John Thinker
Not she!
Mary Thinker
The mean kind always do!
John Speaker
[_Tenderly, to Cousin Fanny, arranging cushion behind her._]
Can't I get you a wrap, Cousin Fanny?
Mary Speaker
Don't you feel a draught, Cousin Fanny?
Mary Thinker
[_Bitterly, frowning at other group_.]
No draught will ever harm her!
Cousin Fanny
[_To John Speaker, sneeringly; petulantly._] You're mighty anxious
about a _wrap_, John! But you were thinking of going out and leaving me
practically alone in the house.
John Speaker [_Deprecatingly._ ]
But, Cousin Fanny----
Cousin Fanny [_Interrupting_.]
Don't deny it! Don't take the trouble to deny it! Don't lie about it!
You can't lie to me! Don't I see your evening clothes? And Mary, too!
Both of you were going out--_both_ of you!
Mary Speaker
Cousin Fanny, we gave it up when we learned that you wanted us to stop
at home with you. Didn't we, John?
Cousin Fanny
[_Querulously, childishly, shrilly._]
Don't deny it, Mary, don't deny it! Don't excuse yourself! I can see you
were going out! I can see your evening clothes!
Mary Speaker
We'll go and change to something else, won't we, John?
[_She is going, as she speaks, but Cousin Fanny cries out_:]
Cousin Fanny
Stop!
[_Mary Speaker stops, and Cousin Fanny continues_:]
Don't take them off. I don't want you to take them off. What do you want
to take them off for? Are they too good for _me_ to see? Are they too
grand for me to look at? Ain't I as good as any one you'd find if you
went out? Heh?
Mary Speaker
Cousin Fanny, I didn't mean that. I meant----
Cousin Fanny [_Interrupting._]
I know what you meant! Don't tell me what you meant, Mary. You meant to
slip out and leave me here alone, both of you. It's lucky I caught you
in time. It's lucky I have money! It's lucky I don't have to put up with
the treatment most old folks get. I'd starve, if I were poor! I'd die of
hunger and neglect!
[_She begins to cry, and Mary Speaker says_:]
Mary Speaker No, no, no, Cousin Fanny!
[_Mary Speaker soothes her, in pantomime, and pets her, trying to take
her hands away from her face, Cousin Fanny resisting, like a spoiled and
spiteful child. John Speaker, behind Cousin Fanny and his wife, walks
up and down, with his eyes on them, running his hand nervously and
excitedly through his hair. While this pantomime goes on, John and Mary
Thinker are watching and saying _:]
John Thinker
This is to be one of Cousin Fanny's pleasant evenings!
Mary Thinker
This happens a dozen times a day.
John Thinker She's not really crying.
Mary Thinker
Pretence! She works it up to be unpleasant.
John Thinker The old she-devil!
John Speaker
[_Taking Cousin Fanny's hand._]
You know, Cousin Fanny, that we try to do our duty by you.
Cousin Fanny [_Flinging his hand off._]
You try to do your duty by my money! I know!
I see! You talk of love and duty, but it's my money you want! But I may
fool you--I may fool you yet. It's not too late to change my will. It's
not too late to leave it all to charity!
[_She speaks these lines with a cunning leer, and John Thinker, nudging
Mary Thinker and pointing to her, says:_]
John Thinker The old cat is capable of it, too!
John Speaker [_To Cousin Fanny_.]
If you should leave your money to charity, Cousin Fanny, you would find
it made no difference with us. You know blood is thicker than water,
Cousin Fanny!
Cousin Fanny [_Shrewdly, maliciously_.]
So is sticky flypaper!
John Speaker
Come, come, you don't doubt the genuineness of our affection, do you,
Cousin Fanny? You've known me from my boyhood, Cousin Fanny, and you've
lived with us for ten years. You ought to know us by this time! You
ought to know us in ten years!
Mary Thinker Ten years of torture!
John Thinker It can't last much longer!
John Speaker
[_Who has taken her hand again, and has been patting it as a
continuation of his last speech, and looking at her fondly_.]
You trust us, don't you, Cousin Fanny? You really are sure of our
affection, aren't you?
Cousin Fanny
[_To John Speaker. She shows that she really is willing to be convinced;
she searches their faces wistfully; she is pathetically eager._ ]
John, John, you really _do_ care for me, don't you? [_She takes a hand
of each._]
It isn't _all_ on account of my money, is it? If you knew I hadn't a
cent, you'd still be good to me, wouldn't you?
John Speaker and Mary Speaker [_Together._]
Yes, yes, Cousin Fanny!
Cousin Fanny
If I lost it all; if I told you I'd lost it all, you'd be just the same,
wouldn't you?
[_John Speaker and Mary Speaker exchange glances over her head, and John
Speaker drops her hand, while John Thinker grabs Mary Thinker excitedly
by the arm and says quickly_:]
John Thinker
My God, you don't suppose she's really _lost_ it, do you?
Mary Thinker
No! This is just one of her cunning spells now. She can be as crafty as
a witch.
Cousin Fanny
If I hadn't a cent you'd still care for me, wouldn't you, Mary?
Mary Speaker
Why, Cousin Fanny, you know I would!
Cousin Fanny
But I'm hard on you at times. I'm unjust. I don't mean to be spiteful,
but I _am_ spiteful. When we get old we get suspicious of people. We get
suspicious of everybody. And suspicion makes us spiteful and unjust. I
know I'm not easy to live with, Mary.
Mary Speaker [_Kissing Cousin Fanny._]
You get such strange notions, Cousin Fanny!
John Thinker
And such true ones, Cousin Fanny!
Cousin Fanny
Tell me the truth, Mary. You find me a trial, Mary. You and John find me
a trial!
Mary Speaker and John Speaker [_Together._ ]
Never, Cousin Fanny!
Mary Thinker and John Thinker [_Together._ ]
Always, Cousin Fanny!
Cousin Fanny And that is the truth?
John Speaker, John Thinker, Mary Speaker and Mary Thinker [_All
together._ ]
And that is the truth, Cousin Fanny!
Cousin Fanny
You don't know how suspicious one gets!
Mary Speaker [_Petting her_.]
But suspicion never stays long in your good heart, Cousin Fanny. There's
no room for it there, I know. But don't you think you'd better go to bed
now? Let me call the maid.
Cousin Fanny
[_Rousing up in chair; suspicion and meanness all awake again_.]
To bed? Why to bed? Why do you want to pack me off to bed? I know! I
know why! You want me to go to bed so you two can talk about me. So you
can talk me over! So you can speculate on how long I will live. I know
you! I know what you talk about when I'm not around! I know what you've
been waiting and hoping for the last ten years!
[_Begins to cry._]
Well, you won't have long to wait now. The time's almost come! I feel
it's almost here. You'll get the money soon enough!
Mary Speaker [_Soothing her_.]
There, there, Cousin Fanny, don't go on like this!
You know it isn't true--you know you'll live ten years yet!
[_John Speaker runs his hands through his hair and looks silently at
Mary Speaker, and John Thinker, with the same gesture, says to Mary
Thinker_:]
John Thinker
If I thought she'd live ten years yet----!
[_Pauses._]
Mary Thinker
Well, if you thought she'd live ten years yet----?
John Thinker [_With a gesture of de pair._ ]
My God--ten years like the last ten years! Ten years! Talk about earning
money! If it hasn't been earned ten times over!
Mary Thinker
[_Fiercely._]
You see it mornings and evenings. I have it all day long, and every
day. I've had it for ten years. I go nowhere, I see no one. I have no
pleasures. I have no friends; I've lost my friends. I'm losing my youth.
I'm losing my looks. I'm losing my very soul. I'm shedding my life's
blood drop by drop to keep that querulous fool alive--just merely alive!
I'm tired of it! I'm sick of it! I'm desperate! I'm dying from her, I
tell you!
Mary Speaker
[_Still soothing Cousin Fanny, but speaking with one hand nervously
clutching her own head as she does so_.]
Come, come, Cousin Fanny--you'd better go to bed now!
Cousin Fanny
I won't go to bed yet! I want my medicine. It's time for my medicine
now. I won't go to bed till I've had my sleeping tablets.
John Speaker
Where are they, Cousin Fanny?
Cousin Fanny
On top of the bookcase there. The small phial. [_John Speaker goes to
the bookcase and begins to rummage for phial, while John Thinker says,
meditatively_:]
John Thinker
I suppose if one ever gave her the wrong medicine by mistake it would be
called by some ugly name!
Mary Thinker
People like her never get the wrong medicine given to them, and never
take it by mistake themselves.
John Speaker [_Finding bottle; examining it_.]
See here, Cousin Fanny, didn't you have one of these about an hour ago?
Didn't I see you take one of them right after dinner?
Cousin Fanny [_Peevishly._]
I don't know. I don't remember. I want one now, anyhow. My nerves are on
the jump. You have got all my nerves on the jump. I'll take one, and nap
here in the chair.
John Speaker [_To Mary Speaker_.]
She took one about an hour ago. I don't think it's quite right to let
her have another so soon. They have a powerful depressing effect on the
heart.
Mary Speaker Let me see which ones they are.
[_John Speaker holds the bottle out towards Mary Speaker, in front of
Cousin Fanny. Cousin Fanny snatches it with a sudden motion, and laughs
childishly. John Speaker and Mary Speaker look at each other inquiringly
over her head._]
John Speaker
She really shouldn't have another one now, I'm afraid, dear. It might be
pretty serious. [_To Cousin Fanny_.]
You _did_ take one right after dinner, didn't you, Cousin Fanny?
Cousin Fanny
[_Hugging bottle to her very excitedly_.]
No! No! I tell you I didn't! I _will_ take one! You don't want me to get
to sleep! You don't want me to get any rest! You want me to die!
John Thinker I _know_ that she _did_ have one.
Mary Speaker [_To John Speaker_.]
What can you do, dear?
John Speaker
[_Taking hold of Cousin Fanny's hands, and trying to take phial
gently_.]
See here, Cousin Fanny, you must be reasonable... you mustn't be
stubborn about this. You can't have another tablet now. It's dangerous.
It might even kill you!
John Thinker
It _would_ kill her as certainly as she sits there. John Speaker
Come, come, Cousin Fanny... it might be dangerous.
Mary Speaker
John, don't struggle with her! Don't you know if you struggle with her
it is likely to prove fatal? The doctor says the _least_ strain will
prove fatal.
Cousin Fanny [_Whimpering and struggling._]
Let me have it! Let me alone! Let go of my hands! You want to kill me!
You want me to die so you can get my money!
John Speaker [_Releasing her._]
No! No! No! Cousin Fanny... Come, be reasonable!
[_He reaches for her hands again, and she grabs his hand and bites it.
He draws back and says_:]
Damn!
[_Nurses his hand._]
Mary Speaker
Did she bite you?
John Speaker
Yes.
[_Nurses his hand, and Mary Speaker examines it, while Cousin Fanny
pulls cork from phial with teeth, and John Thinker says_:]
John Thinker
The old viper has teeth yet!
Mary Thinker
She is a cat... she is a she-devil... she is a witch... she has a bad
heart....
John Speaker
[_To Mary Speaker, pointing to Cousin Fanny, who is shaking tablet out
of bottle; she drops one and gropes for it, and shakes another more
carefully, with air of childish triumph._]
Mary, what _can_ I do? She _will_ have it! And if I struggle with her
it will kill her! She is too weak to struggle! It will kill her to
struggle! And if I let her take the tablet it may do her harm!
Mary Speaker
Perhaps the tablet won't do her any harm, John.
John Thinker
It will kill her as surely as she sits there. I know it will and _you_
know it will.
John Speaker
Maybe it won't hurt her, Mary... but we can never tell.... I'm afraid...
I'm afraid it really _might_ harm her....
Cousin Fanny [_Putting tablet into her mouth_.]
There! I'm going to sleep, now.... I'm going to sleep in spite of you.
You hate me--both of you hate me--but you can't prevent me going to
sleep!
Mary Speaker
She's taken it, John. Do you suppose she really _did_ have one before?
John Speaker [To Cousin Fanny.]
Cousin Fanny, you _didn't_ have one before, did you?
Cousin Fanny
[_She has closed her eyes; she opens them and rocks back and forth,
laughing foolishly_.]
Yes!
John Speaker
[_Taking out handkerchief; mopping fore-head_.]
I don't believe she did. She says she did, but she doesn't know.
Cousin Fanny [_Rocking and laughing sillily._]
Yes, I did! You know I did!
John Speaker
She doesn't know.... She doesn't know whether she did or not.... She
hasn't really been right in her mind for a long time. I don't think she
had one before.
[_As he speaks Cousin Fanny ceases rocking and leans hack in her chair,
closing her eyes. From this time on the two Johns and the two Marys
stare at her intently, never taking their eyes off of her while they
speak._]
John Thinker
She _did_ have one before.
Mary Thinker
I _know_ she did.
John Thinker
Will she die? Will I see her die? I should hate to see her die!
John Speaker
She _would_ have that tablet... she WOULD have it. If I had taken it
away from her by force it would have killed her; the struggle would have
killed her.
John Thinker
Will I see her die? Will she die?
John Speaker
I let her have it to save her life... it was to save her life that I
quit struggling with her.
John Thinker
If she dies... but _will_ she die?
Mary Thinker
She will die!
Cousin Fanny
[_Rousing from her lethargy slightly; open-ing her eyes._]
John... Mary.... You really love me, don't you? Don't you? You really...
really...
[_Sinks back, with head slightly on one side and eyes closed again; does
not move after this._]
Mary Speaker
[_They all speak with lowered voices now._] She is asleep. She really
needed the tablet. It was a mercy she got it. She was nervous and
overwrought, and it has put her to sleep.
John Speaker
Yes, it was a mercy she got it. She was nervous and overwrought, and it
has put her to sleep.
... And you know, Mary, she _would_ have t... if I had _struggled_ with
her, she would have _died!_ A struggle would have killed her.
John Thinker
And now she will die because there was no struggle.
Mary Thinker
She will die.
John Speaker
Is she breathing quite naturally, Mary?
Mary Speaker Quite. Quite naturally.
Mary Thinker _Death_ is quite natural.
John Thinker And she is dying.
John Speaker
Well, if she had struggled and died... if she had died through any fault
of mine... I would always have reproached myself....
Mary Speaker
You have nothing to reproach yourself for. You need never reproach
yourself with regard to her....
John Thinker
She was old. She was very old. She will be better dead.
Mary Thinker She is not quite dead.
John Speaker
I don't like the way she is breathing.... She is scarcely breathing....
She doesn't seem to be breathing at all!
Mary Speaker Old people breathe very quietly.
Mary Thinker Old people die very quietly.
John Thinker And she is dying.
Mary Thinker
She is dead!
John Thinker
Mary... Mary... is she breathing at all? Mary Speaker
Call the maid.... Send for the doctor.... Call the maid!
John Thinker It is too late for any doctor.
Mary Thinker
Too late!
John Speaker
Mary, Mary.... My God... she can't be _dead!_
Mary Speaker [_Bending above her._]
John, dear... try to bear it bravely... but... but I'm afraid she is....
Poor Cousin Fanny has left us!
John Speaker
[_Rapidly_.]
Poor Cousin Fanny.... Poor Cousin Fanny.... Poor Cousin Fanny....
John Thinker
Fifteen thousand a year... fifteen thousand a year.... Why do I think of
that?... But I can't help it.... I can't help thinking of it....
Mary Speaker I'll go get the maid.
[_Going_.]
John Speaker
Stop.... Wait, Mary.... Don't call her yet... get her presently.... I
don't want to be alone just now.... I'm in a kind of fog....
[_Lights go out as he says this; he continues in the darkness._]
I'm all in the dark.
[_Lights on again_.]
[_In the interim, which is very short, Cousin Fanny has gone over to the
room on the left in which are John and Mary Thinker, and sits in chair
corresponding to one which she has just left._]
[_She is silent and motionless, but her head is lifted; her eyes are
open; she is alive again. When lights go on again, John and Mary Speaker
still stand before chair she has left as if she were in it; it is
apparent that they believe themselves to be still looking at the old
woman._]
Mary Speaker
Nonsense... all in the dark?... What do you mean by all in the dark?
John Speaker
Nothing... nothing now. It has passed....
[Pointing to chair where Cousin Fanny was.] She died with a smile on her
face!
John Thinker
But she isn't there.... Cousin Fanny isn't there.
... She's here.... She's over here with us... over here with _us_!
Mary Thinker
Here with us... over here, forever, now.
Mary Speaker
[_Holding John Speaker's hand and gazing at vacant chair_.]
How beautiful she looks! She is at rest, now! She is better off so.
Better dead. She is better at peace!
John Thinker
[_Violently; starting towards other room_.]
My God. I'm going to stop it... stop it... stop that lying... stop it
at any cost.... I'm going to stop that pretending... that damned
pretending....
Mary Thinker
[_Quickly getting in front of him; holding him back._]
What are you going to do?
John Thinker
Stop it, I tell you.... Tell the truth... stop that pretense....
[_Moves towards the other room. As he does so, Mary Speaker and John
Speaker, for the first time become aware of John and Mary Thinker, and
shrink back in terror and alarm, clinging together, confused, convicted,
abject, retreating, powerless; Cousin Fanny leaps in front of John
Thinker at same instant, and bars him back, saying:_]
Cousin Fanny
Stop!
John Thinker
Why? I _will_ stop this pretense... Why not?
Cousin Fanny
[_All four of the others lean forward and hang eagerly upon her words_.]
You must not. It can't be done. It is the foundation upon which your
society rests. It is necessary..._ over there!_
CURTAIN