Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 6,432 pages of information about Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works.

Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 6,432 pages of information about Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works.

     [Anthony looks in his face, then slowly shakes his head.]

[Disheartened.] No, Sir? [He goes on arranging papers.]

     [Frost places the whiskey and salver and puts it down by
     Anthony’s right hand.  He stands away, looking gravely at
     Anthony.]

Frost. Nothing I can get you, sir?

     [Anthony shakes his head.]

You’re aware, sir, of what the doctor said, sir?

Anthony.  I am.

     [A pause.  Frost suddenly moves closer to him, and speaks in a
     low voice.]

Frost. This strike, sir; puttin’ all this strain on you.  Excuse me, sir, is it—­is it worth it, sir?

     [Anthony mutters some words that are inaudible.]

Very good, sir!

[He turns and goes out into the hall.  Tench makes two attempts to speak; but meeting his Chairman’s gaze he drops his eyes, and, turning dismally, he too goes out.  Anthony is left alone.  He grips the glass, tilts it, and drinks deeply; then sets it down with a deep and rumbling sigh, and leans back in his chair.]

The curtain falls.

ACT II

SCENE I

It is half-past three.  In the kitchen of Roberts’s cottage a meagre little fire is burning.  The room is clean and tidy, very barely furnished, with a brick floor and white-washed walls, much stained with smoke.  There is a kettle on the fire.  A door opposite the fireplace opens inward from a snowy street.  On the wooden table are a cup and saucer, a teapot, knife, and plate of bread and cheese.  Close to the fireplace in an old arm-chair, wrapped in a rug, sits Mrs. Roberts, a thin and dark-haired woman about thirty-five, with patient eyes.  Her hair is not done up, but tied back with a piece of ribbon.  By the fire, too, is Mrs. Yeo; a red-haired, broad-faced person.  Sitting near the table is Mrs. Rous, an old lady, ashen-white, with silver hair; by the door, standing, as if about to go, is Mrs. Bulgin, a little pale, pinched-up woman.  In a chair, with her elbows resting on the table, avid her face resting in her hands, sits Madge Thomas, a good-looking girl, of twenty-two, with high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and dark untidy hair.  She is listening to the talk, but she neither speaks nor moves.

Mrs. Yeo.  So he give me a sixpence, and that’s the first bit o’ money I seen this week.  There an’t much ’eat to this fire.  Come and warm yerself Mrs. Rous, you’re lookin’ as white as the snow, you are.

Mrs. Rous. [Shivering—­placidly.] Ah! but the winter my old man was took was the proper winter.  Seventy-nine that was, when none of you was hardly born—­not Madge Thomas, nor Sue Bulgin. [Looking at them in turn.] Annie Roberts, ’ow old were you, dear?

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.