SCENE THREE

It is the next evening in the Critchfield living room. Aunt Lila is sewing in her rocker. Heavenly enters slowly in a white cellophane rain cape.

LILA: Still raining?

HEAVENLY [looking stunned]: Oh. Yes.

LILA: What’s the matter with you?

HEAVENLY: He’s gone.

LILA: Richard?

HEAVENLY: Yes.

LILA: Left town, you mean?

HEAVENLY: Yes. —I don’t want to talk about it.

LILA: Don’t be so tragic. Sit down here and let’s get this thing straightened out.

HEAVENLY: Some things can’t be straightened out, Auntie.

LILA: I’ve never known anything yet didn’t straighten itself out if you gave it time enough.

HEAVENLY: Time! Yes! A couple of centuries—

LILA: That’s how it looks when you’re young.

HEAVENLY [suddenly angry]: You don’t know how it feels!

LILA: Yes, I do know! And I know it’s hard to be young! Almost as hard as it is to be old! Sometimes it’s even harder because when you’re old—you get so you appreciate a good cup of coffee! But the young ones, the kids like you, they think the sun won’t rise tomorrow unless they get what they want.

HEAVENLY [coming down a bit from her anger and despair]: Have you got a cigarette?

LILA [brightly]: A whole pack of ‘em. My dividend came in from the compress stock!

HEAVENLY: Thanks.

LILA: By the way, I’m making you a new dress out of some goods I bought at Power’s.

HEAVENLY: Thanks, Auntie.

LILA: It’s got a lot of red in it. Your mother thinks it’s tacky. But I always say that spring’s a damn good excuse for wearing bright colors.

HEAVENLY: It’s no use, Auntie. I don’t feel like being bucked up. [Her voice catches.]

LILA: That’s right. Go on and do a little crying—and then go upstairs and get dressed for your dinner date.

HEAVENLY [sobbing.]: Do you think I’m going out?

LILA: Of course you are. You aren’t the sort of girl that gives up going to parties. I was, and look where it got me. [She offers Heavenly a light.] Here. Smoke your cigarette. Cigarettes were made for moments like these. Girls didn’t smoke ‘em back in the days when I had my big romantic catastrophes. I used to go out in the hayloft and stuff my mouth full of straw which wasn’t nearly so nice. They had rats in the hayloft. I remember once when I was right on the point of deciding to kill myself when one of those big gray monsters trotted over my ankle and gave me such a fit of the shudders that I completely forgot about my broken heart.

HEAVENLY [rising impatiently]: Oh, I haven’t got any broken heart.

LILA: No. They’re out of style. Where’s he gone to?

HEAVENLY: To work on the levee. That was his big ambition, that’s what he wanted to do. He said it took a flannel shirt and pair of boots to make him feel like a man. —He wanted me to go with him. Me! Live like a nigger on a lousy river barge. He expected me to do that.

LILA: Doesn’t he give you credit for having a lick of sense?

HEAVENLY: Oh, I don’t know. I might do it if he hadn’t been so casual about it. He didn’t call me all day so I went down to the drugstore, and the soda jerk told me he’d quit his job and gone to Friar’s Point and left a note for me in an empty Alka-Seltzer bottle.

LILA: Huh! What did the note say?

HEAVENLY: If I wanted him, I could meet him in Friar’s Point tonight. And get married.

LILA: You wouldn’t do a fool thing like that.

HEAVENLY: I don’t know.

LILA: He’s the restless kind. He’s never stuck at anything very long.

HEAVENLY: No, he goes from one thing to another.

LILA: One of these drifters.

HEAVENLY: It isn’t just that. He isn’t satisfied with the things that other people are satisfied with.

LILA: No. You can’t blame him for that. But that isn’t a very good reason for marrying him. He wanted to get away from the drugstore and the town. Maybe he’d be wanting to get away from you next.

HEAVENLY: I know. I can’t be sure.

LILA: You could never be sure.

HEAVENLY: If I thought I could hold him I’d take a chance on the rest. I’d live like a nigger for him on a lousy river barge. I’d even do that, if I thought he wouldn’t decide in the end that I was just another thing that he wanted to break away from.

LILA: When they’ve got the itch in them shoes there’s nothing but six feet of dirt can ever make ‘em stay put.

HEAVENLY: Tell me what to do.

LILA: You’ve got a date with Arthur Shannon tonight. Go upstairs and get dressed for it.

HEAVENLY: No!

LILA: I know that sounds like an awful anticlimax to a broken heart or whatever you call it nowadays, but so was the rat that ran over my ankle in the hayloft, and it was the rat that brought me back to my senses and made me see what a sentimental fool I was being! You’re better off than I was. You’ve got another to fall back on.

HEAVENLY: Arthur? I don’t think I could ever care much for him.

LILA: Why not?

HEAVENLY: He doesn’t seem quite human. All he does is talk and talk.

LILA: He’ll get over that.

HEAVENLY: Oh, God, I don’t know what to do!

VOICE OF MESSENGER BOY: Cutrere’s!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Flowers? How lovely! [She enters with an open box.] Look at this! Just look! It’s talisman roses! Heavenly! Arthur’s sent you a corsage! To wear to the Country Club tonight.

HEAVENLY: Oh, I know, I know.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [turning to Lila]: What’s the matter with her? What’s she crying about?

LILA: Richard Miles left town.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Well. Good riddance! I told you how much you could depend on a boy of that kind. —[She decides to take no further notice of Heavenly’s grief.] Look at this! Did you ever see anything more exquisite? [She holds the corsage up to Heavenly’s shoulder.] It’s going to look lovely on your blue knitted suit.

HEAVENLY [pushing the corsage aside]: Let go of me! Leave me alone!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Well, that’s gratitude for you!

LILA: Leave her alone, Esmeralda.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Oh, I know that you were fond of him, Heavenly, but I can’t help feeling that his leaving town’s the most fortunate thing that could have happened.

HEAVENLY: Fond of him. [She laughs wildly.] I was crazy about him. You ought to know that.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: I won’t hear anymore about that disgusting business.

HEAVENLY [practically shouting]: Crazy about him, do you hear?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: That horrible—

LILA: Esmeralda!

HEAVENLY: Do you think I’m going to give him up?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Of course you’re going to give him up. You’re going to forget all about him.

HEAVENLY: I won’t!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: You’re going to be sensible now.

HEAVENLY: That’s what you think!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: You’re going upstairs and get dressed!

HEAVENLY: I’m going upstairs and pack my grip!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Do what?

HEAVENLY: I’m going to Friar’s Point. Dick’s going to meet me there. We’re going to get married!

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [aghast]: No!

HEAVENLY: Yes. By a colored preacher. And we’re going to live on a river barge.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: You wouldn’t dare—!

HEAVENLY: I thought you’d know by now how much I’d dare to do. Didn’t I open your eyes when I told you what had been going on between him and me? Yes, an affair! The gossips were right this time, you can chalk it up in their favor. But I’m not as immoral as you are, I’m not as indecent as you want to make me. I’m not going to give myself to one man and then go marry another that I don’t even like. No, hell, no! I’m gonna take the nine o’clock train to Friar’s Point and marry Dick and you can’t stop me! [She flies out of the room.]

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [she is nearly prostrate]: Oh! Call her father!

LILA: No. Leave this to me, Esmeralda.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Get Oliver this instant! We’ve got to stop her!

LILA: Now don’t go all to pieces. Is it true what she said about her and the boy having had an affair?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [choked]: Yes, it’s true.

LILA: When did she tell you?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Don’t stand there and ask me questions!

LILA: If it’s true then maybe she’d better go and marry the boy.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: No! I’d never permit it! She can marry Arthur Shannon.

LILA: Does he know about her and Richard?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: No, of course he doesn’t. Do you think we want it published in all the papers?

LILA: Why didn’t you get Oliver to go and see the boy and get it straightened out?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Oliver would have shot him! Wouldn’t that have created a nice scandal!

LILA: Oliver wouldn’t have done any such thing.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Then you don’t think family honor means anything to your brother?

LILA: Family honor hasn’t got anything to do with normal young people’s emotions.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Normal! Emotions. It’s easy to see what side of the family she gets her indecency from.

LILA: Indecency nothing! She’s human that’s all. Maybe a little too human. And if she gets that from the Critchfields I’m not ashamed of it.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: No! You’re all shameless.

LILA: Maybe so, but that’s beside the point. Did Heavenly tell you anything else?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: No. There haven’t been any serious consequences.

LILA: Well, I’m going upstairs.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [desperately hopeful]: You’re going to talk her out of it?

LILA: I’m not going to talk her in or out of anything. I’m going to help her decide for herself.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Lila!

LILA: It’s the only thing to do.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: I understand your attitude. You’re doing this because you hate the Shannons.

LILA: I don’t hate the Shannons. [She goes out.]

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [shouting after her]: Yes, you do. You’re holding a grudge! [The doorbell rings.] Oh, that’s Arthur.

[She pulls herself desperately together and scurries about the shabby room putting things straight. Her actions show a pathetic inability to rise above trivialities, even in a time of crisis. She switches on the light above Colonel Wayne’s portrait; then she rushes into the hall and can be heard admitting Arthur in her best social manner. She ushers him into the living room talking a mile a minute to cover up her nervousness. This should be played for comedy but not farce.]

Oh, my dear boy, it’s started raining again! Your lovely white panama hat, did it get very damp? [She enters the room followed by Arthur whose manner is very constrained.] Oh, I think it was such a dreadful shame about last night. Susan Lamphrey’d been planning that lawn party for weeks and then the rains came along and spoiled all the nice preparations. But that’s April for you! I suppose they just had to move everything indoors. Fortunately they have a very spacious downstairs—

ARTHUR [politely disinterested]: Oh, they have.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Yes, that’s the mahvelous thing about those old ante-bellum houses, they knew absolutely nothing about the economy of space. It’s awfully hard to keep them warm in winter but in spring and summer I think they’re simply delightful.

ARTHUR: Yes. Yes, I suppose so.

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Oh, I often wish we hadn’t given up the old Wayne plantation. The house was nearly two hundred years old. It was the most historic place in the Delta. That’s Colonel Wayne’s picture there on the wall.

ARTHUR: Oh, is it?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Yes. He led the charge up Cemetery Hill. If we’d won the war he would’ve been president of the Confederacy. He was a great friend of Jefferson Davis. Upstairs we have the very bed that Mr. Davis slept in when he visited our plantation. It’s in Heavenly’s room.

ARTHUR: Oh, is it?

MRS. CRITCHFIELD: Yes, that chair is hers, too. Mr. Critchfield’s always nagging me to have things upholstered, but you know I just can’t bear to change them when they’re so rich in tradition and all. Sometime I’m going to have you look through our family papers, Arthur. Writers are always so interested in things like that. With your literary gifts I’m quite sure you could write some things up for me. For instance that very dramatic little episode that took place on Colonel Wayne’s plantation the second year of the war when it was rumored that Sherman had crossed the border—

[A loud crash is heard upstairs.]

Oh, heavens, what’s that? [She pauses nervously, recovers and smiles.] Heavenly must be romping with the dog! What were we talking about? Oh, yes of course, books! I have a cousin who writes them. Had one published. I forget just what the name of it was. [Another loud noise is heard above.] Oh, yes, The Stroke of Doom, that was it! A mystery novel based on the most remarkable coincidence that actually took place. [The noise continues.] Seems to me the setting was somewhere in Europe. Or was it Africa? Oh, no, it was Australia! And just think, Cousin Alfred was an invalid—he’d never been out of Mississippi in all his life! He got his information, every bit of it, out of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

HEAVENLY’S VOICE [upstairs]: I won’t, I tell you, I won’t.

[A door slams violently.]

MRS. CRITCHFIELD [in extreme agitation]: Perhaps I’d better go up and tell Heavenly that you’re here— If you’ll excuse me for just a moment.

ARTHUR [rising]: Certainly, Mrs. Critchfield.

[Mrs. Critchfield rushes out. Arthur looks keenly distressed and puzzled. After a brief interval Aunt Lila enters.]

LILA: Good evening, young man.

ARTHUR: Oh, good evening, Miss Critchfield.

[Lila adjusts her glasses and looks at him sharply; she touches her forehead with a handkerchief.]

LILA: Eau de cologne—it’s very refreshing when you’ve been through a nervous ordeal! [She smiles.] I’ve been trying to talk some sense into my niece’s head. You probably wondered about that racket up there. Sit down and I’ll tell you.

ARTHUR: Uh—thanks.

LILA: I haven’t had much chance to get acquainted with Gale Shannon’s boy. Tell me about yourself. What are you going to do, what are you planning to be? A young nincompoop all your life? [She laughs kindly.] No, you look too much like your father for that. I used to go out with Gale Shannon when I was a girl. He threw me over for your mother, God bless him, but he’s still aces with me. [Then she continues quite seriously and gently.] Are you in love with Heavenly?

ARTHUR [rising gravely]: Yes, Ma’am. I do have that misfortune.

LILA: Misfortune? I wouldn’t say that!

ARTHUR: Neither would I, Ma’am, if I thought I had a chance in the world.

LILA: I think you have got a chance if you take it. But it’s absolutely your last.

ARTHUR: Yes, Ma’am? What’s that?

LILA: She’s planning to run off with a young jackanapes that’s gone to work on the river.

ARTHUR: Richard Miles?

LILA: Yes. There’s nothing wrong with that boy and there’s nothing wrong with Heavenly, but the two of ‘em can’t team together, they’d never run the same way— So if you’re sure you love her and you want her there’s just one thing for you to do.

ARTHUR: What’s that?

LILA: Grab her and don’t let her go!

ARTHUR: Grab her?

LILA: Certainly. The main reason Nature’s provided you with arms, is so you can grab what you want, and by the Eternal, young man, if you don’t grab things in this world you don’t have a coon’s chance of ever getting ‘em. Do you think a drink would do you any good?

ARTHUR: Yes, Ma’am, I think it might.

LILA [producing a bottle from the bookcase]: Take a swig of this. It’s Oliver’s.

ARTHUR [taking the bottle]: That’s funny.

LILA: What?

ARTHUR: Nothing much. Just a little coincidence.

LILA: Take a good one. She’ll be flying down those steps in a minute—pretendin’ like she’s going to the Country Club. But she isn’t. I know what she’s got up her sleeve. She’s going to ask you to drive her over to Friar’s Point where that boy’s gone. Don’t do it. Just grab her and make her stay here. And make her like it. Heavenly’s no angel, in fact she’s a regular little hussy. I think she likes you better’n you think if you treat her like she needs to be treated— Here she’s coming! Let me get out of here quick!

[Aunt Lila flies out the rear door as Heavenly enters. Her eyes have a hectic brilliance. She is like some beautiful wild animal at the point of flight.]

ARTHUR [starting forward]: Heavenly—

HEAVENLY: What?

ARTHUR: I thought you weren’t going to the Country Club.

HEAVENLY : How did you know? Did Auntie tell you?

ARTHUR [tensely]: I thought you were going to Friar’s Point—

HEAVENLY: Shhh! Mother doesn’t know. So be quiet till we get outside. [She crosses to him.] I want you to do me a big favor, Arthur. I want you to drive me over to Friar’s Point tonight— Will you?

ARTHUR: Heavenly, I— Heavenly. [He suddenly grabs her in his arms.]

HEAVENLY [struggling]: What do you think you’re doing?

[Arthur kisses her wildly. She struggles to free herself, strikes at him with her fists, but he doesn’t release her.]

Stop, Arthur. You’re hurting me! Don’t!

[He slightly relaxes his grip. She continues aghast.]

You must be out of your senses, Arthur Shannon!

ARTHUR: Yes, I’m crazy. [He kisses her again.]

HEAVENLY: Don’t Arthur. I won’t stand for this!

ARTHUR: You won’t?

HEAVENLY: No, I won’t.

[Arthur kisses her repeatedly: on the lips, throat, shoulders. Heavenly gasps for breath, stops resisting. She leans passively against him. There is a long pause.]

ARTHUR [in a soft anxious voice]: Heavenly, have I—hurt you, Heavenly?

HEAVENLY: No, I— I guess it doesn’t matter. [She smiles slightly.] I really didn’t think you were capable of doing anything like this.

ARTHUR: I didn’t mean to do it. I was—out of my senses. [He starts to release her.]

HEAVENLY: No, don’t let go of me. Don’t let me go.

ARTHUR: You don’t want me to?

HEAVENLY: No. I want to rest like this for awhile. I’m so tired. I was going to do something crazy Arthur. Going someplace where I wasn’t wanted. But now I guess I don’t have to. Maybe this is the answer.

ARTHUR: Heavenly, what do you mean?

HEAVENLY: I don’t know yet. Give me a cigarette, please. [He does.] Thanks. I’ll take a few drags and then I’ll be able to tell you. [She sinks on the sofa and leans back.]

ARTHUR: I’m sorry, Heavenly. I can’t tell you how I despise myself.

HEAVENLY: Sorry, for what?

ARTHUR: For acting like an animal.

HEAVENLY: Needn’t be sorry for that. That’s the first thing you’ve done to convince me that you’re a human being. I didn’t think you were alive till just now. I thought you were just a sort of walking dictionary or something. I didn’t think you could use your lips for anything but putting long words together. And now—well, I’m glad to find out that I was mistaken!

ARTHUR: What were you going to Friar’s Point for?

HEAVENLY: I was going to marry Dick. He’s gone there. We’ve been in love for a long time, ever since sophomore cotillion at high school about seven years ago. And you can’t expect people to go on loving each other all that time without something happenin’ between them.

ARTHUR: You don’t need to—

HEAVENLY: Repeat the horrible confession? That’s what mother called it. I told her the other day about Dick and me, but she was still anxious for me to give him up and take you. She approves of you, Arthur, and she thinks dishonesty’s the best policy in love affairs— She didn’t want me to tell you the awful truth.

ARTHUR: I’m glad that you did.

HEAVENLY: Why? Does it make it easier for you to forget me?

ARTHUR: No. I’d never try to do that.

HEAVENLY: Then do you still want me? Even secondhand?

ARTHUR: Yes. Anyway I can have you.

HEAVENLY: All right. [She puts out her cigarette.] It’s all settled. Instead of marrying Dick and living on a lousy river barge, I’m going to marry Arthur Shannon and live in the biggest house in town!

ARTHUR: Heavenly, is that how you feel about it?

HEAVENLY [gently]: No, not really—if you hadn’t made love to me I would have gone to Friar’s Point.

ARTHUR: But you aren’t going now?

HEAVENLY: No, I’m not going now. Can you reach the light? [He extinguishes the table lamp.] Thanks. It’s so much nicer in the dark, especially when there’s rain and lightnin’ outside. [He sits beside her.] What kind of talcum powder do you use? I like the smell of it. [She leans on his shoulder.] Mmmm. I like your flannel coat sleeve too. It feels nice. It’s astonishing how many nice thing I’ve found out about you, Arthur Shannon, in the last few minutes. —For God’s sake, don’t start talking! —When you’re making love to a girl you should always be quiet because there aren’t any words that are good enough to say what you mean anyhow. . .

[The phone rings in the hall. Heavenly continues, a slight catch in her voice.]

That’s Dick calling from Friar’s Point to find out whether or not I’m coming.

ARTHUR: Don’t get up. Don’t answer it.

HEAVENLY: Why not?

ARTHUR: Because if you do you’ll never come back.

HEAVENLY: All right. I’ll stay here with you. I won’t move.

[Aunt Lila can be heard answering the phone in the hall. Her voice comes indistinctly through the closed door. After a few moments she opens it and stands in the doorway. She turns on the light.]

LILA [with constraint]: I beg your pardon.

HEAVENLY [laughing]: Auntie, don’t be so formal. You know I’ve been kissed before.

LILA: I wasn’t thinking of that.

HEAVENLY: Oh. What were you thinking of?

LILA: Someone just called.

HEAVENLY: For me?

LILA: No.

HEAVENLY [sharply]: Don’t be so mysterious, Auntie! What’s happened?

[Lila turns slowly to Arthur.]

LILA: Arthur. You haven’t heard about Hertha Neilson?

ARTHUR [anxiously]: Heard what about her?

LILA [after a slight pause]: She was killed last night. They found her body in the freight yards.

[Arthur is stunned.]

HEAVENLY: The freight yards!

LILA: Yes. It wasn’t identified till an hour ago.

HEAVENLY [looking at Arthur]: Auntie, why did you have to come in here and tell him like this?

LILA: Because that isn’t all. Miss Schlagmann told me that Hertha Neilson and a young man had a violent scene of some kind in the library before it happened.

HEAVENLY: What young man? What did Miss Schlagmann say what man it was?

LILA: She didn’t see him and Hertha Neilson didn’t say. But maybe Arthur could tell you.

HEAVENLY: No. Leave Arthur alone. Whatever happened I’m sure it wasn’t his fault.

LILA: Maybe not. But I think he ought to be prepared for what people are likely to say.

HEAVENLY: What can they say? Everybody knows the poor girl was out of her mind.

[Arthur rises slowly and goes blindly across the room toward the French doors. Lightning glimmers through them.]

Arthur, I know it’s dreadful. But it wasn’t your fault. [She turns to Lila.] Auntie, what are you standing there for? Please get out!

LILA: I think Arthur ought to leave now.

HEAVENLY: No. Why should he?

ARTHUR: She’s right. I’ll have to go.

HEAVENLY: Please, Auntie! Get out!

[Lila exits.]

Tell me, Arthur—was it you?

ARTHUR: Yes.

HEAVENLY: What happened?

ARTHUR: I took your advice, I got drunk. After I left you and your lover at the party, I got drunk, but I didn’t go across the Sunflower like you suggested. I went to the library instead.

HEAVENLY: What happened? You’d better tell me.

ARTHUR: Oh, God. I can’t. The freight yards.

HEAVENLY: Don’t think about that.

ARTHUR [verging on hysteria]: I wonder how many boxcars there were last night? Sometimes they’re terribly long. Once I counted fifty-seven.

HEAVENLY: Don’t, Arthur! Hold on to yourself!

ARTHUR: No wonder she was dead when they found her. Not identified till just now. How did they ever find out? Because she wasn’t down at the library this morning? The Storybook Lady—the dark-haired princess in the Magic Tower. And I called her—The Carnegie Vestal—I called her that. And kissed her. And then she came alive in my arms and begged me to take her. Because she was like I was, lonely and hungry, and I—I lost my desire. I told her that she was disgusting—

HEAVENLY: You didn’t do that!

ARTHUR: Yes.

HEAVENLY: That was cruel.

ARTHUR: Yes. And after that she screamed. And I ran out the door and all I could hear for blocks and blocks was that screaming. And then it was quiet. Nothing but rain on my face. I was glad that I’d gotten away. And then a funny thing happened. [He turns slowly toward Heavenly.] I came to an alley. It was in back of your house. It was filled with the fresh smell of roses. I went sort of crazy. Covered my face with those flowers and whispered your name. [He turns away.] And I guess about that time Hertha was standing out in the freight yards with the rain on her face, too—and the engine’s light in her eyes, screaming— We were driving that engine last night, Heavenly, you and me.

HEAVENLY: No.

ARTHUR: We were inside those boxcars, we were the ones that killed her.

HEAVENLY: No. Arthur. You couldn’t help it that you loved me instead of her.

ARTHUR: Loved you—yes—I told her that. She climbed up the hill and stood between the two dead trees and said she was one of them now. I was too full of myself to know what she meant or to care.

HEAVENLY: That’s natural. We’re all of us full of ourselves. [She kisses him.]

ARTHUR: How can you stand to do that?

HEAVENLY: Because I want to. It’s funny how I feel toward you now. So much diff’rent. [She clings to him.] You’ve done me a favor tonight. You’ve taught me something very important about the nature of love. It’s our bodies we love with mostly. When you kissed me just now, I could have believed it was him, Dick— It gave me the same sensation, exactly the same— You’ve made me love you, Arthur.

ARTHUR: How can you talk about us after what’s happened?

HEAVENLY: Because I was bo’n twice as old as you are an’ you’ll never catch up.

[She goes over to the sofa and switches off the small light above Colonel Wayne’s portrait. Her voice is low.]

Come over here and be quiet.

ARTHUR: No. Your Aunt was right. I’ve got to leave here.

HEAVENLY: Why should you leave?

ARTHUR: Don’t you see why? There’ll be an investigation and they’ll find things out. I’ll be disgraced. I’ll have to leave town.

HEAVENLY: You’re afraid of people?

ARTHUR: Not so much as I’m afraid of myself. I’ve committed murder and I can’t stay here at the scene of the crime. It would hound me.

HEAVENLY: Then take me away with you. I don’t want to stay here either.

ARTHUR: I can’t take you with me. I’ve got to be off by myself for awhile. With strangers, Heavenly. They’re—they’re a sort of—catharsis. Like cold water on your face and hands. They make you feel clean. Whenever I touched you now it would be like dipping my hands in her blood.

HEAVENLY: Arthur. Don’t say that.

ARTHUR: It would. —I’m sorry, Heavenly. I’ll come back later if you still want me.

HEAVENLY: No. If you leave me now I’ll hate you. I’ll never want to see you again.

ARTHUR: Maybe that would be a good thing. [He moves toward the hall.]

HEAVENLY [desperately]: You’re a coward. You’re running away.

ARTHUR [dully]: Yes. That’s a habit of mine.

HEAVENLY: You can’t leave me now! [She follows him to the hall door.]

ARTHUR: Good-bye, Heavenly.

HEAVENLY [wildly]: You can’t say that, too! Arthur!

[The door is heard closing. Heavenly is in bewildered agony.]

Oh—

[Heavenly wanders back to the middle of the room, her eyes dull and exhausted. After a moment Lila comes quietly in.]

LILA: He’s gone?

HEAVENLY: Yes, They’ve both gone.

LILA: Are you going to Richard?

HEAVENLY: No, he doesn’t want me either. He’s got what he wanted. But maybe someday he’ll want me again. Or maybe Arthur will. I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see.

[She moves slowly toward the hall.]

LILA: Where are you going?

[Heavenly turns in the doorway and stares vacantly into space.]

HEAVENLY: I’m going out and sit on the front porch till one of them comes back.

CURTAIN