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قراءة كتاب The Fool: A Play in Four Acts
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
with you about his check.
[She pauses for encouragement, finding what she has been told to say a trifle difficult] You know, he promised five thousand dollars to beautify the parlor of the Parish House.
Dr. Wadham
[Foreseeing trouble]: Oh, yes.
Mrs. Tice
And since then—well, frankly, Doctor, John was very much upset about last Sunday's sermon. Mr. Gilchrist preached from the text about the rich man entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
Dr. Wadham
Always a trifle dangerous.
Mrs. Tice
Yes, and last Sunday it seemed as if he were directing all his remarks at John. We're in the first pew, you know, and John says he doesn't like to complain, but there's getting to be altogether too much of this—Bolshevism. John says the preachers are more than half to blame for the present social unrest. I heard the sermon, and I agree with John that some of it was positively insulting!
Dr. Wadham
Mr. Gilchrist is young.
Jerry
Mr. Gilchrist is a nut!
Mrs. Tice
Do you know what he said, Doctor? He said all this—"decking the church"—was making an accomplice of God. He said we couldn't take credit to ourselves for returning a small portion of our ill-gotten gains!
Mrs. Gilliam
Small portion! When I've just given away five hundred pounds of coffee!
Mrs. Tice
He said charity wasn't giving away what you didn't want!
Mrs. Gilliam
It was good coffee, too! Our second best coffee!
Mrs. Tice
Of course, what John objected to was the reference to rents—to charging clerks and bookkeepers more than they could pay for "wretched little flats." John says he doesn't come here to be told how to run his business!
Mrs. Gilliam
Quite right! And I don't pay seven thousand dollars a year to hear my husband's coffee roasted!
[They all laugh—the more because of the previous tension. Mrs. Gilliam, surprised at first, sees the point, and joins in the laughter.]
Well, you understand what I mean!
Dr. Wadham
We understand, Mrs. Gilliam.
Mrs. Gilliam
Personally, I'm very fond of Mr. Gilchrist. His father had stock in our stores. But I don't think he's a good influence. This used to be a really exclusive church. Now, whenever Mr. Gilchrist preaches, there's such a crush of undesirable people in the galleries you can hardly get to your pew. We don't have that trouble with Dr. Wadham!
[Clare Jewett enters R., her arms full of parcels. Clare is 28. Smartly dressed, though in a fashion that suggests thought rather than expenditure, and pretty, in spite of a certain hardness. The next sentence arrests her, and she stands in the doorway; not eavesdropping, but not interrupting.]
Mrs. Tice
Mr. Gilchrist was such a promising young man!
Mrs. Gilliam
So rich, and happy!
Dilly