Читать книгу The Fool - Channing Pollock - Страница 5

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Scene: The Church of the Nativity. New York.

The set, representing only the chancel, is as deep as possible, so that, even when its foreground is brightly illuminated, the detail back of that is lost in shadows. Pierced by three fine stained glass windows, the rear wall looms above the altar, on which the candles are not lighted. In front of that is the sanctuary, and, in front of that, the communion rail, with three steps to the stage. Just right of these steps is a very tall and beautiful Christmas tree. The tree has been expensively trimmed, and has a practical connection for an electric-lighted ornament still to be placed at its top. Down R., a door to the choir room, and, down L., a door to the parish house and the street. These doors are exactly alike. Down L., two folding wooden chairs that have been brought in for temporary use. A tall stepladder L. of the tree, facing front. Down R., two wooden boxes of ornaments, that on top open and half emptied. There is a pile of tissue-wrapped and ribboned packages under the tree, and a general litter of gifts, boxes, and crumpled paper everywhere. The Church of the Nativity is fashionable and luxurious; the effect of the set must be that of a peeping into a building spacious, magnificent, and majestic.

At Rise: Christmas Eve, 1918. The act begins in bright day-light—about half past three in the afternoon—so that the early winter twilight may have set in before its end. The sun's rays now come through a stained-glass window above the door L., so that the R. of the stage is bathed in white, the C. in blue, and the L. in a deep straw. Two women and a girl are discovered. Mrs. Henry Gilliam, bending over the box down L., is fat, forty, rich and self-satisfied. Her daughter, Daffodil, commonly called "Dilly," perched upon the ladder, is a "flapper." As regards her mind, this means that, at twenty, she is wise and witty, cynical and confident, worldly and material beyond her elders. Physically, she is pretty, and, of course, has not hesitated to help out nature wherever she has thought it advisable. Considering what has been spent on her education, she is surprisingly ignorant and discourteous, particularly to her mother, who bores her dreadfully. Leila Thornbury is a divorcee; thirty, smart, good-looking, with something feverish in her face, in her eyes, in her movements. Deliberately attractive to men, she is disliked, in proportion, by women. All three are very expensively dressed. Mrs. Thornbury has laid aside a fur coat on the cost of which twenty families might have lived a year. She is at the end of the stage, concerned with a number of dolls and other toys.

Mrs. Gilliam

[Turning with some ornament, on a level with her eyes she observes a generous view of Dilly's nether limbs]: Dilly, for pity's sake, pull down your skirt! [As Dilly pays no attention, she continues to Mrs. Thornbury] I don't know what skirts are coming to!

Dilly

They're not coming to the ground, mother. You can be sure of that!

Mrs. Gilliam

What I can't understand is why our young women want to go around looking like chorus girls!

Mrs. Thornbury

Perhaps they've noticed the kind of men that marry chorus girls.

Dilly

Salesmanship, mother, begins with a willingness to show goods.

Mrs. Gilliam

Dilly! Pull down your skirt!

Dilly

I can't! That's all there is; there isn't any more!

Mrs. Thornbury

[Holding up two dolls]: What are we going to do with these?

Mrs. Gilliam

[Despairingly surveying the profusion]: Goodness knows!

Mrs. Thornbury

I've two engagements before dinner, and I've got to go home and undress for the opera.

Dilly

I gave up a dance for this.

Mrs. Gilliam

A dance at this hour?

Dilly

People dance at any hour, mother.

Mrs. Gilliam

What do they do it for?

Dilly

For something to do. [To Mrs. Thornbury] We're young and we've got to have life and gaiety; haven't we, Mrs. Thornbury?

Mrs. Thornbury

We've got to have something. I don't know what it is, but I know we have to keep going to get it.

Mrs. Gilliam

But you all waste your time so dreadfully. I'm busy, too, but my life is given to the service of others.

Dilly

What could be sweeter?

Mrs. Gilliam

Dilly! Nobody knows better than you that I've never had a selfish thought! Mr. Gilliam——

Dilly

Of the Gilliam Groceries, Inc.

Mrs. Gilliam

Mr. Gilliam says I'm far too good!

Mrs. Thornbury

We agree with him, Mrs. Gilliam.

Mrs. Gilliam

Only yesterday I gave five hundred pounds of coffee and sugar to the Salvation Army!

Dilly

And today father jumped the price of sugar to thirty-two cents!

Mrs. Thornbury

Now—Dilly!

Mrs. Gilliam

[With rising emotion]: One gets precious little reward. … I can tell you! I sent helpful thoughts from the Bible to all Mr. Gilliam's employes! Now they're on strike, and the man that got "Be content with your wages" is leading the strikers! … Where's the Star of Bethlehem? [To conceal her agitation, she has turned to the box.]

Dilly

It doesn't work, mother.

Mrs. Thornbury

Are those your husband's men—on the front steps?

Mrs. Gilliam

Oh, no! Those are people from the sweat shops! They're starving, I hear, and Mr. Gilliam says it serves 'em right! [Bringing forth a small case] What's the matter with the Star of Bethlehem?

Dilly

Oh, the usual! Whoever heard of the lights working on a Christmas Tree?

Mrs. Gilliam

[Holding up the star]: But this must work. Mrs. Tice had it made to order—of Parisian diamonds. It cost a hundred dollars.

Dilly

[Reaching for the gewgaw]: All right! It's better than nothing! [She takes it, and starts to ascend] Hold the ladder, mother! It wiggles! [Mrs. Gilliam obeys.]

Mrs. Thornbury

[She has ribboned both dolls, and sets that just finished beside its companion on the chair]: There! [Rises] I'm half dead, and there can't be any more presents! [Starts up for her coat] I'd give my left hand for a cigarette!

Mrs. Gilliam

Not here!

Mrs. Thornbury

I don't know why not. We've had almost everything else.

Dilly

Mother's so Mid-Victorian! And ministers are finding they've got to do something to make church-going attractive. What do we get out of it now? I've heard of preachers who go in for dances and movies, and they draw crowds, too. Naturally! Who wouldn't go to church to get a squint at Douglas Fairbanks? [She has hung the star] I'm through!

Mrs. Gilliam

Then come down.

Dilly

Believe me, I'm glad to get off this thing! [She descends unsteadily] When I think I broke an engagement with the best fox-trotter in New York to do a shimmy with a ladder——

[Mr. Barnaby, package-laden, enters L. He is the sexton, and of the age, manner and appearance peculiar to sextons] Oh, Mr. Barnaby!

Mrs. Thornbury

[Turns and is appalled at his burden]: What have you got?

Mr. Barnaby

Some more presents.

Mrs. Gilliam

Good Lord!

Mr. Barnaby

[Deposits his bundles on the steps L.C.]: Mrs. Tice brought them. She and Mr. Jerry Goodkind. [Mrs. Gilliam nudges Dilly] They're just coming in.

Mrs. Gilliam

[Sotto voce]: Dilly, powder your nose! [Dilly takes her bag from the communion rail, and obeys] Mr. Barnaby, our star won't light. Will you see if you can fix it? [Mr. Barnaby's mind is on Mrs. Tice. She is much too rich to open a door. He is edging L.]

Mrs. Thornbury

And Mr. Barnaby—— [Voices off L.]

Mr. Barnaby

One moment!

[He opens the door L. Enter Mrs. Tice followed by Jerry Goodkind. Mrs. Tice has just entered middle-age, and refuses to shut the door behind her. Her wealth, which has given her an air of great authority, has made it possible for her to look a smartly-dressed young matron. The truth is that she is clinging to youth in an ever-lessening hope of "keeping" her husband. Beneath the "air of authority" is something cowed, and worried, and unhappy. Just so, beneath the smiling, careless surface of Jerry lies iron. He can be very ugly when he wishes, and he is always sufficiently determined to get what he wants, though he gets it generally by showing the urbane surface. Jerry would describe himself as a "kidder." He is 35; sleek, well-groomed, and perfectly satisfied with himself. His most engaging point is a perpetual smile.]

Mrs. Tice

Hello, everybody! ["Everybody" returns the greeting] Who are those people on the church steps? A lot of dirty foreigners blocking the sidewalk!

Mr. Barnaby

It's the grating, Mrs. Tice. The furnace room's underneath, and they're trying to keep warm.

Mrs. Tice

Well, let 'em try somewhere else! [Recollection of unpleasant contact causes her to brush her coat] I don't mean to be unkind, but there must be missions or something!

[Mr. Barnaby removes the coat, and then climbs to attend to the star]

Mrs. Thornbury

We didn't hope to see you here, Mr. Goodkind.

Mrs. Tice

I met him in front of Tiffany's!

Jerry

The most dangerous corner in New York!

Mrs. Tice

And lured him here by mentioning that Clare Jewett was helping us.

Dilly

Somebody page Mr. Gilchrist!

Mrs. Gilliam

Dilly! What a way of saying that Clare is engaged to the assistant rector! … Dilly's looking well today, isn't she, Mr. Goodkind? So young, and——

Jerry

And fresh.

Dilly

Oh, boy!

Mrs. Tice

Do come and see what I've got for the girls of the Bible Class!

Mrs. Thornbury

Testaments?

Mrs. Tice

That's just it; I haven't! Bibles are so bromidic! I want to give them something they can really use! And it's so hard to think of presents for those girls; they've got everything! [Opening a small parcel she has withheld from Mr. Barnaby] Guess how I've solved the problem!

Mrs. Thornbury

I can't!

Mrs. Gilliam

I haven't an idea!

Dilly

I'm dying to know!

Mrs. Tice

[Impressively. Displaying the gift]: Sterling silver vanity cases!

Dilly

[Taking it]: How ducky!

Mrs. Thornbury

Charming!

Mrs. Gilliam

An inspiration!

Dilly

[Showing it to Jerry]: All complete—lip-stick, powder and some nice, red rouge.

Jerry

[Cynically]: To put on before you pray?

Dilly

Precisely. To put on—before we—prey!

Mrs. Thornbury

[Gathering up her coat]: Well, good people, this is where I leave you!

Mrs. Gilliam

[With the air of one bereft]: Oh, Mrs. Thornbury!

Mrs. Thornbury

I've done my "one kind deed" today, and I've an engagement for dinner.

Jerry

Permit me. [Helping her.] Some coat!

Mrs. Thornbury

Yes … thanks. … See you all tomorrow at the Christmas Service! Good-bye, everybody! And Mr. Goodkind! Miss Jewett's wrapping things in the choir room! [Everybody laughs. She exits L.]

Mr. Barnaby

I'll just try those lights. [Exits L.]

Mrs. Gilliam

She has an engagement for dinner, but you notice she didn't say with whom! I don't think they ought to allow divorced women in the church!

Mrs. Tice

[Virtuously]: The church won't marry them!

Mrs. Gilliam

That's the trouble!

Dilly

[Indicating]: The church will let 'em give stained glass windows!

Mrs. Gilliam

Where does she get all her money?

Mrs. Tice

Billy settled for thirty-six thousand a year!

Jerry

[With growing amusement]: Think of getting thirty-six thousand a year out of munitions! … Gee, what a lot of lives that coat must have cost!

[Everybody laughs, and, on the laugh, enter Dr. Wadham. He is not the stage clergyman. On the contrary, he is a very pleasant and plausible person—plausible because he believes implicitly in himself. He has passed sixty, and has a really kind heart. But he has had no experience with life, and he has never been uncomfortable.]

Dilly

[Hearing the door closed, looks around. Surprised]: Here's Dr. Wadham!

Mrs. Gilliam

Why, Doctor!

Mrs. Tice

We didn't know you were back.

Jerry

I didn't know you'd been away, Doctor.

Dr. Wadham

[Shakes hands]: Ten days; attending a Conference on the Proper Use of Eucharistic Candles. It's a subject on which I feel rather strongly. [Turns R.] It's pleasant to see you, Mrs. Tice. And Miss Daffodil.

Mrs. Gilliam

Isn't Dilly looking wonderful?

Dr. Wadham

Quite wonderful! [Glancing at the tree] And what a beautiful tree! The star lights up, I suppose.

Dilly

Well, we have hopes!

Dr. Wadham

Don't let me interrupt. I've only dropped in to keep an appointment with the wardens.

Mrs. Gilliam

We're all through, except for putting these gifts under the tree. [She busies herself with that task] Miss Jewett will be in with hers any minute. [Jerry, who has been contemplating an excursion to the choir room, returns from the door, and helps Mrs. Gilliam] The star is real imitation diamonds. A gift from Mrs. Tice.

Mrs. Tice

[Joining Dr. Wadham L.C.]: Speaking of gifts, Doctor——

Dr. Wadham

Yes, dear lady.

Mrs. Tice

My husband wanted me to have a little talk with you about his check.

[She pauses for encouragement, finding what she has been told to say a trifle difficult] You know, he promised five thousand dollars to beautify the parlor of the Parish House.

Dr. Wadham

[Foreseeing trouble]: Oh, yes.

Mrs. Tice

And since then—well, frankly, Doctor, John was very much upset about last Sunday's sermon. Mr. Gilchrist preached from the text about the rich man entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Dr. Wadham

Always a trifle dangerous.

Mrs. Tice

Yes, and last Sunday it seemed as if he were directing all his remarks at John. We're in the first pew, you know, and John says he doesn't like to complain, but there's getting to be altogether too much of this—Bolshevism. John says the preachers are more than half to blame for the present social unrest. I heard the sermon, and I agree with John that some of it was positively insulting!

Dr. Wadham

Mr. Gilchrist is young.

Jerry

Mr. Gilchrist is a nut!

Mrs. Tice

Do you know what he said, Doctor? He said all this—"decking the church"—was making an accomplice of God. He said we couldn't take credit to ourselves for returning a small portion of our ill-gotten gains!

Mrs. Gilliam

Small portion! When I've just given away five hundred pounds of coffee!

Mrs. Tice

He said charity wasn't giving away what you didn't want!

Mrs. Gilliam

It was good coffee, too! Our second best coffee!

Mrs. Tice

Of course, what John objected to was the reference to rents—to charging clerks and bookkeepers more than they could pay for "wretched little flats." John says he doesn't come here to be told how to run his business!

Mrs. Gilliam

Quite right! And I don't pay seven thousand dollars a year to hear my husband's coffee roasted!

[They all laugh—the more because of the previous tension. Mrs. Gilliam, surprised at first, sees the point, and joins in the laughter.]

Well, you understand what I mean!

Dr. Wadham

We understand, Mrs. Gilliam.

Mrs. Gilliam

Personally, I'm very fond of Mr. Gilchrist. His father had stock in our stores. But I don't think he's a good influence. This used to be a really exclusive church. Now, whenever Mr. Gilchrist preaches, there's such a crush of undesirable people in the galleries you can hardly get to your pew. We don't have that trouble with Dr. Wadham!

[Clare Jewett enters R., her arms full of parcels. Clare is 28. Smartly dressed, though in a fashion that suggests thought rather than expenditure, and pretty, in spite of a certain hardness. The next sentence arrests her, and she stands in the doorway; not eavesdropping, but not interrupting.]

Mrs. Tice

Mr. Gilchrist was such a promising young man!

Mrs. Gilliam

So rich, and happy!

Dilly

[Tantalising Jerry]: And in love!

Dr. Wadham

He's still rich, and in love, and, I think, he's still happy.

Jerry

I've told you; he's a nut!

Mrs. Gilliam

I wonder if that's it. Don't laugh! He wasn't like this before he went overseas as chaplain. Is it possible he was gassed—or something?

Clare

Here's another armful of presents.

Dr. Wadham

Oh, how do you do, Miss Jewett?

Clare

I'm very well, thank you.

Jerry

[Starting to her]: Hello, Clare! This is a——

Mrs. Gilliam

[Intercepting him C.]: Surprise! Ha! And you've been waiting for her half an hour!

Clare

[To Mrs. Gilliam]: I'm afraid we'll have to get Mr. Barnaby. There are so many packages.

Dr. Wadham

Can't I help?

Clare

Will you, Doctor? And Mr. Hinkle's in there praying for someone to consult about the Christmas music.

Dr. Wadham

I told Mr. Hinkle the choir'd better begin by singing, "Peace, Perfect Peace, With the Loved Ones Far Away."

[Dilly laughs and turns up L., chanting "My Wife's Gone to the Country." Scandalized, Mrs. Gilliam hushes her.]

Mrs. Tice

And, Doctor! About the Parish House … shall I tell my husband you'll speak to Mr. Gilchrist?

Dr. Wadham

Yes, I think you may even tell him that's why we're here today. [He exits R.]

Mrs. Gilliam

Dilly, do hurry!

Mrs. Tice

Can't I drive you home?

Mrs. Gilliam

Thank you so much! Good-bye, Miss Jewett. Good-bye, Mr. Goodkind. We must arrange for you to come up to dinner as soon as the holidays are over. [He bows] Dilly, say "good-bye" to Mr. Goodkind!

Dilly

Goodbye-ee!

[Mr. Barnaby re-enters L. The door closing attracts Mrs. Gilliam]

Mrs. Gilliam

Oh, Mr. Barnaby, how about the lights?

Mr. Barnaby

I think the trouble's outside.

Mrs. Gilliam

You'll be sure to fix it? [Mr. Barnaby nods.]

Mrs. Tice

And will you put us in the car? [Mr. Barnaby nods again, and goes L.] I rather dread that mob at the door. [She follows, groping in her bag for a bill to give Mr. Barnaby] Good-bye, Mr. Goodkind … and Miss Jewett, and, if I don't see you tomorrow, a Merry, Merry Christmas!