Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 215

HAROLD [_desperately_]. Mrs. Carey, I a.s.sure you--

ANNE [_as if on the verge of a nervous crisis_]. Oh, please, _please_, Harold, don't protest any more. I am not blaming you. Understand, Mother, I am not blaming him. But my decision is irrevocable. I thought you understood. I beg you to go away. You have just time to catch the afternoon express.

HAROLD. Nonsense, Anne, you must let me--

ANNE [_wildly_]. No, no, Harold, it is finished! Don't you understand?

Finished! [_She abandons the support of her mother and Ruth and goes to the table._] See, here are your letters. I am going to burn them. [_She throws the packet into the fire._] All your letters--[_She throws the dispatches into the fire._] Don't, please, continue this unendurable situation any longer. Go, I beg of you, go!

[_She is almost hysterical._]

HAROLD. But I tell you I must--

ANNE [_falling back in her mother's arms_]. Make him go, Mother! Make him go!

MRS. CAREY. Yes, go! Go, sir! Don't you see you are torturing the child.

I insist upon your going.

RUTH. Yes, she is in a dreadful state.

[_Here Mrs. Carey and Ruth fall into simultaneous urgings._]

HAROLD [_who has tried in vain to make himself heard_]. All right, I'm going, I give up!

[_He seizes his hat and rushes out, banging the door behind him.

Anne breaks away from her mother and sister, totters rapidly to the door and calls down gently._]

ANNE. Not in anger, I beg of you, Harold! I am not blaming you. Good-by.

[_The street door is heard to bang. Anne collapses in approved tragedy style._]

ANNE [_gasping_]. Get some water, Ruth. I shall be all right in a moment.

[_Ruth rushes into the bedroom._]

MRS. CAREY. Oh, my dear child, calm yourself. Mother is here, dear. She will take care of you. Tell me, dear, tell me.

[_Ruth returns with the water. Anne sips a little._]

ANNE. I will, Mother--I will ... everything ... later. [_She drinks._]

But now I must be alone. Please, dear, go away ... for a little while. I must be alone [_Rising and moving to the fire._] with the ruin of my dreams.

[_She puts her arms on the chimney shelf and drops her head on them._]

RUTH. Come, Mother! Come away!

MRS. CAREY. Yes, I am coming. We shall be in the next room, Annie, when you want us. Right here.

ANNE [_as they go out, raises her head and murmurs_]. Dust and ashes!

Dust and ashes!

[_As soon as they have gone, Anne straightens up slowly. She pulls herself together after the physical strain of her acting. Then she looks at the watch on her wrist and sighs a long triumphant sigh.

Her eye falls on the desk and she sees the package of florists'

cards still there. She picks them up, returns with them to the fire and is about to throw them in, when her eye is caught by the writing on one. She takes it out and reads it. Then she takes another--and another. She stops and looks away dreamily. Then slowly, she moves back to the desk, drops the cards into a drawer and locks it. She sits brooding at the desk and the open paper before her seems to fascinate her. As if in a dream she picks up a pencil. A creative look comes into her eyes. Resting her chin on her left arm, she begins slowly to write, murmuring to herself._]

ANNE [_reading as she writes_]. "Anne, my dearest.... I am on the train ... broken, shattered.... Why have you done this to me ... why have you darkened the sun ... and put out the stars ... put out the stars?...

Give me another chance, Anne.... I will make good.... I promise you....

For G.o.d's sake, Anne, don't shut me out of your life utterly.... I cannot bear it.... I...."

[_The Curtain has fallen slowly as she writes._]

THE SHEPHERD IN THE DISTANCE

A PANTOMIME

BY HOLLAND HUDSON

Copyright, 1920, by Frank Shay.

All rights reserved.

THE SHEPHERD IN THE DISTANCE was first produced by the Was.h.i.+ngton Square Players, at the Bandbox Theatre, New York City, on the night of March 26, 1915, with the following cast:

THE PRINCESS _Frances Paine_.

THE ATTENDANT _Beatrice Savelli_.

THE SHEPHERD _Robert Locher_.

THE WAZIR _Arvid Paulson_.

THE VIZIER _John Alan Houghton_.

GHURRI-WURRI [_the Beggar_} _Harry Day_.

THE GOAT _E. J. Ballantine_.

SLAVES OF THE PRINCESS { _Josephine Niveson_.

{ _Edwina Behre_.

THE MAKER OF SOUNDS _Robert Edwards_.

Produced under the direction of William Pennington. Scenes and costumes designed by Robert Locker.

PROGRAM

THE PERSONS:

THE PRINCESS.

THE ATTENDANT.

THE SLAVES.

THE WAZIR [_her guardian_].