MISS LAWTON: "Papa!"
MRS. CRASHAW: "Agne-e-e-s!"
MRS. CURWEN, faintly: "Walter!"
THE ELEVATOR BOY: "Say!"
MILLER: "Oh, that won"t do. All join in "h.e.l.lo!""
ALL: "h.e.l.lo!"
MILLER: "Once more!"
ALL: "h.e.l.lo!"
MILLER: "ONCE more!"
ALL: "h.e.l.lo!"
MILLER: "Now wait a while." After an interval: "No, n.o.body coming." He takes out his watch. "We must repeat this cry at intervals of a half-minute. Now, then!" They all join in the cry, repeating it as MR. MILLER makes the signal with his lifted hand.
MISS LAWTON: "Oh, it"s no use!"
MRS. CRASHAW: "They don"t hear."
MRS. CURWEN: "They WON"T hear."
MILLER: "Now, then, three times!"
ALL: "h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo! h.e.l.lo!"
III.
ROBERTS appears at the outer door of his apartment on the fifth floor. It opens upon a s.p.a.cious landing, to which a wide staircase ascends at one side. At the other is seen the grated door to the shaft of the elevator. He peers about on all sides, and listens for a moment before he speaks.
ROBERTS: "h.e.l.lo yourself."
MILLER, invisibly from the shaft: "Is that you, Roberts?"
ROBERTS: "Yes; where in the world are you?"
MILLER: "In the elevator."
MRS. CRASHAW: "We"re ALL here, Edward."
ROBERTS: "What! You, Aunt Mary!"
MRS. CRASHAW: "Yes. Didn"t I say so?"
ROBERTS: "Why don"t you come up?"
MILLER: "We can"t. The elevator has got stuck somehow."
ROBERTS: "Got stuck? Bless my soul! How did it happen? How long have you been there?"
MRS. CURWEN: "Since the world began!"
MILLER: "What"s the use asking how it happened? We don"t know, and we don"t care. What we want to do is to get out."
ROBERTS: "Yes, yes! Be careful!" He rises from his frog-like posture at the grating, and walks the landing in agitation. "Just hold on a minute!"
MILLER: "Oh, WE sha"n"t stir."
ROBERTS: "I"ll see what can be done."
MILLER: "Well, see quick, please. We have plenty of time, but we don"t want to lose any. Don"t alarm Mrs. Miller, if you can help it."
ROBERTS: "No, no."
MRS. CURWEN: "You MAY alarm Mr. Curwen."
ROBERTS: "What! Are YOU there?"
MRS. CURWEN: "Here? I"ve been here all my life!"
ROBERTS: "Ha! ha! ha! That"s right. We"ll soon have you out. Keep up your spirits."
MRS. CURWEN: "But I"m NOT keeping them up."
MISS LAWTON: "Tell papa I"m here too."
ROBERTS: "What! You too, Miss Lawton?"
MRS. CRASHAW: "Yes, and young Mr. Bemis. Didn"t I TELL you we were all here?"
ROBERTS: "I couldn"t realize it. Well, wait a moment."
MRS. CURWEN: "Oh, you can trust us to wait."
ROBERTS, returning with DR. LAWTON, and MR. BEMIS, who join him in stooping around the grated door of the shaft: "They"re just under here in the well of the elevator, midway between the two stories."
LAWTON: "Ha! ha! ha! You don"t say so."
BEMIS: "Bless my heart! What are they doing there?"