More Portmanteau Plays Part 28

She is yours!--I have met perfect faith.--Five h.e.l.ls lie before me--but I have met a perfect faith.--You cannot know what wonder I am knowing. From the sixth h.e.l.l I have seen a perfect faith.--I am content to die in this shape. Strike, Riki!

RIKI

I have my love.

THE GAKI

But a peace has come upon me, a peace that I have never known.--I seem to be on wings--afloat in the sky.--Stars and suns swing gently by--and cool clouds brush my brow.--Five h.e.l.ls lie before me.--Can it be, in each I shall find peace like this?--(_He falls on his knees_) Now a fire rages deep in me--a pain--I'm torn.--Oh, Obaa-San, I die--I die.--Come to me--touch me--let me feel your gentle hands.--So! So!--I have never known such gentleness.--Oh, I am cold--cold! Hold me--

[_He rises--sways--and falls. It is full day. The Gaki rises wonderfully._

Obaa-San--I see--I see.--The h.e.l.ls were made by some man afraid of the joy of life.--It was too beautiful for his belief.--Riki--Aoyagi, there is the mountain gleaming in the morning light.--Go--see your footprints side by side.--A Gaki's feet trod upon them, but left no mark--and they are there side by side.--O-Sode-San, I look across the River of Heaven;--there stands your lover waiting for you--an empty boat is here to bear you to him.--O-Katsu-San,--the messenger of the other world bears your little one upon his broad, warm back.--They are smiling, O-Katsu-San--Obaa-San--

[_He points to Riki and Aoyagi. Obaa-San goes to them and lays her hands upon them._

OBAA-SAN

My little girl!--my little boy!--Today the sun is very bright.

_The Curtains Close._

THE VERY NAKED BOY

AN INTERLUDE BEFORE THE CURTAIN

CHARACTERS

SHE HE BROTHER

_The scene is half way to a proposal._

_A hallway with a heavily-curtained doorway in the centre. Right of this are two chairs with a tabouret between them. Right and Left are curtained arches._

_She enters quickly, crossing to the chairs._

HE (_following breathlessly and almost colliding with her as she stops_)

Genevieve!

SHE (_with a calmness strangely at variance with her entrance_)

Well?

HE

Why did you--

SHE

I didn't.

HE

I beg your pardon, you may not have known it, but you did.

SHE

I didn't.

HE

If you'll only say you didn't mean it.

SHE

I didn't _do_ it.

HE

Now, Genevieve, you know--

SHE

I didn't.

HE

Well, why did you--?

SHE

_I didn't do it!_

HE (_meltingly but without humor or subtlety_)

Well, if you didn't do it, _dear_--

[_She is adamant._

Why did you run away the moment I came up to you?

SHE

I didn't run away--