Black 'Ell: A War Play In One Act (1917) - Tapa blanda

August morning in 1916, Mr. and Mrs. ZJ Gould are having breakfast. They have been happily married some twenty-five years. Their income is about a thousand a year, and there is nothing to differentiate their dining-room or their whole house, for that matter from other dining-rooms and houses of the same class. Mr. Gould is reading a daily paper propped up against something on the table. Presently he drains his large coffee-cup and pushes it across to his wife. She re-fills it, carries it ro Und to him, and returns to her place. The breakfast continues. He finishes the bacon and eggs on his plate. She has been watching, and asks him if he will have any more. She does that by a little noise a little upward inflection of inquiry and affection. T he affection is unconscious and unobtrusive the result of twenty-five years and about nine thousand breakfasts together.) The little noise (patches his attention from his paper. He eyes his own empty plate; he eyes the inviting egg on the dish in front of her, and grunts. A little downward inflection of assent. He gets his second helping and the breakfast continues in silence. Then, quite suddenly, crashing into the silence, a loud double knock at the front door, followed by a violent ringing. It is as if they had both been hit unexpectedly. Mrs. Gould. A telegram !M r. Gould. Sounds like it. T heir eyes meet in anxiety. She rises in the grip of fear. Mrs. Gould. Oh, Fred, dyou think its can it be that, at last? Have you looked the casualty page? Mr. Gould. Yes, yes, of course Ive looked. I always look first thing you know that as well as I do. Mrs. Gould. It wouldnt be there not till to-morrow. They always send from the War Office first by telegram. Mr. Gould. T rying to quiet her in a voice that trembles with anxiety. Now, mother, mother, we go all through this every time a simple telegram comes to the house. Mrs. Gou
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)