First Daughter
I DREAD his knowing. | |
Second Daughter
She was his favorite sister— | |
| Older than he, and very far away. | |
| Think of it—no one with her at the last! | |
| Better delay the telling … such a sorrow … | 5 |
First Daughter
Ah, you remember how he loved our mother! | |
| And yet, last summer, after she had died | |
| He never seemed to take it hard at all. | |
| He seemed too much resigned, too much himself. | |
| It would have killed him twenty years ago! | 10 |
Second Daughter
It is the age they come to. Something goes out, | |
| Goes mercifully out. I often think | |
| They learn to take death as they take their broth, | |
| Their daily walk, their game of solitaire. | |
First Daughter
And you and I, sister? Already youth | 15 |
| Slips far and far behind us. Shall we, too…? | |
Second Daughter [Tearfully]
How can you say it? How can you say it? Oh! | |
First Daughter
Here comes old Nurse Lucretia up the street, | |
| Heavy with her dull robes, and hurrying | |
| To be the first to bear the word to him. | 20 |
Second Daughter
Sign to her, wave her away, wave her away! | |
| He has seen her close so many dead eyes! | |
| First Daughter No, | |
| She has passed along, she was not coming in. | |
Second Daughter
Hush, he may hear! | 25 |
| First Daughter His mind is on his paper. | |
Second Daughter
Make some good reason, take the paper from him | |
| Before he reads … the names. Who knows but hers | |
| Might be already there? | |
| First Daughter It is too late. | 30 |
| His finger finds the column. | |
| The Old Man [Calling] Here! See here! | |
| Why, Adelaide is dead! My sister Adelaide! | |
Daughters
O father, father! | |
| The Old Man I suppose it’s true. | 35 |
First Daughter
A letter came. Now read it, deary, read it. | |
The Old Man
No, let it wait. So Adelaide is dead! | |
| Well, she was restless—go and go she must, | |
| First to this place, then that place, till at last | |
| She settled in Nevada. As for me, | 40 |
| Here I am still, and I shall count my hundred. | |
| Well, well, well, well, so Adelaide is dead! | |
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