MS-UoR-1552-1

[0107] M continues pacing. [0108] Five seconds. ^{Say 3 lengths} [0109] Fade out on strip.
[0110] Stage in darkness. [0111] Silence. [0112] Long pause.

[0115] Fade up ^{to xxx xxx xxx dimmer} on strip. [0116] , shorter, 4 steps starting at xxx ^{Rest in darkness.}
[0117] M standing facing front at R end
[0118] Five seconds ^Pause

[0118|001] Now I am one who may not predecease her.
[0118|002] Chilling prospect, for her physical health
is fair. [0129] See how firm she stands, how clear
the complexion ^skin and, when she moves, with
what poise. [0130] (Pause.) [0133] Yet she never goes
abroad, she has not been abroad now for -
let me calculate - over 30 years. [0133|001] So no
hope from that quarter.

[0134] (Pause.) [0139] Where is she,
it may be wondered. [0141] She is in the old home,
the same where she was fooled into this world
by the old family physician, a general
practitioner named Haddon, long gone to
his account. [0141|001] So much for that unity. [0141|002] (Pause.)
[0141|003] Though on the plain side, [⁁]^{as you may see} she has had admirers,
male & female, but none outstanding, as far as ^that
one knows.

[0141|004] [⁁]^{Indeed that} That she is still a maid
is almost certain. [0141|005] So no light from that quarter.
[0148] (Pause.) [0149] Let us pass on now and ask, When did this
begin? [0149|001] Shall we say, In girlhood? xxx
Well before puberty?

[0151] And that when other girls
of her age were out playing hockey, or otherwise
revelling in life, she was at this selfsame place
where you see her now, now still and out-
wardly calm, now pacing back & forth,
back & forth, with tread more measured
than at sentry-go? [0152] (Pause.)

^{[0177] Does she ever utter now? still
sleep? [0178] In fits & starts, bows her head
till it rests against the wall and gets a
little light sleep. [0180] xxx xxx xxx xxx? Still speak.
[0181] Some nights it is said she does, in the
dead hour when all are sleeping and she thinks
xxx xx xxx none can xxx hear.}
[0155] The floor here,
now bare as some ^of you may see, was once -.
[0155|001] (Pause. [0156] M starts pacing.) [0158] But let us watch
her pace in silence. [0163] (M paces in silence till
finally, at one or other end of strip, V
joins in, synchronous with steps.) [0164] One two
three four five six seven wheel, one two three
four five six seven wheel. [0164|001] (Pacing continues)

[0164|002] Dix till M halts at same point as at curtainside.
[0161] See with what grace she wheels, now deasil,
now withershins, and, when she halts, how
always facing xxx ^{the wall}, to gaze before her with
unseeing eyes. [0165] (Pacing continues till M
halts at xxx R end of strip.)

[0166] Now to return
to this strip ^stretch of floor, once it was carpeted,
a deep pile, [0167] until one day, while still
little more than a child, she called her
mother & said, Mother, this is not enough.

[0168] What do you mean, Mary, said the mother,
incidentally long gone to her account, what
can you possibly mean, Mary, not enough?
[0173] No, mother, she said, I must hear xxx the
feet, however faint they fall. [0175] (Pacing
resumed.)