Five Little Plays Part 11

MARY. I just thought I'd wait--I'd an idea something might have happened; that some one might have stopped you in the street, some one with a heart--and that he'd have come in with you to-night--and seen us--seen Minnie--and said--"Well, here's money--I'll put you on your legs again"--And then we'd have given the purse back, Joe.

JOE. [_As he still mechanically balances it in his hand._] Yes.

MARY. Can't go on like this, can we? You'll cough all night again, as you did yesterday--and the stuff they gave you at the Dispensary's no good. If you had clothes, you might get some sort of a job perhaps--you know you had to give up trying because you were so shabby.

JOE. They laugh at me.

MARY. [_With a glance at herself._] And I'm really ashamed to walk through the streets--

JOE. I know--though I'm getting used to it. Besides, there's the kiddie.

Let's have a look at her.

MARY. Be careful you don't wake her, Joe!

JOE. There's a fire.

MARY. She'll be hungry.

JOE. You said that she had some food?

MARY. That was at three o'clock. And little things aren't like us--they want their regular meals. Night after night she has been hungry, and I've had nothing to give her. That's why I took the purse.

JOE. [_Still holding it mechanically and staring at it._] Yes. And, after all, why not?

MARY. We can get the poor little thing some warm clothes, some good food--

JOE. [_Under his breath._] A thief's daughter.

[_Covers his face with his hands._

MARY. Joe!

JOE. Not nice, is it? Can't be helped, of course. And who cares? For three months this game has gone on--we getting shabbier, wretcheder, hungrier--no one bothers--all _they_ say is "keep off the pavement." Let's see what's in the purse.

MARY. [_Eagerly._] Yes, yes!

JOE. [_Lifting his head as he is on the point of opening the purse._]

That's the policeman pa.s.sing.

MARY. [_Impatiently._] Never mind that--

JOE. [_Turning to the purse again._] First time in my life I've been afraid when I heard the policeman.

[_He has his finger on the catch of the purse when he pauses for a moment--then acting on a sudden impulse, makes a dart for the door, opens it, and is out, and up the area steps._

MARY. [_With a despairing cry._] Joe!

[_She flings herself on the mattress, and sobs silently, so as not to awaken, the child._ JOE _returns, hanging his head, dragging one foot before the other._

MARY. [_Still sobbing, but trying to control herself._] Why did you do that?

JOE. [_Humbly._] I don't know--

MARY. You gave it to the policeman?

JOE. Yes.

MARY. What did you tell him?

JOE. That you had found it.

MARY. Where?

JOE. In a Tube Station. Picked it up because we were starving. That we hadn't opened it. And that we lived here, in this cellar.

MARY. [_With a little shake._] I expect he'll keep it himself!

JOE. [_Miserably._] Perhaps.

[_There is silence for a moment; she has ceased to cry; suddenly she raises herself violently on her elbow._

MARY. You fool! You fool!

JOE. [_Pleading._] Mary!

MARY. With your stupid ideas of honesty! What have they done for you, or me?

JOE. [_Dropping his head again._] It's the kiddie, you know--her being a thief's daughter--

MARY. Is that worse than being the daughter of a pair of miserable beggars?

JOE. [_Under his breath._] I suppose it is, somehow--

MARY. You'd rather she went hungry?

JOE. [_Despairingly._] I don't know how it was--hearing his tramp up there--

MARY. You were afraid?

JOE. I don't want you taken to prison.

MARY. [_With a wail._] I'll be taken to the graveyard soon, in a pauper's coffin!

JOE. [_Starts suddenly._] Suppose we did that?

MARY. [_Staring._] The workhouse?

JOE. Why not, after all? That's what it will come to, sooner or later.