Scorn of Women: A Play In Three Acts

SITKA CHARLEY I'll throw a lot off them dogs for some sugar. No sugar, they cost you four thousand. (Turns to go.) SITKA CHARLEY (Making no movement to detain him.) Um. DAVE HARNEY (Over his shoulder.) Four thousand, CHARLEY Um. SITKA CHARLEY They're wuth it if you want 'em real bad. SITKA CHARLEY All right, Dave. I buy. DAVE HARNEY Bring the dust around to my cabin at one o'clock. SITKA CHARLEY I buy now. DAVE HARNEY No, you don't. I'm goin' back to tell 'em what I think of 'em, the skunks! They've got sweetenin' in plenty for their own mush and coffee. You betcher life they have, and I'm goin' to get some of it or know the reason why. (Storms out through door to lejt.) (Sitka Charley returns to Mrs. Eppingwell.) SITKA CHARLEY That Dave Harney all the same one big robber. But I get um dogs all right. MRS. EPPINGWELL Tell me about this—er—this woman, Charley, this Freda—Freda Moloof her name is, isn't it? SITKA CHARLEY (Showing plainly that his attention has been called off from the consideration of Loraine Lisznayi.) Oh, Freda! MRS. EPPINGWELL (Smiling.) You call her Freda. SITKA CHARLEY Everybody call her Freda. Um good name. Me like it. MRS. EPPINGWELL Well, what kind of a woman is she? SITKA CHARLEY Um good woman. MRS. EPPINGWELL (With an angry movement of arm and clenching of hand.) Oh! SITKA CHARLEY (Looking surprised and getting stubborn.) Me know Freda long time—two years. Um good woman. Um tongue speak true. Um just like you, no afraid. Um just like you, travel Long Trail with me. No afraid, very soft heart; sorry for dogs; no ride on sled when dogs tired. Um tired, but um walk. And um tongue straight; all the time speak true. I am Sitka Charley—I know. MRS. EPPINGWELL Yes, yes. Go on. SITKA CHARLEY (Considering.) Freda no like men. MRS. EPPINGWELL Now that is too much, Charley? How about Mr. Vanderlip? SITKA CHARLEY (Shrugs his shoulders.) I know Freda long time. Freda know Vanderlip short time. Maybe Freda like Vanderlip. I don't know. But before she never like men, that I know. Maybe you like Mr. Vanderlip I think. (Mrs. Eppingwell smiles, and Sitka Charley grows more positive.) Vanderlip come your cabin all the time. You ride on Vanderlip's sled. I know. I see. Maybe you like Vanderlip. MRS. EPPINGWELL You don't understand, Charley. I have reasons for being nice to Mr. Vanderlip. SITKA CHARLEY (Sceptically.) Um. MRS. EPPINGWELL And, Charley, you mustn't tell anybody what you have told me about Mr. Vanderlip going away to-night with that—that woman. SITKA CHARLEY (Weighing her words.) Maybe I tell Freda. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Stamping foot angrily.) Don't be foolish, Charley. She is the last person in the world who ought to know. Of course you'll not tell her. Tell no one. (Sitka Charley hesitates.) Promise me you'll not tell. Promise me by the faith of food and blanket. SITKA CHARLEY (Reluctantly.) All right, I no tell. MRS. EPPINGWELL They say Freda is a dancer. Have you seen her dance? SITKA CHARLEY (Nodding his heady a pleased expression on his face.) I see um. Very good dance. Um dance at Juneau, two years ago, first time I see. Treadwell Mine no work that day. No men to work. All men come Juneau and look see Freda dance. Freda makum much money. Um speak to me. Um say, "Charley, I go Yukon Country. You drive my dogs, how much?" Then Freda travel Long Trail with me. MRS. EPPINGWELL They say many men like her. SITKA CHARLEY (Nodding head vigorously.) Um, sure. Me like her too, very much. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Smiling tolerantly.) And they say she makes fools of men. SITKA CHARLEY Sure. Dam fools. Men just like bubble. Freda just make play with um—smash!—just like that. Everybody say so. MRS. EPPINGWELL What kind of a looking woman is she? SITKA CHARLEY You no see um? Mrs. Eppingwell No. What does she look like? (Freda enters from right.) SITKA CHARLEY (Looking at Freda.) Um there now. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Not understanding.) What? SITKA CHARLEY (Nodding head toward Freda.) Um Freda there. (Mrs. Eppingwell turns involuntarily to look. Freda pauses on entering, starts as though to retreat at sight of the crowd, then stiffens herself, face and body, to meet it, and proceeds to brush snow from moccasins. There is silence in store. Then a perturbation amongst miners about stove, men craning their heads over one another's shoulders to look at Freda. The clerks look at her. Everybody looks at her.) (Mrs. McFee turns up her nose several degrees, and, plainly advertising a highly moral rage, walks over to Mrs. Eppingwell.) MRS. McFEE (To Mrs. Eppingwell, but glaring at Freda.) It's my way of thinking that it is high time for decent bodies to be going. (Sitka Charley glares angrily at Mrs. McFee.) MRS. EPPINGWELL (In low voice.) Hush. It is a public place, and she has as much right here as you or I. Don't insult the poor woman. MRS. McFEE (Snorting.) In my way of thinking the insult's the other way around. Come you, Mrs. Eppingwell, we must go. The verra air is contameenated. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Pleadingly.) Do please restrain yourself, Mrs. McFee. Don't make a scene. MRS. MCFEE (Raising her voice.) I'll no restrain myself, and I'll no wait for you if you see proper no to come now. The hussy! (Mrs. McFee, nose high in the air, turns to make exit at right. Freda has just finished brushing snow, and has risen erect. Mrs. McFee, passing her to go out the door, sniffs audibly and draws aside her skirt. Freda makes no movement, though her lips tighten. Exit Mrs. McFee. Freda tries to hang up wisp-broom, but her hand trembles, misses peg, and wisp-broom falls to floor. She picks it up and this time hangs it properly. Turns and goes to right rear to counter, where clerk waits upon her.) SITKA CHARLEY (Glaring after Mrs. McFee, angrily) . That womans no like Freda. What for? MRS. EPPINGWELL (Speaking gently.) No women like Freda. SITKA CHARLEY (Stunned, slowly.) You no like Freda? MRS. EPPINGWELL (More gently even than before.) No, Charley, I do not like Freda. SITKA CHARLEY (Showing anger.) What for you no like Freda? MRS. EPPINGWELL I cannot explain. You would not understand. SITKA CHARLEY (More anger.) Me Sitka Charley. Me understand. What for you no like Freda? (Captain Eppingwell enters from right.) MRS. EPPINGWELL I— (Catching sight of Capt. Eppingwell.) There is Captain Eppingwell now. (Capt. Eppingwell brushes moccasins quickly, and goes immediately to Mrs. Eppingwell. Sitka Charley, still angry, joins group about stove.) CAPT. EPPINGWELL Early, as usual, Maud. MRS. EPPINGWELL No, merely on time. It is you who are late. Capt. Eppingwell Impossible! (Looks at his watch and smiles triumphantly.) I knew it. On time to the tick of the second. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Smiling.) Not by Dawson time. CAPT. EPPINGWELL Oh! of course. I haven't changed my watch. I'm still going by sun-time. Sorry. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Smiling.) I forgive you. It is the first time, but I really can't count it against you. CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Looking closely into her face.) What's wrong? MRS. EPPINGWELL Archie, you're the dearest man I know. Of course there is something wrong, and of course you knew it as soon as you set eyes on me. Well, I am beaten. CAPT. EPPINGWELL The Ever-Victorious-One beaten! Impossible! I'll not believe it. MRS. EPPINGWELL I am, just the same. Here I have been trying to save Floyd Vanderlip, counteracting that evil woman's influence, having him to tea and dinner and giving him no end of my time, and Flossie isn't here yet, and he runs away with Freda Mo-loof to-night. It's all arranged, and everything. CAPT. EPPINGWELL But—but—wait a minute. Enlighten me. I am only a poor traveller. Who is this Flossie? And why shouldn't this Vanderlip-man—whoever he is—run away if he wants to? MRS. EPPINGWELL How ridiculous of me! I forget you've been away. You know who Freda Moloof is? CAPT. EPPINGWELL Surely, surely. She has the most magnificent furs and the most magnificent dogs in all Alaska. A fascinating creature, I—er—understand. She plays with men as a child plays with bubbles. MRS. EPPINGWELL It seems to me I've heard that before. CAPT. EPPINGWELL It has become a saying in the country. MRS. EPPINGWELL I have heard of men who whistle women up as they would whistle dogs. She must be the type of woman that whistles men. CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Warmly.) All she has to do is look at a man. MRS. EPPINGWELL (Smiling.) You speak as though she had looked at you. CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Smiling.) A very interesting woman. MRS. EPPINGWELL Well, anyway, she has cast eyes and wiles upon Floyd Vanderlip. CAPT. EPPINGWELL But why shouldn't she? This is a free country. MRS. EPPINGWELL Wait a minute. I'm trying to explain. Floyd Vanderlip is engaged to marry some one else. CAPT. EPPINGWELL O-o-h! MRS. EPPINGWELL Floyd Vanderlip is a big, strong man. For five years he chased Eldorados over the ice-fields, living on moose and salmon and working like a beast. He never had an idle moment in which to be wicked. Then he struck it on Klondike and is worth millions and millions. Also, he sat down for the first time in five years and rested. He remembered a girl who was waiting for him down in the States—a young thing—and sent for her to come in. They were to be married as soon as she arrived. He has a cabin all ready. Well, that's Flossie. She is coming in over the ice now—he's told me all about it—and ought to be here any day. I've been looking for her, and looking for her, till I am almost sick. Then this Freda Moloof cast her spell upon him. I heard the gossip— CAPT. EPPINGWELL And proceeded to take a hand. I begin to understand. MRS. EPPINGWELL I did my best to break her influence. The time and thought I've wasted upon that man! It's almost scandalous the way I've devoted myself to him! Sitka Charley believes I am in love with him—told me so to my face. And it's all wasted, card parties and everything. What was I against the only woman in Klondike who possesses a piano and a maid? And to-night he runs away down the river with her. CAPT. EPPINGWELL With Freda Moloof? MRS. EPPINGWELL With Freda Moloof. There she is now, buying things for the journey most probably. CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Turning to look at Freda, and turning back again.) I must say she couldn't have done better if he is worth all you say he is. I remember him now, a strapping fellow, brave as a lion and all that. MRS. EPPINGWELL Yes, but he's caressed more shovel-handles than women's hands, and that's the trouble with him. And I don't know what I shall do. CAPT. EPPINGWELL You could scarcely serve an injunction on him. MRS. EPPINGWELL I don't know what I'll do. Floyd Vanderlip is not the sort of man to appeal to. To try to impress him to do the right thing would be like setting fire to a powder mill. I wish I knew how near Flossie is. There hasn't been a courier or a mail carrier in for weeks and weeks. The mail from Dyea is twenty days overdue. (Enter Mail Carrier, carrying leather mail-pouch. He is clad in a long squirrel-skin parka reaching to his knees, the hood drawn over his head and ears and leaving only jace exposed. Face and mouth are iced-up, making speech impossible. He does not stop to brush snow jrom moccasins, but proceeds rapidly to cross to stove.) CAPT. EPPINGWELL There is the man who can tell you about Flossie. Shall I ask him? MRS. EPPINGWELL Oh! the mail carrier? At last! And in the nick of time. Yes, do. CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Stepping into the path of the Mail Carrier.) What's the news? (Mail Carrier makes dumb show that he cannot speak, waving his arms and pointing to his iced mouth and then to the stove.) (Capt. Eppingwell laughs and lets him pass.) (To Mrs. Eppingwell.) He's so iced up he cannot speak. Wait till he thaws out, and then I'll get hold of him. In the meantime— MRS. EPPINGWELL (Interrupting.) In the meantime you must meet the Lisznayi. CAPT. EPPINGWELL The Lisznayi! MRS. EPPINGWELL Yes, she is a fascinating woman, our latest acquisition. An Old World Hungarian with all the do and dare of the New World blood. She was a friend of the Queen of Roumania. Posed as a model for the Queen. Had cardinals and princes at her beck and call. Plenty of money, of course, position, and all that. Came into the Klondike out of sheer love of adventure, and possibly because she was bored. You'll enjoy her, I know. There she is over there. Do you care to? (Mrs. Eppingwell and Capt. Eppingwell walk over to left rear to Loraine Lisznayi and Prince.) (Mail Carrier tries to get to stove, but is blocked by miners, who are demanding: "What's the news?" "How's the trail?" "Any letters for me?" "And me?" "And me?" "Where did you meet O'Brien? He left ten days ago." "How's the ice on Thirty Mile River?" etc.y etc. To all of which Mail Carrier replies by waving his arms and thrusting through the crowd till he gets to stove, over which he holds his Face.) (Dave Harney enters from left, still in towering rage, but his jace lights up, as though struck by a sudden thought when he catches sight oj Mail Carrier. He strides over, clutches Mail Carrier by the arm and draws him to one side.) DAVE HARNEY (In a whisper.) Got a noospaper? MAIL CARRIER (Nods head.) DAVE HARNEY How many? MAIL CARRIER (Holds up one finger.) DAVE HARNEY I'll give you twenty dollars for it. MAIL CARRIER (Shakes head.) DAVE HARNEY (Bidding rapidly, each bid being met by a shake of Mail Carrier's head.) Twenty-five. Thirty. Thirty-five. Forty. Fifty. MAIL CARRIER (Nods head and goes back to stove.) (Freda walks forward toward stove and beckons to Sitka Charley, who leaves group about stove and comes to her.) FREDA Tell the Mail Carrier I want to speak to him, Charley. SITKA CHARLEY (Obediently.) Urn. (Sitka Charley crosses to stove, where Mail Carrier is pulling the ice from his mouth.) Freda want talk some with you. MAIL CARRIER (Turning to look at Freda, nods head and mumbles incoherently, at same time starting to go to Freda and still pulling ice jrom mouth. He shakes hands with Freda and speaks thickly at first.) How do do, Freda. FREDA How do you do, Joe. What kind of a trip did you have? MAIL CARRIER Pretty rough, but I made good time just the same. Passed everything in sight. FREDA That is what I wanted to ask you about. Did you pass the outfit of a girl, or, rather, of a young woman? MAIL CARRIER Coming in by herself, with a dog-puncher and an Indian? FREDA Yes. Where did you pass her? MAIL CARRIER Yesterday afternoon, about three o'clock. They were making camp early. She was pretty tired from the looks of her. FREDA When should she get in? MAIL CARRIER I talked with the dog-puncher. He said they'd camp to-night at Mooseback and come in tomorrow. That's twenty-five miles, and if they don't start too late, they'll make Dawson by the middle of the day. FREDA What kind of a girl is she? MAIL CARRIER Good. How do you mean? FREDA I mean what kind of a looking girl is she? How did she strike you? MAIL CARRIER Oh, one of the soft and clingy kind, I guess I'd call her. You know, the kind that needs lots of cuddling and petting. Pretty, yes, danged pretty. Blue eyes, wavy hair, and all the rest—trembly lips and teary eyes—smily and weepy, you know, all in the same moment. But, gee! Freda, I can't stand here gassin' all day. I got about a thousand dollars' worth of letters to deliver—a dollar apiece and cheap at the price. I'll see you later. So long. FREDA All right, Joe. Tell Sitka Charley I want to see him, will you? (Mail Carrier returns to stove, picks up mail pouch, and sends Sitka Charley to Freda.) (Capt. Eppingwell comes to Mail Carrier, and is leading him off to Mrs. Eppingwell when Dave Harney interposes.) DAVE HARNEY Hold your hosses, Joe. How about that dicker for the noospaper? You said Yes to fifty. MAIL CARRIER (Pulling out his gold sack and drawing newspaper from pocket and giving both to Dave Harney.) All right. Just weigh the fifty into that. (Dave Harney takes gold sack over to scales, produces his own gold sack, and a clerk weighs from one sack into the other.) (Mail Carrier accompanies Capt. Eppingwell to Mrs. Eppingwell.) (Capt. Eppingwell, Loraine Lisznayi, and Prince move along counter toward right and inspect mittens and moccasins.) FREDA What time to-morrow has he decided upon starting? SITKA CHARLEY No to-morrow. To-day, to-night, twelve o'clock to-night. FREDA (Startled.) To-night! Are you sure? Um. SITKA CHARLEY FREDA You said to-morrow. SITKA CHARLEY Vanderlip um change mind. Look like much hurry. FREDA And the Lisznayi woman? SITKA CHARLEY She wait water-hole. Um meet her there. One Indian drive her dogs. Me drive Vanderlip's dogs. FREDA But Vanderlip mustn't go to-night. Charley, he simply mustn't. I tell you, SITKA CHARLEY (Incredulously.) Um. FREDA Not only that, but you must help me to keep him from going. SITKA CHARLEY (Angrily.) What for, Freda? I am Sitka Charley. I buy dogs, I sell dogs, I drive dogs. I help you dogs, yes. What for I help you other things? Vanderlip all the same one big chief. Um womans like um. (Holding up fingers.) One, two, three womans like um. That um womans' trouble. No Sitka Charley's trouble. What for, Freda? FREDA Why, what are you thinking about? Sitka Charley I think you one big fool, Freda. FREDA (Smiling sadly.) And I think you are right, Charley, when I look back. SITKA CHARLEY No look back. Right now. What for you make fool with Vanderlip? Him no good. Him big fool too. FREDA Oh, I see. You think I am in love with him. Sitka Charley (With satisfaction.) Um. FREDA You really think so? SITKA CHARLEY Um. What for you say he must no go to-night? Um? FREDA Listen, Charley. You must help me, and I'll tell you all about it. There is a little girl coming in over the ice to marry Vanderlip— SITKA CHARLEY (Interrupting excitedly.) One more woman! Um Vanderlip one dam big chief. (Holding up fingers.) One woman, two woman, three woman, four womans. FREDA (Surprised.) Four women? SITKA CHARLEY Um. Four womans. FREDA Who are they? SITKA CHARLEY (Holding up fingers.) Little girl come in over ice—one. Lisznayi woman go 'way with um—two. Freda no want Lisznayi woman go 'way with um—three. Mrs. Eppingwell—four. One—two—three—four—womans. FREDA (Surprised.) Mrs. Eppingwell! Oh, you told me about her once. She was the woman who was with you on that trip through the Hills of Silence. She is a very brave woman. I have heard much of her, and I like her. If I were a man, I could love her. She must be very good, and sweet, and kind. SITKA CHARLEY Sure. And um hard like iron sometimes. But um no like you. Um say so. What for um no like you? FREDA (Gently.) No woman likes me, Charley. SITKA CHARLEY All men like you. FREDA (With touch of anger.) All men are fools. SITKA CHARLEY What for womans no like you? FREDA (Meditatively) . And she likes Vanderlip. How do you know? What do you know? SITKA CHARLEY No can tell. I promise. FREDA Promised whom? SITKA CHARLEY Mrs. Eppingwell. Um Mrs. Eppingwell very good woman. FREDA But she has a husband. It is not good for her to like another man. What do you think? SITKA CHARLEY (Perplexedly.) I think I don't know. I think all um womans crazy. What for all um womans like this Vanderlip man? FREDA (Decisively.) Well, I don't. SITKA CHARLEY (Sceptically.) Um. FREDA Let me show you, Charley, and then you will know why I want you to help me. And, remember, you mustn't tell a word of any of this to any one. SITKA CHARLEY (Debating the proposition.) Um—maybe I tell Mrs. Eppingwell. FREDA (Angrily.) Don't be silly, Charley. You mustn't tell anybody. Promise me now. SITKA CHARLEY (With despairing perplexity.) All right, I no tell. FREDA Now this little girl is coming in over the ice—her name is Flossie. She has lived a soft life down in California, where the sun is warm and there is no snow. She does not know hardship, nor the trail, and she is having a hard time now on the trail. Think of it!—sixty-five degrees below zero this morning, and she is out in it, walking, walking, walking, her breath freezing, her mouth icing up, her eyebrows rimed with frost. And she is very stiff, and sore, and tired. Every step of the trail she takes in pain. It is like a bad dream to her, Charley. But she sees, always before her, at the end of the dream, an awakening at Dawson, in the arms of the man who is to marry her. But, Charley, what if when she gets to Dawson there is no Floyd Vanderlip? no man to marry her? It will break her heart. It will be no happy awakening from a bad dream, but the beginning of a worse dream. And she is a little girl, Charley—not a strong woman like me who does not care. She will care, and she will know nobody, and she will cry, and cry, and cry. Did you ever hear a woman cry, Charley? Think of it, she is only a little girl. SITKA CHARLEY Um. More like baby. FREDA Yes, put it that way, more like a baby. She cannot stand pain. SITKA CHARLEY Oh, on trail, too much walk make um hurt. FREDA No, no. (Holds hand to heart.) Pain here. SITKA CHARLEY Um. I know. Um sick. What um call heart disease. I see one man sick that way. Um fall down dead, just like that. FREDA (Irritably.) Oh, you don't understand. SITKA CHARLEY (Puzzled.) I don't know. Womans all crazy. FREDA (Smiling.) I think I can explain. Last summer you were in a canoe race on the river. You paddled very hard, but you lost. (Putting hand to heart.) And it hurt you— SITKA CHARLEY (Interrupting.) Um. Um. Paddle like hell. No win race. (Stroking first one arm and then the other.) Much tired right here. (Putting hand over heart.) And um much hurt right here, no tired, just hurt like rheumatism, because I am sorry I lose race. (Nods head repeatedly.) Um. Um. FREDA The very thing. She doesn't know it, but she is racing against this Lisznayi woman. Flossie must get here before the other woman steals her man. And you must help her win the race. Will you? SITKA CHARLEY You know this Flossie girl? FREDA No. SITKA CHARLEY No? FREDA Never saw her in my life. But she is coming into a strange country without a friend or a dollar when she gets here. She will have great trouble. And you know, Charley, it is not good for a woman to be without friends or money in this country. SITKA CHARLEY (Puzzled as much as ever.) Don't know Flossie girl. No like Vanderlip man. What for you care?... Much foolishness. All womans crazy.... All right, I help. (Mail Carrier has-finished interview with Mrs. Eppingwell, received gold sack back from Dave Harney, and gone out with mail pouch to left. Capt. Eppingwell and Loraine Lisznayi have rejoined Mrs. Eppingwell.) (Loraine Lisznayi says good-by to them, and starts to make exit to right, passing close to Freda and Sitka Charley. She pauses one or two paces away.) LORAINE (Favoring Freda with a quick but sweeping, scornful glance.) Come here, Charley. I want to speak to you a moment. (Her conduct angers Sitka Charley, who grows stolid and refuses to move or reply.) FREDA Speak with her, Charley. SITKA CHARLEY (Sullenly.) No speak. (Loraine Lisznayi, scornful expression on face, proceeds on her way, and makes exit to right.) FREDA Why didn't you, Charley? SITKA CHARLEY (Angrily.) What for she look at you that way? FREDA (Ignoring the question.) They say she is a rich woman in her own country. But I don't believe it. I think she is after Vanderlip's money. SITKA CHARLEY Lisznayi woman no got money. I know. I sell her dogs—eight hundred dollars. She pay me three hundred. Two weeks, three weeks, I no get other five hundred dollars. Um no got five hundred. I say, "My dogs, give me back." She give back. Me have fur robe. Good fur robe. She buy, two hundred dollar. Um no pay. Um have good fur robe. Me no have nothing. Um have cabin. Um no pay rent to Johnson. Um smile very nice, um Johnson wait. I know, I see. Um dogs she got now, Vanderlip give, make present. Um no pay firewood. Um no pay many things. FREDA I thought so. And now to win the race. Dogs first of all. Flossie must be brought in to-night. I want you here in Dawson, Charley. So you must send some Indian up the trail with a fresh team of dogs. Flossie camps at Mooseback tonight. He is to let her think that Vanderlip has sent the dogs, and that Vanderlip wants her to come right on to-night. Understand? SITKA CHARLEY Um. Sure. FREDA (Preparing to start toward door at right.) Start the dogs right away with a man you can trust. And he must be sure to let Flossie think that Vanderlip sent him. At the best, Flossie can't arrive until late to-night. And there may be delays. You keep on Vanderlip's trail so that you will know always where he is. (Freda and Sitka Charley start to walk toward the door at right.) When I send for him you must bring him to me, and I'll hold him till Flossie gets in. SITKA CHARLEY (Touching Freda's arm.) No very strong, Freda. FREDA (Tapping her forehead.) Vanderlip no very strong, Charley. (Both cover ears, pull on mittens, and go out.) (Dave Harney, unobserved, has been squatting on hams in front of counter to right, intently reading newspaper. He is making dumb show of excited interest. One of the miners discovers him, runs over to him, and starts to read newspaper over his shoulder. Dave Harney folds newspaper across, resting it on his knee, and looks up coolly into face of Miner.) MINER (In hurt voice.) Can't you give a fellow a squint at your paper? DAVE HARNEY Got any sugar? Sure. MINER DAVE HARNEY Give me a whack at your sugar barrel? MINER (Surprised and shocked.) No. DAVE HARNEY Then nary squint at my noospaper. (In meantime other miners and clerks have surrounded him, all demanding to see his newspaper. Whereupon he puts paper in his pocket, rises to his feet, and starts toward door to right, miners and clerks following him and grumbling at his meanness.) DAVE HARNEY (Pausing with his hand on door.) You think you're smart, don't you? Got a corner on sugar, eh? And poor Dave Harney left without no sweetenin' for his coffee an' mush. Well, poor Dave Harney's got a corner on noos. When you want noos, come an' see him, an' be sure an bring your sugar along. (Goes out, followed by miners.) (Mrs. Eppingwell and Capt. Eppingwell come forward to stove and warm their hands.) CAPT. EPPINGWELL (Continuing conversation.) Perhaps Freda doesn't know about Flossie. I always thought her a good girl at heart. MRS. EPPINGWELL

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