Excerpt
ACT I
A large old-fashioned room in Matthew Beeler's farm-house, near a small town in the Middle West. The room is used for dining and for general living purposes. It suggests, in architecture and furnishings, a past of considerable prosperity, which has now given place to more humble living. The house is, in fact, the ancestral home of Mr. Beeler's wife, Mary, born Beardsley, a family of the local farming aristocracy, now decayed. At the rear is a large double window, set in a broad alcove. To the right of the window is the entrance door, which opens upon the side yard, showing bushes, trees, and farm buildings.
In the right wall of the room a door and covered stairway lead to the upper story. Farther forward is a wall cupboard, and a door leading into the kitchen. Opposite this cupboard, in the left-hand wall of the room, is a mantelpiece and grate; farther back a double door, leading to a hall. Off the hall open two bedrooms (not seen), one belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Beeler, the other to Rhoda Williams, a niece of Mrs. Beeler, child of her dead sister.
The room contains, among other articles of furniture, a dining table (with detachable leaves to reduce its bulk when not in use for eating purposes), an invalid's wheel-chair, a low sofa of generous size, and a book-shelf, upon which are arranged the scientific books which Mr. Beeler takes a somewhat untutored but genuine delight in. Tacked upon the wall near by are portraits of scientific men, Darwin and Spencer conspicuous among them, cut from periodicals. Other pictures, including family daguerreotypes and photographs, are variously distributed about the walls. Over the mantel shelf hangs a large map of the United States and Mexico, faded and fly-specked.
As the curtain rises, the room is dark, except for a dull fire in the grate. The ticking of the clock is heard; it strikes six. Martha Beeler, a woman of forty-five, enters from the kitchen, carrying a lighted lamp. She wears a shawl over her shoulders, a print dress, and a kitchen apron. She places the lamp on the table, which is set for breakfast, and puts coal on the grate, which soon flames more brightly.
She goes into the hall and is heard knocking and calling.
Martha.
Rhody! Rhody!
Matthew Beeler, a man of fifty, enters. He is not quite dressed, but finishes as he comes in. Martha follows him.
Where's that niece of yours got to now?
Beeler.
She's helping Mary dress.
Martha.
What in time's Mary gettin' up for? She's only in the way till the work's done.
Beeler.
She's restless.
Martha.
Significantly.
I shouldn't wonder. Pause. I hope you know why Mary didn't sleep.
Beeler.
Evasively.
She's always been a light sleeper, since she got her stroke.
Martha.
Look here, Mat Beeler! I'm your born sister. Don't try to fool me! You know why your wife didn't sleep last night.
Beeler.
Maybe I do, Sis.
Points to the ceiling.
Is he up yet?
Martha.
Up! I don't believe he's been abed.
They listen, as to the tread of some one on the floor above.
Back and forth, like a tiger in a cage...!