JIM BERE.Gude avenin',zurr.
[At his slow gait,with his feeble smile,he comes in,and standing by the windowseat beside the long dark coat that still lies there,he looks down at STRANGWAY with his lost eyes.]
JIM.Yu threw un out of winder.I cud 'ave,once,I cud.
[STRANGWAY neither moves nor speaks;and JIM BERE goes on with his unimaginably slow speech]
They'm laughin'at yu,zurr.An'so I come to tell 'ee how to du.
'Twas full munewhen I caught 'em,him an'my girl.I caught 'em.
[With a strange and awful flash of fire]I did;an'I tuk un [He taken up STRANGWAY'S coat and grips it with his trembling hands,as a man grips another's neck]like thatI tuk un.As the coat falls,like a body out of which the breath has been squeezed,STRANGWAY,rising,catches it.
STRANGWAY.[Gripping the coat]And he fell!
[He lets the coat fall on the floor,and puts his foot on it.
Then,staggering back,he leans against the window.]
JIM.Yu see,I loved 'erI did.[The lost look comes back to his eyes]Then somethin'I dunnoandand[He lifts his hand and passes it up and down his side]Twas like this for ever.
[They gaze at each other in silence.
JIM.[At last]I come to tell yu.They'm all laughin'at yu.But yu'm strongyu go over to Durford to that doctor man,an'take un like I did.[He tries again to make the sign of squeezing a man's neck]They can't laugh at yu no more,then.Tha's what I come to tell yu.Tha's the way for a Christian man to du.Gude naight,zurr.I come to tell yee.
[STRANGWAY motions to him in silence.And,very slowly,JIM BERE passes out.]
[The voices of men coming down the green are heard.]
VOICES.Gude night,Tam.Glide naight,old Jim!
VOICES.Gude might,Mr.Trustaford.'Tes a wonderful fine mune.
VOICE OF TRUSTAFORD.Ah!'Tes a brave mune for th'poor old curate!
VOICE."My 'eart 'E lighted not!"
[TRUSTAFORD'S laugh,and the rattling,fainter and fainter,of wheels.A spasm seizes on STRANGWAY'S face,as he stands there by the open door,his hand grips his throat;he looks from side to side,as if seeking a way of escape.
CURTAIN.
SCENE II
The BURLACOMBES'high and nearly empty barn.A lantern is hung by a rope that lifts the bales of straw,to a long ladder leaning against a rafter.This gives all the light there is,save for a slender track of moonlight,slanting in from the end,where the two great doors are not quite closed.On a rude bench in front of a few remaining,stacked,squarecut bundles of last year's hay,sits TIBBY JARLAND,a bit of apple in her mouth,sleepily beating on a tambourine.With stockinged feet GLADYS,IVY,CONNIE,and MERCY,TIM CLYST,and BOBBIE JARLAND,a boy of fifteen,are dancing a truncated "Figure of Eight";and their shadow are dancing alongside on the walls.Shoes and some apples have been thrown down close to the side door through which they have come in.Now and then IVY,the smallest and best of the dancers,ejaculates words of direction,and one of the youths grunts or breathes loudly out of the confusion of his mind.Save for this and the dumb beat and jingle of the sleepy tambourine,there is no sound.The dance comes to its end,but the drowsy TIBBY goes on beating.
MERCY.That'll du,Tibby;we're finished.Ate yore apple.[The stolid TIBBY eats her apple.
CLYST.[In his teasing,excitable voice]Yu maids don't dance 'elf's well as us du.Bobbie 'e's a great dancer.'E dance vine.
I'm a gude dancer,meself.
GLADYS.A'n't yu conceited just?
CLYST.Aw!Ah!Yu'll give me kiss for that.[He chases,but cannot catch that slippery white figure]Can't she glimmer!
MERCY.Gladys!Up ladder!
CLYST.Yu go up ladder;I'll catch 'ee then.Naw,yu maids,don't yu give her succour.That's not vair (Catching hold of MERCY,who gives a little squeal.
CONNIE.Mercy,don't!Mrs.Burlacombe'll hear.Ivy,go an'peek.
[Ivy goes to flee side door and peers through.]
CLYST.[Abandoning the chase and picking up an applethey all have the joyous irresponsibility that attends forbidden doings]Yaas,this is a gude apple.Luke at Tibby!
[TIBBY,overcome by drowsiness,has fallen back into the hay,asleep.GLADYS,leaning against the hay breaks into humming:]
"There cam'three dukes aridin',aridin',aridin',There cam'three dukes a ridin' With a ransytansy tay!"
CLYST.Us 'as got on vine;us'll get prize for our dancin'.
CONNIE.There won't be no prize if Mr.Strangway goes away.'Tes funny 'twas Mrs.Strangway start us.
IVY.[From the door]'Twas wicked to hiss him.
[A moment's hush.]
CLYST.Twasn't I.
BOBBIE.I never did.
GLADYS.Oh!Bobbie,yu did!Yu blew in my ear.
CLYST.'Twas the praaper old wind in the trees.Did make a brave noise,zurely.
MERCY.'E shuld'n''a let my skylark go.
CLYST.[Out of sheer contradictoriness]Yaas,'e shude,then.
What du yu want with th'birds of the air?They'm no gude to yu.
IVY.[Mournfully]And now he's goin'away.
CLYST.Yaas;'tes a pity.He's the best man I ever seen since I
was comin'from my mother.He's a gude man.He'em got a zad face,sure enough,though.
IVY.Gude folk always 'ave zad faces.
CLYST.I knu a gude man'e sold pigsvery gude man:'e 'ad a budiful bright vase like the mane.[Touching his stomach]I was sad,meself,once.'Twas a funny scrabblin'like feelin'.
GLADYS.If 'e go away,whu's goin'to finish us for confirmation?
CONNIE.The Rector and the old grey mare.
MERCY.I don'want no more finishin';I'm confirmed enough.
CLYST.Yaas;yu'm a buty.
GLADYS.Suppose we all went an'asked 'im not to go?
IVY.'Twouldn't be no gude.
CONNIE.Where's 'e goin'?
MERCY.He'll go to London,of course.
IVY.He's so gentle;I think 'e'll go to an island,where there's nothin'but birds and beasts and flowers.
CLYST.Aye!He'm awful fond o'the dumb things.
IVY.They're kind and peaceful;that's why.
CLYST.Aw!Yu see tu praaper old tom cats;they'm not to peaceful,after that,nor kind naighther.
BOBBIE.[Surprisingly]If 'e's sad,per'aps 'e'll go to 'Eaven.
IVY.Oh!not yet,Bobbie.He's tu young.
CLYST.[Following his own thoughts]Yaas.'Tes a funny place,tu,nowadays,judgin'from the papers.