[Knock on the door, TIPPY sees envelope that was stuck under it and picks it up.  He is opening envelope when knock is repeated.  He opens door and KATE enters.]

KATE.  Hello, Tippy.

TIPPY.  Hello, Kate.

KATE.  Hi, Ted.

TED. [Closing book.] Hello, Kate.

KATE. [Starts toward him but stops at table.] Hello, you bums. 
How’s the Red Army?

KEN. [Rising, glad of chance to get away from book.] Tippy just put it under the table.

KATE.  Good for Tippy!  He’s the only real American among you.

TIPPY.  The only real American by conviction.  Ted’s American by innocence.  He won’t know there was a Russian revolution until it becomes a classic.

KATE. [Fondly] That makes him very English. [Takes TED’S book.] Is it Chaucer?  Or just dear old Ben Jonson?

TED. No such luck.  It’s a first edition of Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.”  For a man who wanted it, it’s worth ten dollars.

KATE.  How much did you pay for it?

TED. Fifty cents.

KATE. Swell!

TED. As long as ignorant people go into the secondhand book business ...  It’s a tedious business, but if you look over enough stalls, you’re bound to pick up something.

TIPPY.  I’m sorry to be sordid in this literary atmosphere, but if you really have a book worth ten bucks, you’d better sell it.

TED. I will if I can find the right man.

TIPPY.  Well—­the landlord informs us that he has a more desirable tenant who wants these quarters.  He gives us till tomorrow morning to raise the rent or he will out us kick.

[KEN turns away and putters with his drawing instruments, TED goes into bedroom.]

MARTIN. [Who has been absorbed in dictionary.] Hell, it means electrification!

TIPPY.  Then would I shock you by telling you that the landlord means business?

MARTIN.  Huh?  Oh rent!  All right, I have my share.  Here, take it now.

[Hands TIPPY eight dollars, KATE takes money out of her purse, TIPPY takes it quietly, nodding understanding.]

KATE. [With gesture toward bedroom.] If he does sell his book, take his eight dollars and hold it.  He may not find a ten-dollar book next month.

[TIPPY goes to put money in pocket and discovers he has no pants on.]

TIPPY.  Hell.  I have no pants....  Sorry, Kate. [He grabs pants off chair and goes into bedroom.]

MARTIN.  Why don’t you quit it, Kate?  You aren’t helping Ted.  You’re ruining him.

KATE.  I’m only lending him the money.  He’ll pay it back.

MARTIN.  Like hell he will!  The man’s been a deadbeat for years.

KATE. [Desperately.] Martin!

MARTIN.  He borrowed off his prosperous friends till he exhausted that source.