddle
+with other people’s affairs, but in your case....</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’m sure you understand me. You have a head of your
+own.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nodding it slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes; and only one.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Do you think it worth saving?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Embarrassed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If you insist, I—well, I suppose I do. It’s a fairly good
+head, in some respects. But why should we talk about it
+now?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks about him uneasily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing up and gazing at Lucas</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Because you told me you were going away. Now I will
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>be as frank as possible with you and tell you that I didn’t
+like your way of saying it, or your way of looking when you
+said it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wetting his lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are not very clear.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am as clear as I can be, without having more specific
+information.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>More seriously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I knew another fellow once who—went away; and you
+made me think of him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How far did he go?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Firmly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>How far did you intend to go?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You seem to have it settled that I am not going.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling again</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are not going if I can keep you in New York.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing the broken paper cutter down on the table and putting
+his hands in his pockets</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I thought I was going.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning as he watches him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You speak as if you had made some final preparations.
+Sometimes they are very final indeed—preparations.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Will you give me an answer to my question if I ask you
+just what preparations you have made?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, and I will give you more than that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Relieved</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good. But I’m not going to be satisfied even then.
+I am going to ask you, in addition, to dine with me this
+evening at the Knickerbocker, and I am going</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He returns to the piano stool</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>to ask you to take a small advance.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking a check book and a pen from his pocket</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If you don’t happen to need this</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He writes as he speaks</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>you needn’t use it, but I want you to take it, all the same.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Handing him the check</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Will you?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I will take it. And I will see you at—seven o’clock?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Thank you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He toys with his pen as if he were waiting</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>And you may do whatever you like with this.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes a small vial from his waistcoat and gives it to</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>,
+<i>who takes it slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at the vial and scowling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Cyanide of potassium?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He smiles grimly and shakes his head as he looks up</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>That isn’t what you need.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks again at the vial</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>K C N ... do you know what that makes me think of?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks up again and laughs drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Uncomfortably</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I suppose I know.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Putting the vial in his pocket</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I don’t believe you do.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It makes me think of Sir Joseph Porter, K. C. B.—in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span><i>Pinafore</i>. The last letter is different, however. How
+does that thing go?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With sardonic distinctness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>“When I was a lad, I served a term.” You may not
+believe it, but I did.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I believe it. But I was thinking of the tune.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He turns on the stool and begins to drum with his right forefinger on
+the piano</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Is that the way it goes?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With grateful impatience to get away</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes—and this is the way I go.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Grasping</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn’s</span> <i>hand quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You will say something.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if he had made a discovery</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>and <i>I</i> will say something.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to hide his emotion in his voice</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’ll make some sort of explanation.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>disappears quickly into the hall and</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>begins
+to drum “When I was a lad” once more on the piano</i>. <span class="smcap">Villa
+Vannevar</span> <i>appears in the doorway and watches him unseen.
+Finally she laughs and begins to clap her hands</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lucas has gone.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But not so far as he thought he was going.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking about</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did he go through the roof?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, he went by the way of the stairs—and rather
+suddenly.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did he leave any word behind him?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Well, yes. He told me to say something.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>What did he tell you to say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That was all—something.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Please don’t laugh at me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Should I be likely to do that? Especially on so slight an
+acquaintance?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He laughs a little as he speaks, but</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>remains serious</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It doesn’t seem to be slight—somehow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a touch of mystery</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it isn’t, really. We mortals know very little of
+ourselves, and far less of each other. As a consequence,
+we make mistakes.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do <i>you</i> make mistakes?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Frequently.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a nervous laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m so glad.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Do you know that many of us waste large fractions of
+our short lives in being sorry for our mistakes—and oftentimes
+when we should be glad for them?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You said that as if you meant something.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that I did mean something.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Now you are laughing at me again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Easily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why should I laugh at you when I know that you are
+not happy?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do I look as if I were not happy?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Something has troubled you for a long time.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Why do you say that?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>If I had not known it, I should not have come to this
+house.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh again</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did I look so utterly miserable this morning that you
+took pity on me? Was it the picture? Or did you think
+I took too much trouble to see that Weldon laughed at
+Mr. Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning strangely</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, it was not that.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>You seem to know something about him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>About Lucas?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Yes. You have kept him from going away. I am sure
+that he wished to go.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>And I am sure that he intended to go. But I ventured
+to put the matter in a different light, and he has agreed to
+give New York another chance. New York, as I told him,
+is not in all respects the worst place in the world.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing as before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Weldon thinks it is. But I forgot to offer you a chair.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Takes the chair at the left of the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I don’t wonder that Auntie calls me all sorts of things.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Thank you.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>He puts his hands on the back of the chair at the left and looks at
+her as if waiting for her to say more</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking up at him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, he thinks New York is the very worst. And that,
+I suppose, is one of the reasons why we are going to
+Damascus.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She laughs again, nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Damascus?... Why Damascus?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Heaven only knows. And I am stupid enough to like
+New York. I like even the ferry whistles.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Should you care to stay here forever?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>No, I don’t say that. I want to go to Egypt sometime
+and see the Sphynx. There are no sphynxes in New York.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Are you sure of that?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>There are no ferry whistles in Damascus.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Why do you object to my going?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Why should I?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Why do you object to George Lucas’s going—west?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Because I have taken a particular interest in him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m glad of that.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a slight constraint</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>For I have known him all my life—and I like him.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who has been looking from time to time at the portrait
+over the piano, is now gazing at it with apparently unconscious
+intentness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Glancing over her shoulder</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did you know <i>him</i>—my uncle?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at her and shaking his head</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I did not.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>My poor uncle Lovett was unfortunate, and I am glad
+for his sake that he is dead. Does that sound hard?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Far from it. I have known such cases.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>He died in this room.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am not superstitious.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>He drank himself to death.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am not uncharitable.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>He was a good man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I have no doubt of it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Lucas is a good man.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He <i>is</i> good. And I hope his meeting with you may prove
+to be fortunate.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Steadily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Lucas may prove to be the most fortunate of us all.
+Don’t you think it would be well for at least one of us to
+be fortunate, even if the others are not?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Half-frightened</i>]</p>
+
+<p>The others? You say such unexpected things.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still with his hands on the back of the chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the others. The others who are not going to be
+fortunate.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You speak like a wizard. If you are trying to cast a
+spell over me, you might as well let me know beforehand.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing thinly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>All good wizards should do that, I think.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Firmly but rather sadly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I should say that the spell had already been cast.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>But what manner of spell do you mean?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>There are spells and spells, I suppose. Aren’t there?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I might say the spell that compels you to take so much
+apparent satisfaction in being insincere.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Insincere?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Nods slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>To yourself and to the others. To the others who are
+not going to be fortunate.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Biting her lip</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did you come to tell me this?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I came because I was called. You may be surprised, but
+there is no reason why you should be offended.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a cold but artificial laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Amused, you mean.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Calmly and distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, that is not what I mean. For you cannot possibly
+find it amusing to know that you have the happiness of at
+least three lives at your disposal.... Yes, in your
+power.... Do you believe, really, that it would be
+amusing to make three new contributions to the world’s
+unhappiness—much of which, from any finite point of
+view, is already unnecessary?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Her lips tightening</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t believe you realize what you are saying.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She rises</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>No, I don’t mean that you are to go.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She goes to the table and looks aimlessly at some objects that are
+on it</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Will you tell me something?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Now at the right of the table, near the chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Willingly, if I can.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Toying with the broken paper cutter</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What did you say to Weldon Farnham about—about
+this? And what did he say to you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I asked him for one interview.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>And where do you intend to go at the end of this—one
+interview?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>My own way, wherever that may lie.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Very distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You may never see me again, but you will kindly believe
+me when I assure you that the situation before you is not—amusing.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With half-hearted authority</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Under ordinary conditions, you must see that I could
+not listen any longer to what you are saying.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I understand you perfectly.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly, with a strange confidence</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I understand at the same time that these are not ordinary
+conditions, and that you and I are not ordinary people.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am beginning to think that we are not.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a reluctant smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do you think we are so very important?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With his hands on the back of the chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is anything important?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I wonder—sometimes. And I thought</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rather feebly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>that you were a friend of Weldon Farnham’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>His best friend, so far as I know.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Does a man’s best friend try to....</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She stops as if frightened</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Yes.... If it is written so, yes.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if compelled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you mean—“destiny?”</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>You may give it whatever name you choose. May I
+ask you another question?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>I suppose so.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another shrug</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But you needn’t scare me.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a melancholy smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That is the last thing that I could possibly wish to do.
+What I have now to ask is this: Is it your unalterable will
+to deprive three people, including yourself, of the happiness
+that might as well be theirs?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why do you speak of my “will” and of your “destiny?”
+Mayn’t I have a destiny as well as you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at the portrait</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You have one undoubtedly. And I have one interview.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He stands as before with his hands on the back of the chair and
+watches her while she examines various objects on the table</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Are you sure that you know what it would mean if you
+were to make a mistake now?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She gives him a bewildered look that is meant to be resentful, but
+he does not seem to notice it</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Are you sure that you are thinking of the years, and the
+darkness, and the long roads that lie in the darkness—and
+end there? Are such things important, or are they still—amusing?</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>stands looking vacantly at a picture post-card that is in
+her hand and finally turns the card towards</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>,
+<i>speaking with a trace of injured and half-frightened humor
+in her voice and eyes</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Irrelevantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Did you ever see the Lion of Lucerne?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Suddenly inclined to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I thought you had seen everything.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking his head slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I haven’t. I have never seen you but once, until today.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t see what the Lion of Lucerne has to do with
+your seeing me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t see what the Lion of Lucerne has to do with any
+of us.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks at the card and then at her, with the same melancholy
+and inquiring smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I dare say that he has his good points.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing down the card and putting her hands behind her</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I still think that I ought to be angry with you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Ruefully</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Every nerve and fibre tells me so.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>You are too healthy to have nerves and fibres. And
+if you knew yourself better, you could not even think of
+being angry with <i>me</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With humor and self-assertion</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are not an absolute mystery, and I know a great
+deal about you, and about myself—that is, for a girl who
+has never seen the Sphynx.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking up the card again and looking at it</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’ll tell you something else that I know—something that
+I’ve known for a long time.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He nods slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I have known for a long time that our ways,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Weldon’s way and mine, I mean,—have been leading us
+just where you have said they are leading us—into the dark.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking down</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And I have always been afraid of the dark.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug and a laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I wonder whether your coming to make me tell you this
+may not be “destiny” after all.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at her fixedly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt about that.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>They stand looking at each other, she with her hands behind her,
+and he with his hands on the back of the chair. After a pause
+she turns quietly toward the door, where the maid is seen
+standing</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>THE MAID</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Mink would like to see you, Miss Villa.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Biting her lip to keep from laughing at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn’s</span> <i>augmented
+solemnity</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Tell him to come up, Jenny.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You don’t look as if you were going to be glad to see Otto.
+You ought to be, for he is a very nice boy.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Forcing a smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>So I have been told.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>enters briskly, with a book in his hand. Being a child of
+nature he does not attempt to conceal his surprise at discovering</i>
+<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>in the room</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Blankly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh! How do you do?... I’m afraid I’m in the way.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Of what, Otto? You foolish child, you are never in
+the way.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Doubtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know about that. But I have come, anyhow,
+as I said I would. And here, my adorable young lady,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>is a copy of my latest abhorred twitterings. Does it look
+wicked?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking the book and laughing at</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>]</p>
+
+<p>It looks lovely. But why do you call it <i>Au Cinquième</i>?
+You don’t live on the fifth floor.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Briskly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That isn’t necessary. All you have to do is to shut
+yourself up in almost any kind of place, have in a barrel
+of mangoes, and let imagination do the rest.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Mangoes?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cheerfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Mangoes. The mango has the flavor of all the fruits.
+If you eat a barrel of ’em, you will have the wisdom of all
+the ages.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a grimace</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Unhappily, I didn’t eat my barrel quite fast enough, and
+so I lost some of it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That was too bad.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at the book</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I hope the critics will be good to <i>Au Cinquième</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking his head sorrowfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>They won’t.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Brightening</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do you remember my last book—<i>Huîtres et Chablis</i>?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She nods and laughs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Thank you for remembering it. Well,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Putting his hands into his trousers pockets</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>one inky-fingered imbecile advised me to write one more
+book as an antidote and to call it <i>Huile de Foie de Morue</i>,
+or Cod-liver-oil,—that being his private idea of humor.
+No, my dear young lady, Posterity is the only judge.
+Sometime, therefore, when I am gone—sometime when you
+are old and full of wrinkles—and rheumatism, if God
+wills it so—some far-off winter evening, for example, when
+you sit by the fire, with your cat in your lap,—say to yourself
+that Mink, who was always delicate, once took you
+out canoeing and contrived somehow to spill you into the
+beautiful Hudson, and that you swam ashore.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>And nearly died laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>Oh, very well. But I can assure you both</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who has been listening rather wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>that my neglected afflatus is of no manner of importance
+when compared with a bit of history that occurred about
+half an hour ago on Broadway, not far from Forty-second
+Street. It will do no good for me to tell it, for neither of
+you will believe it,—unless you believe in Noah’s Ark, and
+such like.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We do believe in Noah’s Ark, and you will please go on.
+Sit down and tell us about it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She sits on the piano stool</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>I’d better not. I might not be able to get up again.
+Well then, it’s about Phœbus—Old Hundred—Lucas....
+O Lord!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a quick frown of inquiry</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Has anything happened to Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking from one to the other</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It isn’t easy to talk about.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impatiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But tell me what you mean, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>I mean</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Folding his arms</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>that Old Hundred has refused a gin-rickey.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Forgetting herself</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh!... But after all, was that so very wonderful?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Her manner reveals her suppressed excitement</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Innocently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You speak as if you thought so.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>More naturally</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I spoke because I was glad. It was the only thing for
+him to do, and I was afraid that he could never do it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Eagerly again</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Are you sure that he has done it, Otto,—or is this only
+once?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a queer smile of reminiscence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He has done it fast enough, if I know anything about
+him.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>with sudden expansion</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You see, this friend of ours fills himself with fluid extract
+of early death for certain years, and then, all of a sudden,
+on Broadway, not far from Forty-second Street, he slaps
+a fellow kindly on the shoulder and tells a fellow that he,
+Phœbus, has been born again. That was it,—“born
+again.”</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>who has risen to her feet in her excitement</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The man is illuminated, I tell you. There is something in
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With tightening lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Let us hope it is not dust.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing on his toes</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, the dust is in <i>our</i> eyes, if anywhere. Or it was.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>gratefully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Not in <i>yours</i>, at any rate.... And you have been the
+cause of it all!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>in amazement</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, I don’t know that I have ever been the
+cause of anything. But I agree with you in saying that
+this was the only course for him to take, although I have
+never shared your fear that he would not take it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still wondering</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But how did you know anything about him?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling faintly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, there are signs. Moreover, I permitted Farnham
+to tell me as much as he would about Lucas’s early life.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>But he cannot possibly know much about it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>He spoke, I think, of an eccentric father.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He glances at the portrait of</i> <span class="smcap">Lovett</span>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Weldon was not here in those days and perhaps it was
+as well that he was not,—for he might not have understood.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As if to correct herself</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I mean that men like Weldon find it hard to measure the
+importance of things that happen in other people’s lives.
+They can’t do otherwise, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>All of which being granted, there still remains no room
+for doubt as to Farnham’s friendliness towards Lucas.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Vexed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I didn’t mean that. I don’t see how I came to speak
+as I did.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m very much afraid that you must put <i>me</i> down as the
+tender and innocent cause. Pardon my interruption,
+and—beware the book.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a somewhat bewildered pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Good afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As he is going</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is there very much about Nineveh in it?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She laughs rather thinly</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a grimace</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Nineveh occurs but twice, and Babylon has disappeared
+entirely.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He bows with exaggerated deference and disappears</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>After</i> <span class="smcap">Otto’s</span> <i>departure there is a pause</i>. <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>sits down in
+the large chair at the left of the table, while</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>stands
+looking at the portrait. Both have become very serious, and</i>
+<span class="smcap">Villa’s</span> <i>voice and manner reveal more and more constraint
+and emotion during the following scene</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying to smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What do you think of Otto, now?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Wasn’t it strange—what he told us about George?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Standing near his chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Was it any stranger than my coming to this house?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Embarrassed</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But your coming was different, and I knew just when to
+expect you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Did you know just <i>why</i> you were to expect me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Well, no,—not quite.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Were you a little offended at my request to see you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>You must at least have thought it very unusual.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Possibly.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a faint smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But one looks for unusual things from you, somehow....
+But I shouldn’t have said that. I beg your pardon.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am asking myself whether or not I should beg <i>your</i>
+pardon.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Her voice trembling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>For telling me the truth?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>No; but for remaining here when you must be wishing
+that I would go away.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>She pauses, rises quickly from her chair, and stands before him.
+She can hardly control herself. He looks into her eyes and
+then turns away</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Almost beseeching him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, you must not do that! You must not go yet!...
+I can’t let you go until I tell you something.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She moves back to her chair and sits down slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unhappily, but with dignity</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t wish you to tell me anything unless you are sure
+that I should hear it; and I don’t wish to take advantage
+of your perplexity—or of your unhappiness. You will
+understand that, I am sure; and you will agree with me,
+no doubt, when I say that my position has already become
+rather—well, say strange, to use your own word.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With unconscious bitterness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It will serve as well as another.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impulsively</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t care how strange it is, or how strange you are,
+so long as I know that I can trust you. If you were not
+strange, I might not have the courage to ask you to help
+me.... I wonder if I ought to wait until I know you
+better.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With deep feeling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You will never know me better, and I shall be always
+at your service.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a bitter smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>“They also serve who only stand and wait.”</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Even the blind can serve, in their limited way.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Choking</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You must not say that again. You must not....</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>Her voice breaks completely. She throws herself forward, laying
+her head and arms upon the table. Her whole body shakes,
+as if the prisoned emotion of years were finally asserting itself.</i>
+<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>stands with his hands on the back of his chair and
+looks down at her with a great sorrow in his eyes. Finally he
+turns from her to the part of the table that is near him and
+absently picks up the pieces of ivory that</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>has broken</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Fitting the pieces together, and speaking with difficulty</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then you are not going to Damascus, after all.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Villa’s</span> <i>body still shakes with her emotion, and she makes no sign
+to show that she has heard him. He looks down at her as the
+curtain falls</i>]</p>
+
+
+<p class='center mt2'><span class="smcap">Curtain</span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACT_III">
+    ACT III
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='stage-direction'><span class="smcap">Farnham’s</span> <i>studio, a little after ten in the evening. When the
+curtain rises the room is dark, save for the light of the fire
+which is now burning in the grate.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>is lying stretched on the window seat. Presently he
+gets up rather lazily, turns on the light, looks at his watch
+and stands in the middle of the room with his hands thrust
+deep into the pockets of a black velvet house coat. Apart
+from this coat he is in evening dress. He moves about aimlessly,
+yawns, and takes a cigar from the box on the table.
+As he is lighting it, the bell rings. He remains motionless
+for a little while, and a strange hard smile comes over his face.
+Finally, with a shrug of his shoulders he goes to the door and
+admits</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who is dressed in ordinary business
+clothes. His face wears a serious expression and he greets</i>
+<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>with a kindly but somewhat uncanny smile.
+Then he looks towards the portrait on the easel, which has
+been moved back to its original place in Act I.</i></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still smiling drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>For such a demon of punctuality, it seems to me that
+you are a bit late.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling as before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Am I so insufferably punctual that I cannot have five
+minutes’ grace?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes off his overcoat</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking his coat and hat and putting them on the window seat</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, no offence. You have made your own reputation.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>goes to the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Are you cold?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>It’s rather cool outside.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a grin</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I noticed that when I came out of the subway. Aren’t
+you going to sit down?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Presently.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Take your time about it. Have a cigar.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He holds out the box and smiles</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I’ll take one later, if you don’t mind.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>It’s a Pedro.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Not now.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Coaxingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Colorado.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>shakes his head and smiles patiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Very well. Pardon me if I appear to urge you.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I can think of no one who should ask me to pardon him.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>You remind me of the noble Spaniard who had no
+enemies because he had killed them all.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling faintly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I have never killed anybody, to my knowledge. I may
+once have had something to do with bringing a man back
+to life again.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>That was good. Did he thank you for it?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>He didn’t say very much.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>They don’t as a rule, I believe. By the way,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Grinning</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>when do you intend to tackle Old Hundred?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Frowning slightly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I dined with Lucas this evening—if you mean Lucas.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Surprised</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oho! You did?—Did he get drunk?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>He did not.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Not too pleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh well, you needn’t be discouraged over that. There’ll
+be time enough between now and midnight.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There will be time enough between now and midnight
+for more things than you may have considered.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I have no doubt of it. But no matter about Lucas.
+Tell me something more about your destiny.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>How <i>is</i> your destiny this evening, anyway?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still standing by the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p>My destiny is a very good destiny, but unfortunately
+it has encountered one that is better.—Unfortunately for
+myself I mean,—not in any sense for others.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Patronizingly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are a good fellow—altogether too good to be put
+at a disadvantage. But this once—only this once, upon
+my word—I can’t help repeating that I didn’t think much
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>of it. One interview, and all that sort of thing. You see,
+it wasn’t quite in your line.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Well, how much am I to know?—and how soon am I to
+know it?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Suppose you sit down in that chair.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Indicating the large chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The consequent relaxation may be a good thing for you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Thank you, I will.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He sits down and begins to drum with his fingers on the arms of
+the chair</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sitting down</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Now you look more comfortable.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Abruptly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I told you, Farnham, that I thought Lucas and I might
+possibly be of service to each other.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Can’t you forget Lucas for the rest of this evening?
+Granting all his noble qualities—including his indefatigable
+industry—I don’t yet understand that you came
+here to talk about him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, if you had known what you were asking,
+you would never have asked me to forget Lucas this evening.
+I may forget my name, and my age, and my way to
+Forty-second Street, but I shall not be likely to forget
+Lucas this evening.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You told me this morning, I believe, that you had had
+enough of him for one day.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled and irritated</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Most assuredly I did, and I meant what I said. I’ll
+be as glad as anybody if you can straighten him out, but
+what the devil sense is there in harping on him from morn
+till dewy eve? Why not let Lucas go for the present?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Becoming more incisive</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You started out this afternoon, I believe, to acquire some
+very special information that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It will come.... And as for letting Lucas go—</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing up his hands</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good God!</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Calmly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>—letting Lucas go will be very difficult. In fact, it
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>will be out of the question. Instead of letting Lucas go,
+I fear that we shall be under the necessity of letting Lucas
+come.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unpleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What are you talking about? I didn’t ask him to
+come, did I?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>As before</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You did not, and <i>I</i> did not.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drumming with his fingers</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But he is coming all the same. I have no doubt that he has
+been coming—through the ages.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>So that’s it. More of your infernal Destiny, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Whatever you do, Farnham, you had better wait a
+while before you begin to find fault with Destiny. For I
+should be inclined to say that you are going to be far more
+fortunate than I am, or am ever likely to be.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks thoughtfully about the studio</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Oh, you needn’t try to smooth it over like that. I only
+meant that I was looking forward to this evening for a
+different kind of talk from this.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quietly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You will have it yet.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>With Lucas?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With deliberation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, if I don’t give you certain information that
+you have every reason to expect, it is because I don’t feel
+that I am in a position to give it. But I will say,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>at the risk of my life, that Lucas has been straightened out.
+I don’t know just how I know it, but I know it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Your engaging friend Otto brought the news this afternoon—</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Casually</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>not long after Lucas left Mrs. Lovett’s house.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rising and speaking sharply</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Lucas at Mrs Lovett’s house?... You are keeping
+something back from me, and I should like very much to
+know what it is.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Reluctantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I am keeping something back. And I have something
+else that I was requested, and finally persuaded, to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>give to you this evening. I would rather not do it, but it
+may be as well that I should.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With dry fervor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I hope it will be something more tangible than what
+you have been giving me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving him a small object</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There it is.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a stupefied pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Man alive, are you out of your senses? This is Villa
+Vannevar’s ring. What the devil has been going on?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Sharply</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Why don’t you tell me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Miss Vannevar will do that.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>scowls incredulously</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>She and Lucas have been together, at her special request,
+since eight o’clock. Until she comes, please remember that
+I am acting only as a messenger.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking from the ring to</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Are you all trying to make a fool of me? Are you the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>friend that I have been trusting and praising all these
+years?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a falling inflection</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’d better build a cabin in the woods.... What does all
+this insanity mean, anyhow? You can answer that question,
+if you have a mind to, and you know it damned well.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quietly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You are going to have two more visitors this evening, and
+they are nearly due. They are not going to stay, in all
+probability, more than fifteen minutes. When they are
+gone, you and I may have something more to say to each
+other.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>That is altogether possible.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rising</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And if I have been the indirect means of this sudden
+change in the course of events, I wish you to know that I
+believe, as I stand here, that events would have taken the
+same course, though not quite so suddenly, if I had never
+gone to Mrs. Lovett’s house this afternoon. I mean, you
+understand, so far as events concern you personally. So be
+a good fellow and try to keep a little of your old faith in
+me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Do you hear a motor coming?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes out his watch and smiles wearily at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>They are on time, if I was not.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>The bell rings.</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>admits</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa Vannevar</span>.
+<span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>has more color in his face, and his eyes are brighter
+than in the morning. He carries himself through the following
+scene with far more dignity and ease than might be expected,
+with now and then a facial suggestion of appreciative
+humor. Of the two</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>is the more excited, but hers is the
+excitement of determination rather than of embarrassment or
+fear</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To the three, after rather formal greetings to</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, I have the honor to report that I am still in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a hard smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Won’t you all sit down?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>They remain standing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>and speaking with suppressed excitement</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, but I am glad to hear you say that—that you are in
+the dark.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He nods with condescension and she steps back a little</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I was afraid you didn’t know it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Weldon, do you know what it was doing to me? But you
+don’t, because you can’t. I shall have to tell you what it
+was doing. It was driving me mad.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily, with a glance at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Kindly go on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>It was killing me.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>nods again</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I know you are going to think some dreadful things about
+me,—and say them too, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rapidly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But whatever you do or say, don’t ever forget that I am
+the cause of all that’s happened this evening. I took the
+matter into my own hands—just because I couldn’t wait.
+And when my mind was once made up that I couldn’t
+wait,—well, I couldn’t wait.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He nods again</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And I couldn’t see much need of spending days and nights
+in talking about it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug, and another look at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Naturally not.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who is standing near the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And you</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Gratefully but rapidly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>—you remember what I told you when I got over that
+foolish fit of crying. I told you that nothing could ever
+make me change, and I asked you to help me. You told
+me first that you would rather not, and you said something
+that I didn’t hear about circumstances; but finally you
+did agree to do a little—just because you could see that I
+was so much in earnest—and that nothing could ever make
+me change—and that I couldn’t wait.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>replies with a slow nod, and</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>grins at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>
+<i>with sardonic incredulity</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>with a dry laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Will you be so kind as to let me know what this thing
+is or was,—you haven’t yet given it a name—that was
+driving you mad, and killing you, and whatever else it
+may have been doing? You don’t look to me like a dying
+person, as you stand there now.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Impatiently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, you know what it was. It was our horribly false
+position—pretending to care for each other when we
+didn’t—I mean when we didn’t care enough.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unpleasantly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>In that case, perhaps you will be good enough to tell
+me what sort of position you would call this that we are
+in now.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Lucas, why do you stand there like that? Why don’t you
+say something—if you have anything to say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly, looking from</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p>He can’t speak yet, for I shan’t let him. I shan’t let
+anybody speak until I have said what I have to say. No,
+not one of you three can say a word until I tell you that
+I have asked George Lucas to marry me.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>are almost equally surprised at this
+announcement, though the latter quickly regains his usual
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>composure</i>. <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>looks at first as if he would like to get
+away, but endures his unlooked-for prominence with an
+Indian-like resignation</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>There!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With her hands behind her back</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Now you may all speak at once, if you care to.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>, <i>after a pause, and taking one of her hands</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Villa, what is the matter with you this evening? Has
+the moon driven you insane?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>sharply</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Lucas, why don’t you say something?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a dry cough</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are quite right. The time has come for me to
+speak.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Well, if the time has come for you to speak, why the
+devil don’t you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Calmly, but uncomfortably and with several oratorical pauses</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am going to say something—and I don’t see how it is
+going to take me very long to say it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With another cough</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Knowing—as I need hardly tell you now—that I could not,
+in view of my past and present circumstances—presume to
+ask of this lady the kind of question that she has taken
+upon herself to ask of me—and this time without wholly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>anticipating its immediate effect upon one’s nervous
+organization,—well, I can only say that she has acted in
+accordance with her own convictions in regard to the solution
+of a rather difficult problem, and has thereby placed
+me under excessive obligations—that she cannot expect
+ever to be entirely fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>with a faint smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Whatever else you may wish me to say will be related,
+with your permission, at another time.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With cold humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>“She has acted in accordance with her own convictions
+in regard to the solution of a rather difficult problem.”</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>As she sees it, I suppose.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Is there more than one way to see it?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>I see it as a bit of impetuous farce.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Protesting violently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, don’t say impetuous. Say anything but that. Say
+determined—ordained—premeditated—desperate—anything
+but impetuous. I’ll not have anybody—not even
+George—tell me that I was impetuous when I was only
+sensible. You might as well call me—I don’t know what.
+You might as well call me a fool.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With reluctant humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you know, my dear young lady, that you are using
+some rather positive language?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still excited</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t care. I must use it, in order to make myself
+understood.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Tell him, George, about the ring.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Satirically</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, George, let us hear about the ring.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>She means that the ring would have been returned to
+you in any case.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>with fine irony</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And this is your work.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, my friend, you are mistaken. It is not the work of
+any human being—in this room, or out of it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the devil! I’ve heard all that before.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>shrugs his shoulders and looks at the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Weldon, let me tell you again what I told you when I
+came in.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With intensity</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It was killing me. It was driving me mad.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing up his hands</i>]</p>
+
+<p>For heaven’s sake, are you going to drag that nonsense
+in again?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>It meant the torture of our two lives.... The ruin of
+them, for all we know.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a careless absence of emotion</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Lives are not so easily ruined as all that. If they were,
+some of us would be ruined before we were born.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a faint smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Some of us are, Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>with hesitation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Don’t you think that you have contributed about enough
+to the needless absurdity and injustice of all this....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Quickly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, you must not say that to him. It was I who did
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>this, and it was I who insisted that it should be done tonight.
+If your best friend had not helped me, I should
+have done it sooner or later without him.... Now will
+you let me go on from where I was when you interrupted
+me?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With evident admiration</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, if you remember where that was.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With animation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It was where I was going to say something more about
+George.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who is looking at the bust of Shakespeare</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Weldon, there are certain people in this world who are
+made for each other. You may laugh at me for saying
+so—I know it isn’t very original—but I believe it to be
+true, and that makes it just the same as if it <i>were</i> true.
+Well then, I believe that George Lucas and I have belonged
+to each other since the beginning of our lives, and
+I have known it ever since I can remember. I knew him
+long before I knew you, and I know more about him than
+you have ever known or ever can know;</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>looks again at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>and once, when I was so scared and happy that I didn’t
+know what to do—this was ages ago—I told Auntie all
+about it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With comical directness</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Auntie didn’t like—his father.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With venomous humor</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And what did Auntie say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a shrug and a rueful laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh dear! If I were to try to tell you what she said, I
+shouldn’t know how to begin or where to end. It doesn’t
+make so much difference what Auntie said, so long as she
+said—what she said.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With unconscious humor, looking down</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>She didn’t like George’s father.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Grinning at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Did she like George?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>George doesn’t seem to have anything more to say.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With dry emphasis</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, George has one thing more to say. He has to say
+that he has not yet accepted the lady’s offer.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Scowling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then why are you here?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p>To do so in your presence—now that you understand
+the situation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>But I don’t understand the situation—except in the
+vaguest kind of way.... I knew about it in that way
+before.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still standing by the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, I don’t like to interrupt you.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Oh—you don’t....</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>But why debate the inevitable? It will do no manner of
+good, and it will be likely, as Miss Vannevar has already
+implied, to take up a great deal of time.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Have you been coaching them?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>makes a gesture of resigned protest, but says nothing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Well, you haven’t told me what you said to Lucas during
+dinner.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I told Lucas that Miss Vannevar wished very much to
+see him as soon as possible after eight o’clock.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Was that all?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Substantially, yes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Mightn’t that leave a pretty wide margin for conjecture?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>It might, but it doesn’t. Please remember that when I
+told you of my interest in Lucas, I was not anticipating
+the developments that have transpired.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unwilling to let the subject go</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But you are the cause of these developments, for all
+that. What did you say to Villa after Otto went away?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a slight weariness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I didn’t find a great deal to say. I told her pretty much
+what I have told you,—that Lucas and I were going to be
+of service to each other, and that I had complete confidence
+in him. Please do not ask me to go any further into details—just
+now.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a friendly smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>My dear Farnham, if you were to form at your time of
+life the fatal habit of clinging to ruins, and of refusing to
+accept what has irrevocably taken place, there is no
+knowing what might happen to you—and to your art.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Do you remember that you used to call yourself a
+friend of mine?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He speaks half-heartedly, and seems to regret having spoken</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I was never in my life more convinced of my complete
+loyalty to you, or of your complete faith in me. I was not
+expecting to say so this evening, unless to you alone, but
+never mind that now.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Rather ruefully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I suppose that’s your fantastic, esoteric, oriental way
+of telling a fellow that he has said something foolish. I
+don’t say it’s a bad way, you understand—</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He stops, and has another look at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>who smiles in approval</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going to</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>and putting her hands on his arms</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You needn’t try to be angry any longer, for I can see by
+the look in your eyes that you can’t.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking him a little and beginning to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>You ought not to be angry, for you are so glad to get rid
+of me that you don’t know what to do with yourself.
+You may tell me that I ought not to say so, but you can’t
+put the words back into my mouth—’cause I’ve got my
+teeth together.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She shows her teeth and laughs at him</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking her hands and smiling</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t remember having said that I was angry.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He pushes her away gently</i>]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Putting her hands behind her and laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There was no need of your <i>saying</i> it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Then that must have been the reason why I didn’t say
+it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But don’t you think that I had just the slightest conceivable
+reason for being—for being a trifle annoyed, we’ll say?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With feline demureness</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, I rather suppose you did.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking at him brightly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But it’s all over now, <i>isn’t</i> it?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Trying not to laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And so you find your escape from me a very simple
+matter.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With mild sarcasm</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It seems to be one of the prerogatives of womankind to
+discover now and then that some problems <i>are</i> very simple.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>, <i>then for a longer time at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who still
+remains by the fire, and finally at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>again</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And that others are very difficult.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>glances at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who stands looking at the burning
+coals. There is a pause, which is broken by the ringing
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>of the bell.</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>admits</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>who stands for a time
+in meek bewilderment after looking from one to the other</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>I—I saw the light, and so I came over—from Petherick’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Of course you did, Otto. That was the right thing for
+you to do. We have all seen the light, even if we haven’t
+all come over from Petherick’s.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Patting his shoulder</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Now take a look around you, little friend, and tell us what
+you see besides the light.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking from</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>to</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh—good evening.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He plays with his hat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I saw the light, and so I came over.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Did you see the light, Phœbus, and did you come over?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Avoiding over-confidence</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Otto, I may be said to have seen the light, and to
+have come over—though not from Petherick’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a long sigh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>That’s illuminating, and I thank you kindly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who smiles and nods</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Good evening.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Are you sure that I’m not in the way?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He makes a puzzled grimace and looks at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>who grins</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing nervously</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We are sure of one thing, Otto, and that is that you are
+not very cordial with your old friends. Aren’t you going
+to congratulate me on my engagement to George Lucas?
+We are going to be married—sometime.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After a stupefied pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Are you?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He looks again from one to another, and finally addresses</i> <span class="smcap">Van
+Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I knew this afternoon that something was going to happen.
+Of course it was none of my business, but you—you understand
+me, I’m sure.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He wipes his forehead with his handkerchief</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With lingering sarcasm</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We understand you, Otto. You saw the light and you
+came over. Everything has been explained, and we are
+all going to try to be happy.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking again from one to another, and beginning to beam</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you know, Farnham, that I—that I rather like this?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>I’m glad to hear you say so, Otto. We study to please.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who appears to be mildly amused</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Do <i>you</i> like this?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>It has my unqualified approval. In addition, it was
+undoubtedly inevitable.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an air of discovery</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Doesn’t that make it all the better?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>I am sure that you have every reason to congratulate
+your friends on their mutual good fortune.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After shaking hands, rather suddenly, with</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Farnham, old man, the more I think of this, the better
+I like it. There’s a—there’s a kind of destiny about it.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Patting Otto’s shoulder</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto, we can always look to you for the right word.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wearily, with a mild trace of venom</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’ve been trying to think of that word “destiny” all the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And I have been trying to think of something more to
+say to <i>you</i>, Weldon, but somehow I can’t just now. So I
+think George had better take me home. And then, I suppose
+I’ll have a talk with....</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She sighs</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With an unfeeling grin</i>]</p>
+
+<p>With Auntie?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p>Yes, with Auntie.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She breaks into childish laughter</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Poor Auntie!</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, good night. I won’t say good-bye, for that would
+be too solemn.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good night. And I hope you will be very happy.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Good night, George,—and my congratulations. You will
+excuse me if I don’t make a speech.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>who comes forward</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good night.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>She gives him her hand and looks at him as if a little frightened</i>]</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding her hand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good night.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>They look into each other’s eyes for some time. She leaves him
+slowly and moves towards the door. He returns to his former
+place by the fire, after speaking with</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>While</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>is shaking hands with</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Good night, Otto.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Still bewildered</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good night. I don’t think I’ll make a speech either.
+On the contrary I may as well go home to my mousy
+garret, light my guttering candle, and work away for a
+while at my popular song.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But you never told me that you were writing a popular
+song. How does it go, and what is it about?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Solemnly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It’s a sad story, and it doesn’t go very fast.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Doubtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And it may not be altogether appropriate to the present
+auspicious occasion.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh, yes it is—perfectly. How does it go, Otto?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Scratching his ear thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’ve only got four lines of it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He appears to be reading them from the inside of his hat</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Shaking him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>But how do they go?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p>They go like this:</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He repeats the following lines with comical solemnity, punctuating
+them with sharp pauses</i>]</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">Oh, long shall we remember the dark days that followed then,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">And how our faith in truth and honor sank;</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">For we knew the dear old home would never be the same again,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">When Father robbed the baby’s little bank.</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class='character'>LUCAS</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Can you keep it up to that level, Otto?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Scratching his ear</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I think so.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With owlish innocence</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But of course you understand that there’s nothing prophetic
+about it—nothing personal. I wouldn’t have any
+words of mine cast a shadow on this propitious hour—no,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>not even if my friend Farnham were to give me a small
+potion of his Double X Rattlesnake Rye over yonder.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He nods towards the bust of Shakespeare</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I’m delicate, and I may not be with you very long.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VILLA</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>To</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>, <i>laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Before you give it to him, I think it will be safer for me
+to go away. Good night again.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>goes with</i> <span class="smcap">Villa</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Lucas</span> <i>to the vestibule, closing
+the door slowly and thoughtfully as he returns</i>. <span class="smcap">Otto</span>, <i>in
+the meantime, has gone to the cabinet, from the depths of which
+he has produced a bottle of whiskey</i>. <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>, <i>standing
+by the fire, watches</i> <span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>with a look of abstracted amusement</i>.]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Returning</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Well, Otto, you seem to be in a romantic frame of mind
+this evening. You aren’t unhappy, are you?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Wiping his lips</i>]</p>
+
+<p>No, I don’t complain.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Patronizingly, to</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Otto never complains. He eats his crust at sunset, and
+he drains his cup of bitterness without so much as making
+a face. Don’t you, Otto?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>OTTO</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Moving towards the door</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Don’t ask me to talk this evening. You have shaken
+me up, and I’m delicate. I may be on my way to eminence,
+or I may be merely another case of the gods seeing otherwise.
+In either event, it will be all right, for the universe
+will take care of us all. Throw on my grave a flower.
+Fare you well, gentlemen both, and peace be with you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Otto</span> <i>lays his hand on his heart, bows deferentially, and disappears
+slowly and silently</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Smiling faintly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You must not undervalue that youth, Farnham.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Opening the cigar box</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I shall never again undervalue anything that has a
+destiny.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Holding out the box</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Here—have a cigar. And for God’s sake have it this time
+or you’ll make me peevish.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Thank you.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He takes a match from Farnham and lights his cigar</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Lighting his cigar</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I suppose Otto has a destiny, hasn’t he?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I suppose he has.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Giving him a queer look</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And what about Lucas—and <i>his</i> destiny?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He sits down and invites</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>to take the large chair as
+before</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Calmly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know that I pretend to be a prophet,</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>grins</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>but I should venture to say that Lucas’s destiny will not
+be altogether a bad one. Being human and not a fool, he
+must in the nature of things have ambitions that he will
+never realize. On the other hand, he will have a great deal
+of happiness, I believe.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking earnestly at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But neither he nor I can have what <i>you</i> are going to have.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>begins to beam with approval and anticipation</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I won’t say that you have it already</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He glances toward the picture and scowls</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>—for that might not be good for you ... and it might not
+be true.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Affecting modesty</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You may be within a gunshot of being right, but this
+day’s work doesn’t seem to be very promising—that is,
+to the uninitiated.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Clasping his knee</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>I suppose, however, that <i>you</i> feel a great deal better.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Why do you say that?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>After what you have done?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a frown</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I have done nothing. I thought that was understood.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing a little</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Oh yes, you have, in spite of your cosmic modesty.
+Haven’t you cleared the air? Haven’t you raised the
+curtain?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Apparently after some hesitation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Would you talk like that, Farnham, if you knew me a
+little better ... if you knew, as I know, what I have lost?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a trace of his old manner</i>]</p>
+
+<p>We have things before we lose them. That’s old, I know;
+but I believe it’s true.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>More earnestly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Farnham, it is quite true. And it is most distinctly
+what I have had that I have now lost.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Puzzled</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Go on. You are talking; I’m only listening.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Very distinctly</i>]</p>
+
+<p>What is your notion of the best thing for a man to do
+when he has lost his belief that he has something to live
+for?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pretending not to understand</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Why, that’s easy. Find something new to live for.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up and speaking as if half to himself</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There may be a certain amount of wisdom in that. And
+yet you do not wholly understand me.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With unconscious emphasis</i>]</p>
+
+<p>And who the devil does?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking steadily at</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>]</p>
+
+<p>Do you know what it is, Farnham, that I am facing?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a forced laugh</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You are facing <i>me</i>, for the moment. I’m not much to
+be facing, I grant you; but you might have to face something
+worse.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a glance at the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>The deadliest thing about me, at present, seems to be my
+ability to paint pictures like that one over there.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Becoming more and more serious</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I seem to be facing you, Farnham, but the truth is that
+I am facing myself. Whichever way I look now, I look
+forward into a thousand mirrors; and I see myself—only
+myself—Van Zorn. If I had one talent, I should see that;
+and I should thank God for it. But it isn’t there. There
+is nothing there but—Van Zorn.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He smokes for a time in thought</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Farnham, do you wonder that there are people in this world
+who howl about property?... Yes; my property, if
+you like.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Good! That sounds as if the yeast were beginning to
+work. You needn’t worry; you’ll find something to live
+for.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Getting up and stretching himself comfortably</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Why don’t you begin by tearing down a row of rotten
+tenements—just for the fun of it—and putting up some
+thing—oh, something sanitary and ornamental? Then
+the tired father could come home and cleanse his honest
+hide in a white enameled bath-tub—only of course he
+wouldn’t,—and after dinner the entire family could sit
+around a gilded radiator and sing songs by the most
+eminent composers, as Otto would say, of their native
+land.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Laughing</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Hear me, Norma, but don’t excite yourself. You are still
+young, and there’s going to be no end of time.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With a dutiful smile</i>]</p>
+
+<p>There is something in what you say.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With easy patronage</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You bet there is. And then there is always this “business”
+of yours: “Van Zorn and Lucas, the eminent
+comedians.” Don’t you see <i>that</i>, when you look forward
+into your thousand mirrors?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Looking down</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, I see it. The business will succeed.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>To be sure.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Becoming over-confident</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>Van Zorn, from whom all blessings flow, do you realize
+that we are beaten by Old Hundred?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Gravely</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t like your word—beaten.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Piqued but persistent</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Neither do I,—but I didn’t invent it, and I won’t say it
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>again. But I should like to ask you one question. When
+you came in this evening, you said something about your
+destiny being a very good destiny; and you said, also, that
+it had encountered—I think that was your word—one
+that was better. Now, if I have a right to ask the question,
+I wish you would be good enough to tell me what the devil
+Lucas was doing this afternoon at Mrs. Lovett’s.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>He came to tell Miss Vannevar that he was going
+west, and to say good-bye.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>Going west—eh?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Excited but satirical</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>And if you hadn’t kept Lucas from going west—whatever
+that means—I suppose you would have been contented
+for all time with your—your one interview.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>After some deliberation</i>]</p>
+
+<p>If Lucas had gone—west,—you would still have recovered
+your ring.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>They look at each other until Farnham shrugs his shoulders and
+looks at the floor</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>When Lucas changed his mind about going, he was not
+in any manner influenced by the ring or by the person who
+wore it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Pause</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But why say more about that?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span></p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>His last words come rather thickly; he moves away and finally
+remains standing before the picture</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>By the way, Farnham, what are you going to do with
+this picture?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>You speak as if you wanted it yourself.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p>Will you give it to me?</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He is evidently in earnest</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cynically</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Yes, take it. Take everything in sight.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Thoughtfully</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I could almost believe that this picture was painted for
+me—without your knowledge.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Drily</i>]</p>
+
+<p>More destiny?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Taking a small knife from his pocket</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I don’t know what else to call it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>He begins to cut the head and shoulders from the canvas</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Going quickly towards him</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Here! What do you think you are doing?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span></p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cutting diligently</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I am getting rid of one of the most insincere</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cuts</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>and exasperating</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cuts</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>bits of charlatanry</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Cuts</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>that man’s eyes have ever looked on. I am doing it partly
+for the good of your artistic conscience, and partly for
+reasons of my own.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Unable to protest</i>]</p>
+
+<p>All right, the thing is yours.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>With cynical observation</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>But I suppose you know that you are disintegrating
+twenty-five hundred dollars worth of high art?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Throwing the piece of canvas into the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Is that your figure?</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p>For the present, yes. And therefore it seems to me that
+your eccentric little ingle-flame over there is just a bit
+extravagant.</p>
+
+<p class='character'>VAN ZORN</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Punching the burning canvas with the poker</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I shouldn’t worry about that if I were you. We are
+living in an extravagant age.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span></p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<i>He puts away the poker and stands watching the fire. At length
+he turns to</i> <span class="smcap">Farnham</span> <i>and speaks with a subdued intensity
+and a new emphasis</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>It is your age, Farnham, and you had better not play with
+it.</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Slowly</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>If I were you, I should try to meet it half way.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>throws his cigar into the fire and stands looking at
+the smouldering canvas, holding his hands behind him</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>
+<i>goes toward him slowly, holds out his hand and looks
+for a moment into</i> <span class="smcap">Van Zorn’s</span> <i>eyes</i>. <span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>takes
+his hand, lets it go, and continues to look down into the fire</i>]</p>
+
+<p class='character'>FARNHAM</p>
+
+<p class='center'>[<i>Embarrassed and with evident regret</i>]</p>
+
+<p>I’m sorry, old fellow, but I didn’t quite ... I didn’t
+realize that you were quite so much in earnest.</p>
+
+<p class='stage-direction'>[<span class="smcap">Van Zorn</span> <i>makes no reply, but remains looking at the fire</i>. <span class="smcap">Farnham</span>
+<i>sits down on the edge of the window seat and looks
+thoughtfully at the floor before him. Finally he looks again
+at Van Zorn, and a slow incredulous smile comes over his
+face. Then he shrugs his shoulders, as if he was still in
+doubt about something, and the curtain falls slowly.</i>]</p>
+
+
+<p class='center mt2'>THE END</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span></p>
+
+
+<div class='poetry-container'>
+<p class='mw25 pad1 bbox no-indent'>
+    The following pages contain advertisements of a
+    few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects.
+</p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p class='center u fs120'>
+    RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S NEW DRAMA
+  </p>
+
+<p class='center fs200'>The King of the Dark Chamber</p>
+
+<p class='center mt1'>By</p>
+
+<p class='center mt1'>RABINDRANATH TAGORE</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1'>Nobel Prizeman in Literature, 1913; Author of “Gitangali,”
+“The Gardener,” “The Crescent Moon,”
+“Sadhana,” “Chitra,” “The Post-Office,” etc. Cloth
+12 mo.</p>
+
+<p class='mt1'>“The real poetical imagination of it is unchangeable;
+the allegory, subtle and profound and yet simple, is cast
+into the form of a dramatic narrative, which moves with
+unconventional freedom to a finely impressive climax; and
+the reader, who began in idle curiosity, finds his intelligence
+more and more engaged until, when he turns the last page,
+he has the feeling of one who has been moving in worlds
+not realized, and communing with great if mysterious
+presences.”</p>
+
+<p class="right pr1">
+  <i>The London Globe.</i>
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='center u'>
+  <i>NEW POEMS AND PLAYS</i>
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>Romance</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Edward Sheldon</span>, Author of “The Nigger,” etc.
+Decorated cloth, 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>Mr. Sheldon can be relied upon to provide drama that is not only good from
+a technical standpoint, but unusual in subject-matter. <i>The Nigger</i>,
+which proved to be one of the sensations of the New Theatre’s short
+career, is now followed by <i>Romance</i>, a play more admirable, perhaps,
+in its construction, and of universal appeal. As a book the story seems
+to have lost none of its brilliance; in fact the sharpness of its character
+delineation, the intensity and reality of its plot and the lyrical beauty
+of some of its passages are, if possible more apparent on the printed
+page than in the theatre. There is little doubt but that the tremendous
+success which the drama made when footlighted is to be duplicated
+upon its appearance in this form.</p>
+
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>Poems</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Harriet Monroe.</span> Cloth, 12mo. $1.25 net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>In this book is brought together some of Miss Monroe’s best work. As the
+editor of <i>Poetry: A Magazine of Verse</i>, wherein occasionally compositions
+of her own have appeared, and as a contributor to the better magazines,
+Miss Monroe has endeared herself to a large audience of discriminating
+people. A distinguishing feature of the collection is that it is notably
+representative of current ideas and sentiments, and pleasingly varied in
+theme. The author’s subjects are chosen from the Panama Canal,
+the Titanic disaster, the turbine, the telephone, State Street, Chicago,
+and other modern phases or factors of life. There is also a group of love
+poems.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span></p>
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>Plaster Saints</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'>
+  <span class="smcap">By Israel Zangwill.</span> Cloth, 12mo. $1.25 net.
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>A new play of deep social significance.</p>
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>The Melting Pot</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Israel Zangwill.</span> Revised edition. Cloth, 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>This is a revised edition of what is perhaps Mr. Zangwill’s most popular
+play. Numerous changes have been made in the text, which has been
+considerably lengthened thereby. The appeal of the drama to the
+readers of this country is particularly strong, in that it deals with that
+great social process by which all nationalities are blended together for
+the making of the real American.</p>
+
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>Sword Blades and Poppy Seed</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Amy Lowell</span>, Author of “A Dome of Many-Coloured
+Glass.” Boards, 12mo. $1.25 net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>Of the poets who to-day are doing the interesting and original work, there
+is no more striking and unique figure than Amy Lowell. The foremost
+American member of the “Imagists”—a group of poets that includes
+William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Hueffer—she has
+won wide recognition for her writing in new and free forms of poetical
+expression. Miss Lowell’s present volume of poems, “Sword Blades
+and Poppy Seed,” is an unusual book. It contains much perhaps
+that will arouse criticism, but it is a new note in American poetry. Miss
+Lowell has broken away from academic traditions and written, out of
+her own time, real singing poetry, free, full of new effects and subtleties.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span></p>
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>The Congo and Other Poems</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Vachel Lindsay.</span> Cloth, 12mo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>In the readings which he has given throughout the country Mr. Lindsay
+has won the approbation of the critics and of his audiences in general
+for the new verse form which he is employing. The wonderful effects
+of sound produced by his lines, their relation to the idea which the
+author seeks to convey and their marvelous lyrical quality are something,
+it is maintained, quite out of the ordinary and suggest new
+possibilities and new meanings in poetry. In this book are presented
+a number of Mr. Lindsay’s most daring experiments, that is to say they
+<i>were</i> experiments when they were first tried; they have been more than
+justified by their reception. It is believed that the volume will be one
+of the most discussed of all the year’s output.</p>
+
+
+<p class='b fs150 no-indent mt2'>Borderlands and Thoroughfares</p>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class="smcap">By Wilfrid Wilson Gibson</span>, Author of “Daily Bread,”
+“Fires,” “Womenkind,” etc. Cloth, 12mo. $1.25
+net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang2 mt1 fs80'>With the publication of <i>Daily Bread</i> Mr. Gibson was hailed as a new poet
+of the people. <i>Fires</i>, his later volume, confirmed the impression that
+here was a man whose writing was close to real life, a man in whom were
+combined a sympathy and appreciation of humankind with a rare lyrical
+genius. This present book continues the work which Mr. Gibson can
+do so well. In it are brought together three plays and a number of
+short lyrics which reveal again his very decided talent. It is a collection
+which should indeed gratify those students of modern verse who are
+looking to such men as Gibson and Masefield for permanent and representative
+contributions to literature.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p class='center fs120 u'>
+    A LIST OF PLAYS
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+
+<table class="autotable mt1">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Leonid Andreyev’s</b> Anathema
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+$1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Clyde Fitch’s</b> The Climbers
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Girl with the Green Eyes</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Her Own Way</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Stubbornness of Geraldine</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Truth</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Thomas Hardy’s</b> The Dynasts. 3 Parts. Each
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.50 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Henry Arthur Jones’s</b>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Whitewashing of Julia</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Saints and Sinners</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Crusaders</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Michael and His Lost Angel</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Jack London’s</b> Scorn of Women
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Theft</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Mackaye’s</b> Jean D’Arc
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Sappho and Phaon</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fenris the Wolf</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Mater</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Canterbury Pilgrims</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Scarecrow</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">A Garland to Sylvia</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>John Masefield’s</b> The Tragedy of Pompey
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>William Vaughn Moody’s</b>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Faith Healer</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Stephen Phillips’s</b> Ulysses
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Sin of David</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Nero</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Pietro of Siena</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.00 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Phillips and Carr.</b> Faust
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Edward Sheldon’s</b> The Nigger
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Romance</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Katrina Trask’s</b> In the Vanguard
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Rabindranath Tagore’s</b> The Post Office
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.00 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Chitra</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.00 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The King of the Dark Chamber</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Robinson, Edwin A.</b> Van Zorn
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Sarah King Wiley’s</b> Coming of Philibert
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Alcestis</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+.75 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Yeats’s</b> Poems and Plays, Vol. II, Revised Edition
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+2.00 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Hour Glass (and others)</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Green Helmet and Other Poems</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Yeats and Lady Gregory’s</b> Unicorn from the Stars
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.50 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<b>Israel Zangwill’s</b> The Melting Pot. New Edition
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The War God</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Next Religion</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Plaster Saints</span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1.25 net
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class="center">
+  PUBLISHED BY<br>
+  <span class='fs150 ls1'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span><br>
+  Publishers   &emsp;   64-66 Fifth Avenue   &emsp;   New York
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter transnote">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">
+    Transcriber’s Notes
+  </h2>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Duplicate chapter headers omitted.</li>
+
+<li>Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.</li>
+
+<li>On <a href='#Page_148'>p. 148</a>, three misspellings of "Pethrick" changed to "Petherick".</li>
+
+<li>Footnote numbered and moved to follow the citing paragraph.</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78762 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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author	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-05-26 19:37:52 -0700
committer	www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org>	2026-05-26 19:37:52 -0700
commit	bb4719bd7897b91fc4f8c6ec0493e04f3a11196a (patch)
tree	ddc663c3be349cc7a36a5bcd400b5cd6744a06d9 /78762-h