VERA Oh, is he your nephew?
MENDEL I am sorry he is out--he, too, has so many pupils, though at the moment he is only at the Crippled Children"s Home--playing to them.
VERA How lovely of him!
[_Touched and deciding to conquer her prejudice_]
But that"s just what _I_ came about--I mean we"d like him to play again at our Settlement. Please ask him why he hasn"t answered Miss Andrews"s letter.
MENDEL [_Astonished_]
He hasn"t answered your letter?
VERA Oh, I"m not Miss Andrews; I"m only her a.s.sistant.
MENDEL I see--Kathleen, whatever are you doing under the table?
[_KATHLEEN, in her hunting around for the candlestick, is now stooping and lifting up the table-cloth._]
KATHLEEN Sure the fiend"s after witching away the candleshtick.
MENDEL [_Embarra.s.sed_]
The candlestick? Oh--I--I think you"ll find it in my bedroom.
KATHLEEN Wisha, now!
[_She goes into his bedroom._]
MENDEL [_Turning apologetically to VERA_]
I beg your pardon, Miss Andrews, I mean Miss--er----
VERA Revendal.
MENDEL [_Slightly more interested_]
Revendal? Then you must be the Miss Revendal David told me about!
VERA [_Blushing_]
Why, he has only seen me once--the time he played at our Roof-Garden Concert.
MENDEL Yes, but he was so impressed by the way you handled those new immigrants--the Spirit of the Settlement, he called you.
VERA [_Modestly_]
Ah, no--Miss Andrews is that. And you will tell him to answer her letter at once, won"t you, because there"s only a week now to our Concert.
[_A gust of wind shakes the windows. She smiles._]
Naturally it will _not_ be on the Roof Garden.
MENDEL [_Half to himself_]
Fancy David not saying a word about it to me! Are you sure the letter was mailed?
VERA I mailed it myself--a week ago. And even in New York---- [_She smiles. Re-enter KATHLEEN with the recovered candlestick._]
KATHLEEN Bedad, ye"re as great a shleep-walker as Mr. David!
[_She places the candlestick on the table and moves toward her bedroom._]
MENDEL Kathleen!
KATHLEEN [_Pursuing her walk without turning_]
I"m not here!
MENDEL Did you take in a letter for Mr. David about a week ago?
[_Smiling at MISS REVENDAL_]
He doesn"t get many, you see.
KATHLEEN [_Turning_]
A letter? Sure, I took in ounly a postcard from Miss Johnson, an" that ounly sayin"----
VERA And you don"t remember a letter--a large letter--last Sat.u.r.day--with the seal of our Settlement?
KATHLEEN Last Sat.u.r.day wid a seal, is it? Sure, how could I forgit it?
MENDEL Then you _did_ take it in?
KATHLEEN Ye"re wrong entirely. "Twas the misthress took it in.
MENDEL [_To VERA_]
I am sorry the boy has been so rude.
KATHLEEN But the misthress didn"t give it him at wanst--she hid it away bekaz it was _Shabbos_.
MENDEL Oh, dear--and she has forgotten to give it to him. Excuse me.
[_He makes a hurried exit to the kitchen._]
KATHLEEN And excuse _me_--I"ve me thrunk to pack.
[_She goes toward her bedroom, pauses at the door._]
And ye"ll witness I don"t pack the candleshtick.
[_Emphatic exit._]
VERA [_Still dazed_]
A Jew! That wonderful boy a Jew!... But then so was David the shepherd youth with his harp and his psalms, the sweet singer in Israel.
[_She surveys the room and its contents with interest. The windows rattle once or twice in the rising wind. The light gets gradually less. She picks up the huge Hebrew tome on the piano and puts it down with a slight smile as if overwhelmed by the weight of alien antiquity. Then she goes over to the desk and picks up the printed music._]
Mendelssohn"s Concerto, Tartini"s Sonata in G Minor, Bach"s Chaconne...
[_She looks up at the book-rack._]
"History of the American Commonwealth," "Cyclopaedia of History,"
"History of the Jews"--he seems very fond of history. Ah, there"s Sh.e.l.ley and Tennyson.
[_With surprise_]
Nietzsche next to the Bible? No Russian books apparently---- [_Re-enter MENDEL triumphantly with a large sealed letter._]
MENDEL Here it is! As it came on Sat.u.r.day, my mother was afraid David would open it!
VERA [_Smiling_]
But what _can_ you do with a letter except open it? Any more than with an oyster?
MENDEL [_Smiling as he puts the letter on DAVID"S desk_]