Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 116

PAOLO. And if I command?

ANNA. You will, in one moment, destroy all my plan. Think--your violence is a liberation for me.

PAOLO. Oh, come--or speak!

ANNA. Do you wish it so? We have come to that? I have done all that I could.

PAOLO. Yes, go on. Speak!

ANNA. I loved Luciano and I love him still.

PAOLO. Oh!

ANNA. I loved him. I loved him--do you hear? I loved him and I feel an immense joy to say it here and you did not see that I was dying to say it--and when I saw you nearly stifling me with your ferocious curiosity, I said to myself: "It will out--it will out"... And it has come. I loved him, I love him and I have never loved any one in the world but him and I feel only remorse for my virtue. Now do you know?

PAOLO. Very well! [_Starts to go._]

ANNA. Ah, no. Remain here--now you hear me. You wished that I speak, now I do.... It is I now who command you to stay. You must understand very well that after a scene such as this, everything is finished between us, so I must tell you everything. I listened to you and will listen to you again if you wish, but you also must listen to me. What have you ever done for me? What help have you given me? Have you known how to see when it was right that you should see? Have you known even how to suspect?

Was it necessary that a man die.... Not even that! When you were not suffering, as you are suffering now, did you know how to see the way I suffered? You thought that my sorrow was for a dead relative! You did not understand that I was crazed; you slept next to me and yet you did not realize that the first few nights I bit the covers so as not to cry out. In a moment you realize all the facts. And what are these facts?

That I, your wife for many years, have defended your peace in silence. I have fulfilled that which people call my duty. Then your curiosity is awakened and to make up for lost time you wish to violate my soul and penetrate down to its very depths. Ah--Paolo, no, no; one cannot do this. No, it will not help to know everything. One does not enter into the soul by the front door; one enters by stealth. You have tried to force an entrance; now you see there is nothing more inside for you.

PAOLO. No? You think you are right, eh? You are right--it is true--I admit that you are right. So I have never had your love, eh? You have said so; that I never had your love! Then what? You are right. Still--do you know what I shall do? I throw you out of my house!

ANNA [_happily_]. I go, I go, I go and I shall never come back! And do not beg me and do not come after me. I have no more strength to have pity, when I say good-by, I shall be as dead to you! [_Runs off into her room. Paolo stunned, stares after her awaiting for her return. Anna returns with her hat and cloak, crosses to exit._]

PAOLO. No, Anna, no, no, no. Anna, no. For pity's sake wait! We are both mad. What will become of us? I need you. [_Paolo tries to get in her way to stop her._] Do not go. I do not want you to--remain here. I was crazy--do not go, you will see that--for all my life--[_Anna tries to break away._] No, for pity's sake--if you go--if you break from me--if you speak--I feel that this will be the end of everything! Remain!

Remain, Anna! [_She breaks away._]

ANNA. Good-by! [_Exits._]

[_Curtain._]

LOVE OF ONE'S NEIGHBOR

A COMEDY

BY LEONID ANDREYEV TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SELTZER.

Copyright, 1914, by Albert and Charles Boni.

Reprinted from "The Plays of the Was.h.i.+ngton Square Players," published by Frank Shay.

The professional and amateur stage rights on this play are strictly reserved by Mr. Thomas Seltzer. Applications for permission to produce the play should be made to Mr. Seltzer, 5 West 50th St., New York City.

LOVE OF ONE'S NEIGHBOR

A COMEDY BY LEONID ANDREYEV

[SCENE: _A wild place in the mountains_.

_A man in an att.i.tude of despair is standing on a tiny projection of a rock that rises almost sheer from the ground. How he got there it is not easy to say, but he cannot be reached either from above or below. Short ladders, ropes and sticks show that attempts have been made to save the unknown person, but without success._

_It seems that the unhappy man has been in that desperate position a long time. A considerable crowd has already collected, extremely varied in composition. There are venders of cold drinks; there is a whole little bar behind which the bartender skips about out of breath and perspiring--he has more on his hands than he can attend to; there are peddlers selling picture postal cards, coral beads, souvenirs, and all sorts of trash. One fellow is stubbornly trying to dispose of a tortoise-sh.e.l.l comb, which is really not tortoise-sh.e.l.l. Tourists keep pouring in from all sides, attracted by the report that a catastrophe is impending--Englishmen, Americans, Germans, Russians, Frenchmen, Italians, etc., with all their peculiar national traits of character, manner and dress.

Nearly all carry alpenstocks, field-gla.s.ses and cameras. The conversation is in different languages, all of which, for the convenience of the reader, we shall translate into English._

_At the foot of the rock where the unknown man is to fall, two policemen are chasing the children away and part.i.tioning off a s.p.a.ce, drawing a rope around short stakes stuck in the ground. It is noisy and jolly._]

POLICEMAN. Get away, you loafer! The man'll fall on your head and then your mother and father will be making a hullabaloo about it.

BOY. Will he fall here?

POLICEMAN. Yes, here.

BOY. Suppose he drops farther?

SECOND POLICEMAN. The boy is right. He may get desperate and jump, land beyond the rope and hit some people in the crowd. I guess he weighs at least about two hundred pounds.

FIRST POLICEMAN. Move on, move on, you! Where are you going? Is that your daughter, lady? Please take her away! The young man will soon fall.

LADY. Soon? Did you say he is going to fall soon? Oh, heavens, and my husband's not here!

LITTLE GIRL. He's in the cafe, mamma.

LADY [_desperately_]. Yes, of course. He's always in the cafe. Go call him, Nellie. Tell him the man will soon drop. Hurry! Hurry!

VOICES. Waiter!--Garcon--Kellner--Three beers out here!--No beer?--What?--Say, that's a fine bar--We'll have some in a moment--Hurry up--Waiter!--Waiter!--Garcon!

FIRST POLICEMAN. Say, boy, you're here again?

BOY. I wanted to take the stone away.

POLICEMAN. What for?

BOY. So he shouldn't get hurt so badly when he falls.

SECOND POLICEMAN. The boy is right. We ought to remove the stone. We ought to clear the place altogether. Isn't there any sawdust or sand about?

[_Two English tourists enter. They look at the unknown man through field-gla.s.ses and exchange remarks._]