By John Galsworthy

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

Geoffrey March.......  Freelance in Literature
Joan March...........  His Wife
Mary March...........  Their Daughter
Johnny March.........  Their Son
Cook.................  Their Cook
Mr Bly...............  Their Window Cleaner
faith Bly............  His Daughter
blunter..............  A Strange Young Man
Mr BARNADAS..........  In Plain Clothes

The action passes in Geofrey March’s House, Highgate-Spring-time.

Act I. Thursday morning.  The dining-room-after breakfast.

Act II.  Thursday, a fortnight later.  The dining-room after lunch.

Act III.  The same day.  The dining-room-after dinner.

ACT I

The March’s dining-room opens through French windows on one of those gardens which seem infinite, till they are seen to be coterminous with the side walls of the house, and finite at the far end, because only the thick screen of acacias and sumachs prevents another house from being seen.  The French and other windows form practically all the outer wall of that dining-room, and between them and the screen of trees lies the difference between the characters of Mr and Mrs March, with dots and dashes of Mary and Johnny thrown in.  For instance, it has been formalised by Mrs March but the grass has not been cut by Mr March, and daffodils have sprung up there, which Mrs March desires for the dining-room, but of which Mr March says:  “For God’s sake, Joan, let them grow.”  About half therefore are now in a bowl on the breakfast table, and the other half still in the grass, in the compromise essential to lasting domesticity.  A hammock under the acacias shows that Mary lies there sometimes with her eyes on the gleam of sunlight that comes through:  and a trail in the longish grass, bordered with cigarette ends, proves that Johnny tramps there with his eyes on the ground or the stars, according.  But all this is by the way, because except for a yard or two of gravel terrace outside the windows, it is all painted on the backcloth.  The marches have been at breakfast, and the round table, covered with blue linen, is thick with remains, seven baskets full.  The room is gifted with old oak furniture:  there is a door, stage Left, Forward; a hearth, where a fire is burning, and a high fender on which one can sit, stage Right, Middle; and in the wall below the fireplace, a service hatch covered with a sliding shutter, for the passage of dishes into the adjoining pantry.  Against the wall, stage Left, is an old oak dresser, and a small writing table across the Left Back corner.  Mrs March still sits behind the coffee pot,