Four Short Plays eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 53 pages of information about Four Short Plays.

Four Short Plays eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 53 pages of information about Four Short Plays.

The man.  No fear!  What’s a blighter like that to old Fritz’s shells?  We didn’t shift when they was comin’.  If you’ll go, I’ll go; not else.

     [Again she shakes her head.]

The girl.  Jim, do you love me true?

     [For answer the man takes her avidly in his arms.]

I ain’t ashamed—­I ain’t ashamed.  If ’e could see me ’eart.

The man.  Daisy!  If I’d known you out there, I never could ’a stuck it.  They’d ’a got me for a deserter.  That’s how I love you!

The girl.  Jim, don’t lift your hand to ’im!  Promise!

The man.  That’s according.

The girl.  Promise!

The man.  If ’e keeps quiet, I won’t.  But I’m not accountable—­not always, I tell you straight—­not since I’ve been through that.

The girl. [With a shiver] Nor p’raps he isn’t.

The man.  Like as not.  It takes the lynch pins out, I tell you.

The girl.  God ’elp us!

The man. [Grimly] Ah!  We said that a bit too often.  What we want we take, now; there’s no one else to give it us, and there’s no fear’ll stop us; we seen the bottom of things.

The girl.  P’raps he’ll say that too.

The man.  Then it’ll be ’im or me.

The girl.  I’m frightened: 

The man. [Tenderly] No, Daisy, no!  The river’s handy.  One more or less.  ’E shan’t ’arm you; nor me neither. [He takes out a knife.]

The girl. [Seizing his hand] Oh, no!  Give it to me, Jim!

The man. [Smiling] No fear! [He puts it away] Shan’t ’ave no need for it like as not.  All right, little Daisy; you can’t be expected to see things like what we do.  What’s life, anyway?  I’ve seen a thousand lives taken in five minutes.  I’ve seen dead men on the wires like flies on a flypaper.  I’ve been as good as dead meself a hundred times.  I’ve killed a dozen men.  It’s nothin’.  He’s safe, if ’e don’t get my blood up.  If he does, nobody’s safe; not ’im, nor anybody else; not even you.  I’m speakin’ sober.

The girl. [Softly] Jim, you won’t go fightin’ in the sun, with the birds all callin’?

The man.  That depends on ‘im.  I’m not lookin’ for it.  Daisy, I love you.  I love your hair.  I love your eyes.  I love you.

The girl.  And I love you, Jim.  I don’t want nothin’ more than you in all the world.

The man.  Amen to that, my dear.  Kiss me close!

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Project Gutenberg
Four Short Plays from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.