Smith monologue (Act 3) — Green Stockings: A Comedy in Three Acts

(_Not hearing it_) Oh, damn Wobbles. (_Crosses_ L.) I'm going because---- (_The center doors open quickly_. GRICE, STEELE, FARADAY, TARVER _and_ PHYLLIS, EVELYN, RALEIGH _and_ AUNT IDA _are in the doorway, having come from the left. Conscious of the presence of returning party_, SMITH _reverts to his tone of solemnity and_ CELIA _bows her head with grief_. FARADAY, _in doorway, hearing_ SMITH, _turns and raises his hands to quiet the party_. GRICE _and_ AUNT IDA _have drifted down_ L. _ahead of the others_. AUNT IDA _sinks wearily into chair by desk_.) Hour by hour, he lay on his sick bed, looking out across the--thatched roofs of Berbera to the Arab---- (GRICE _sneezes loudly. Turning_) Good Lord, what's that! (_The others come down in the following order_: STEELE, RALEIGH _and_ EVELYN _come down_ R.; PHYLLIS _and_ TARVER _up_ C.; FARADAY _to_ R. _of_ CELIA; MADGE _by_ AUNT IDA'S _chair_. GRICE _has gone down_ L.C. _Some of the party are carrying programs. The doors are left open_.) In the midst of our sad communings, how strangely out of place are these revelers.