Plays : Third Series eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 223 pages of information about Plays .

Plays : Third Series eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 223 pages of information about Plays .

Wellwyn.  Pure!  Oh! pure!  Professor.  Awfully human.

Calway. [With a smile of knowledge.] Quite!  And—­er——­

Ann. [Breaking in.] Before he comes, there’s another——­

Bertley. [Blandly.] Yes, when you came in, we were discussing what should be done with a man who drinks rum—­[Calway pauses in the act of drinking]—­that doesn’t belong to him.

Calway.  Really!  Dipsomaniac?

Bertley.  Well—­perhaps you could tell us—­drink certainly changing thine to mine.  The Professor could see him, Wellwyn?

Ann. [Rising.] Yes, do come and look at him, Professor Calway
He’s in there.

     [She points towards the model’s room.  Calway smiles
     deprecatingly.]

Ann.  No, really; we needn’t open the door.  You can see him through the glass.  He’s more than half——­

Calway.  Well, I hardly——­

Ann.  Oh!  Do!  Come on, Professor Calway!  We must know what to do with him. [Calway rises.] You can stand on a chair.  It’s all science.

[She draws Calway to the model’s room, which is lighted by a glass panel in the top of the high door.  Canon Bertley also rises and stands watching.  Wellwyn hovers, torn between respect for science and dislike of espionage.]

Ann. [Drawing up a chair.] Come on!

Calway.  Do you seriously wish me to?

Ann.  Rather!  It’s quite safe; he can’t see you.

Calway.  But he might come out.

     [Ann puts her back against the door.  Calway mounts the chair
     dubiously, and raises his head cautiously, bending it more and
     more downwards.]

Ann.  Well?

Calway.  He appears to be—–­sitting on the floor.

Wellwyn.  Yes, that’s all right!

     [Bertley covers his lips.]

Calway. [To Ann—­descending.] By the look of his face, as far as one can see it, I should say there was a leaning towards mania.  I know the treatment.

     [There come three loud knocks on the door.  Wellwyn and Ann
     exchange a glance of consternation.]

Ann.  Who’s that?

Wellwyn.  It sounds like Sir Thomas.

Calway.  Sir Thomas Hoxton?

Wellwyn. [Nodding.] Awfully sorry, Professor.  You see, we——­

Calway.  Not at all.  Only, I must decline to be involved in argument with him, please.

Bertley.  He has experience.  We might get his opinion, don’t you think?

Calway.  On a point of reform?  A J.P.!

Bertley. [Deprecating.] My dear Sir—­we needn’t take it.

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Plays : Third Series from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.