Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 199

COUNTY ATTORNEY. I'd like to talk more of that a little later. I want to get the lay of things upstairs now.

[_He goes to the left, where three steps lead to a stair door._]

SHERIFF. I suppose anything Mrs. Peters does'll be all right. She was to take in some clothes for her, you know, and a few little things. We left in such a hurry yesterday.

COUNTY ATTORNEY. Yes, but I would like to see what you take, Mrs.

Peters, and keep an eye out for anything that might be of use to us.

MRS. PETERS. Yes, Mr. Henderson.

[_The women listen to the men's steps on the stairs, then look about the kitchen._]

MRS. HALE. I'd hate to have men coming into my kitchen, snooping around and criticizing.

[_She arranges the pans under sink which the Lawyer had shoved out of place._]

MRS. PETERS. Of course it's no more than their duty.

MRS. HALE. Duty's all right, but I guess that deputy sheriff that came out to make the fire might have got a little of this on. [_Gives the roller towel a pull._] Wish I'd thought of that sooner. Seems mean to talk about her for not having things slicked up when she had to come away in such a hurry.

MRS. PETERS [_who has gone to a small table in the left rear corner of the room, and lifted one end of a towel that covers a pan_]. She had bread set. [_Stands still._]

MRS. HALE [_eyes fixed on a loaf of bread beside the bread-box, which is on a low shelf at the other side of the room. Moves slowly toward it._]

She was going to put this in there. [_Picks up loaf, then abruptly drops it. In a manner of returning to familiar things._] It's a shame about her fruit. I wonder if it's all gone. [_Gets up on the chair and looks._] I think there's some here that's all right, Mrs. Peters.

Yes--here; [_Holding it toward the window._] this is cherries, too.

[_Looking again._] I declare I believe that's the only one. [_Gets down, bottle in her hand. Goes to the sink and wipes it off on the outside._]

She'll feel awful bad after all her hard work in the hot weather. I remember the afternoon I put up my cherries last summer.

[_She puts the bottle on the big kitchen table, center of the room, front table. With a sigh, is about to sit down in the rocking-chair. Before she is seated realizes what chair it is; with a slow look at it, steps back. The chair which she has touched rocks back and forth._]

MRS. PETERS. Well, I must get those things from the front room closet.

[_She goes to the door at the right, but after looking into the other room, steps back._] You coming with me, Mrs. Hale? You could help me carry them.

[_They go in the other room; reappear, Mrs. Peters carrying a dress and skirt, Mrs. Hale following with a pair of shoes._]

MRS. PETERS. My, it's cold in there.

[_She puts the cloth on the big table, and hurries to the stove._]

MRS. HALE [_examining the skirt_]. Wright was close. I think maybe that's why she kept so much to herself. She didn't even belong to the Ladies' Aid. I suppose she felt she couldn't do her part, and then you don't enjoy things when you feel shabby. She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir. But that--oh, that was thirty years ago. This all you was to take in?

MRS. PETERS. She said she wanted an ap.r.o.n. Funny thing to want, for there isn't much to get you dirty in jail, goodness knows. But I suppose just to make her feel more natural. She said they was in the top drawer in this cupboard. Yes, here. And then her little shawl that always hung behind the door. [_Opens stair door and looks._] Yes, here it is.

[_Quickly shuts door leading upstairs._]

MRS. HALE [_abruptly moving toward her_]. Mrs. Peters?

MRS. PETERS. Yes, Mrs. Hale?

MRS. HALE. Do you think she did it?

MRS. PETERS [_in a frightened voice_]. Oh, I don't know.

MRS. HALE. Well, I don't think she did. Asking for an ap.r.o.n and her little shawl. Worrying about her fruit.

MRS. PETERS [_starts to speak, glances up, where footsteps are heard in the room above. In a low voice_]. Mr. Peters says it looks bad for her.

Mr. Henderson is awful sarcastic in a speech and he'll make fun of her sayin' she didn't wake up.

MRS. HALE. Well, I guess John Wright didn't wake when they was slipping that rope under his neck.

MRS. PETERS. No, it's strange. It must have been done awful crafty and still. They say it was such a--funny way to kill a man, rigging it all up like that.

MRS. HALE. That's just what Mr. Hale said. There was a gun in the house.

He says that's what he can't understand.

MRS. PETERS. Mr. Henderson said coming out that what was needed for the case was a motive; something to show anger, or--sudden feeling.

MRS. HALE [_who is standing by the table_]. Well, I don't see any signs of anger around here. [_She puts her hand on the dish towel which lies on the table, stands looking down at table, one half of which is clean, the other half messy._] It's wiped here. [_Makes a move as if to finish work, then turns and looks at loaf of bread outside the bread-box. Drops towel. In that voice of coming back to familiar things._] Wonder how they are finding things upstairs? I hope she had it a little more red-up up there. You know, it seems kind of _sneaking_. Locking her up in town and then coming out here and trying to get her own house to turn against her!

MRS. PETERS. But, Mrs. Hale, the law is the law.

MRS. HALE. I s'pose 'tis. [_Unb.u.t.toning her coat._] Better loosen up your things, Mrs. Peters. You won't feel them when you go out.

[_Mrs. Peters takes off her fur tippet, goes to hang it on hook at back of room, stands looking at the under part of the small corner table._]

MRS. PETERS. She was piecing a quilt.

[_She brings the large sewing basket and they look at the bright pieces._]

MRS. HALE. It's log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she was goin' to quilt it or just knot it?

[_Footsteps have been heard coming down the stairs. The Sheriff enters, followed by Hale and the County Attorney._]

SHERIFF. They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it.

[_The men laugh, the women look abashed._]

COUNTY ATTORNEY [_rubbing his hands over the stove_]. Frank's fire didn't do much up there, did it? Well, let's go out to the barn and get that cleared up.

[_The men go outside._]

MRS. HALE [_resentfully_]. I don't know as there's anything so strange, our takin' up our time with little things while we're waiting for them to get the evidence. [_She sits down at the big table smoothing out a block of decision._] I don't see as it's anything to laugh about.

MRS. PETERS [_apologetically_]. Of course they've got awful important things on their minds.

[_Pulls up a chair and joins Mrs. Hale at the table._]

MRS. HALE [_examining another block_]. Mrs. Peters, look at this one.

Here, this is the one she was working on, and look at the sewing! All the rest of it has been so nice and even. And look at this! It's all over the place! Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was about!