Chapter II: Act ONE: Scene: The parlor of the Jordan Homestead at Venzie, Maine

_It is late October, and through the two windows at the back one may see a bleak countryside, the grass brown and lifeless, and the bare limbs of the trees silhouetted against a gray sky. Here, in the room that for a hundred years has been the rallying point of the Jordan family, a group of relatives are gathered to await the death of the old woman who is the head of their clan. The room in which they wait is as dull and as drab as the lives of those who have lived within its walls. Here we have the cleanliness that is next to godliness, but no sign of either comfort or beauty, both of which are looked upon with suspicion as being signposts on the road to perdition._

_In this group are the following characters: Henry Jordan, a heavy set man of fifty, worn by his business cares into a dull sort of hopeless resignation. Emma, his wife, a stout and rather formidable woman of forty, with a look of chronic displeasure; Nettie, her daughter by a former marriage, a vain and shallow little rustic beauty; Sadie, a thin, tight-lipped woman of forty, a widow and a gossip; Orin, her son, a pasty-faced boy of ten with large spectacles; Ella, a “Maiden lady” of thirty-six, restless and dissatisfied._

_Ella and Sadie, true Jordans by birth, are a degree above Emma in social standing, at least they were until Henry’s marriage to Emma made her a somewhat resentful member of the family. In Emma’s dialogue and in her reactions, I have attempted a rather nice distinction between the two grades of rural middle-class folk; the younger characters here, as in most other communities, have advanced one step._

_Rise: At rise there is a long silence; the occupants of the room are ill at ease. Emma is grim and frowning. Nettie sits with a simper of youthful vanity, looking stealthily at herself from time to time in a small mirror set in the top of her cheap vanity case. Ella and Sadie have been crying and dab at their eyes a bit ostentatiously. Henry makes a thoughtful note with a pencil, then returns his notebook to his pocket and warms his hands at the stove._

_There is a low whistle of a cold autumn wind as some dead leaves are blown past the window. Orin, who has a cold in his head, sniffs viciously; the others, with the exception of his mother, look at him in remonstrance. An eight-day clock in sight, through the door to the hall, strikes four._

EMMA (_sternly_)

Four o’clock.

HENRY (_looks at watch_)

Five minutes of. That clock’s been fast for more’n thirty years.

NETTIE (_looks at wrist watch_)

My watch says two minutes after.

HENRY

Well, it’s wrong!

EMMA (_acidly_)

You gave it to her yourself, didn’t you?

SADIE (_sighs_)

Good Land! What does it matter?

NETTIE (_offended_)

Oh! Doesn’t it? Oh!

ELLA

Maybe it does to you. She ain’t your blood relation.

EMMA

Nettie loves her grandma, don’t you dear?

NETTIE

Some folks not so far off may get fooled before long about how much
grandma and I was to each other.

EMMA (_sternly_)

You hush!

[_Again there is a pause, and again it is broken by a loud sniff from
Orin, as the women look at him in disgust. Sadie speaks up in his
defense._

SADIE

He’s got kind of a cold in his head.

HENRY

The question is, ain’t he got a handkerchief?

SADIE

Here, Orin!

[_She hands him her handkerchief._

ELLA

The idea! No handkerchief when you’ve come expectin’ some one to die!

ORIN

I had one, but I used it up.

[_He blows his nose._

HENRY

After four. Well, I expect they’ll have to close the store without me.

ELLA

I left everything just as soon as Jane sent me word!

SADIE

Why should Jane be with her instead of you or me, her own daughters?

HENRY

You girls always made her nervous, and I guess she’s pretty low. (_He
looks at his watch again_) I said I’d be back before closin’ time. I
don’t know as I dare to trust those boys.

EMMA

You can’t tell about things, when Sadie’s husband died we sat there
most all night.

SADIE (_angrily_)

Yes, and you grudged it to him, I knew it then and it isn’t likely
I’m going to forget it.

ELLA

Will was a good man, but even you can’t say he was ever very
dependable.

EMMA

My first husband died sudden--(_she turns to Nettie_)--you can’t
remember it, dear.

ELLA

_You_ didn’t remember it very long, it wa’n’t much more’n a year
before you married Henry.

HENRY (_sighs_)

Well, he was as dead then as he’s ever got to be. (_He turns and
glances nervously out window_) I don’t know but what I could just run
down to the store for a minute, then hurry right back.

SADIE

You’re the oldest of her children, a body would think you’d be
ashamed.

HENRY

Oh, I’ll stay.

[_There is a silence. Orin sniffs. Ella glares at him._

ELLA

Of course he _could_ sit somewheres else.

[_Sadie puts her arm about Orin and looks spitefully at Ella. Doctor
Curtis, an elderly country physician, comes down the stairs and
enters the room, all turn to look at him._

DOCTOR

No change at all. I’m sendin’ Jane to the drug store.

ELLA (_rises eagerly_)

I’ll just run up and sit with mother.

[_Sadie jumps up and starts for door._

SADIE

It might be better if I went.

ELLA

Why might it?

[_They stand glaring at each other before either attempts to pass the
Doctor, whose ample form almost blocks the doorway._

SADIE

_I’ve_ been a wife and a mother.

DOCTOR

Hannah’s with her, you know. I told you I didn’t want anybody up
there but Jane and Hannah.

ELLA

But we’re her own daughters.

DOCTOR

You don’t have to tell me, I brought both of you into the world. The
right nursing might pull her through, even now; nothing else can, and
I’ve got the two women I want. (_He crosses to Henry at stove_) Why
don’t you put a little wood on the fire?

HENRY

Why--I thought ’twas warm enough.

ELLA

Because you was standin’ in front of it gettin’ all the heat.

[_Henry fills the stove from wood basket._

_Jane Crosby enters on stairs and crosses into the room. Jane is
twenty-four, a plainly dressed girl of quiet manner. She has been
“driven into herself” as one of our characters would describe it, by
her lack of sympathy and affection and as a natural result she is not
especially articulate; she speaks, as a rule, in short sentences, and
has cultivated an outward coldness that in the course of time has
become almost aggressive._

JANE

I’ll go now, Doctor; you’d better go back to her. Hannah’s frightened.

DOCTOR

Get it as quick as you can, Jane; I don’t know as it’s any use, but
we’ve got to keep on tryin’.

JANE

Yes.

[_She exits; Doctor warms his hands._

DOCTOR

Jane’s been up with her three nights. I don’t know when I’ve seen a
more dependable girl.

ELLA

She ought to be.

HENRY

If there’s any gratitude in the world.

DOCTOR

Oh, I guess there is; maybe there’d be more if there was more reason
for it. It’s awful cold up there, but I guess I’ll be gettin’ back.

[_He crosses toward door._

HENRY

Doctor!

[_He looks at his watch._

DOCTOR (_stops in doorway_)

Well?

HENRY

It’s quite a bit past four, I don’t suppose--I don’t suppose you can
tell----

DOCTOR

No, I can’t tell.

[_He turns and exits up the stairs._

ELLA

There’s no fool like an old fool.

SADIE

Did you hear him? “Didn’t know when he’d seen a more dependable girl
than her!”

EMMA

Makes a lot of difference who’s goin’ to depend on her. I ain’t, for
one.

NETTIE

If I set out to tell how she’s treated me lots of times, when I’ve
come over here to see grandma, nobody would believe a word of it.

SADIE

Mother took her in out of charity.

ELLA

And kept her out of spite.

HENRY

I don’t know as you ought to say that, Ella.

ELLA

It’s my place she took, in my own mother’s house. I’d been here now,
but for her. I ain’t goin’ to forget that. No! Me, all these years
payin’ board and slavin’ my life out, makin’ hats, like a nigger.

NETTIE (_smartly_)

Oh! So _that’s_ what they’re like. I’ve often wondered!

ELLA (_rises_)

You’ll keep that common little thing of your wife’s from insultin’
me, Henry Jordan, or I won’t stay here another minute.

EMMA (_angry_)

Common!

NETTIE

Mother!

HENRY (_sternly_)

Hush up! All of yer!

SADIE

It’s Jane we ought to be talkin’ about.

EMMA

Just as soon as you’re the head of the family, Henry, you’ve got to
tell her she ain’t wanted here!

HENRY

Well--I don’t know as I’d want to do anything that wasn’t right.
She’s been here quite a spell.

SADIE

Eight years!

ELLA

And just a step-cousin, once removed.

HENRY

I guess mother’s made her earn her keep. I don’t know as ever there
was much love lost between ’em.

EMMA

As soon as your mother’s dead, you’ll send her packing.

HENRY

We’ll see. I don’t like countin’ on mother’s going; that way.

SADIE (_hopefully_)

Grandmother lived to eighty-four.

HENRY

All our folks was long lived; nothin’ lasts like it used to,--Poor
mother!

ELLA

Of course she’ll divide equal, between us three?

HENRY (_doubtfully_)

Well, I don’t know!

SADIE

Orin is her only grandchild; she won’t forget that.

HENRY

Nettie, there, is just the same as my own. I adopted her legal, when
I married Emma.

EMMA

Of course you did. Your mother’s too--just a woman to make
distinctions!

NETTIE

Yes, and the funny part of it is grandma may leave me a whole lot,
for all any of _you_ know.

ELLA

Nonsense! She’ll divide equally between us three; won’t she, Henry?

HENRY (_sadly_)

She’ll do as she pleases, I guess we all know that.

ELLA

She’s a religious woman, she’s _got_ to be fair!

HENRY

Well, I guess it would be fair enough if she was to remember the
trouble I’ve had with my business. I don’t know what she’s worth,
she’s as tight-mouthed as a bear trap, but I could use more’n a third
of quite a little sum.

ELLA

Well, you won’t get it. Not if I go to law.

EMMA

It’s disgusting. Talking about money at a time like this.

HENRY

I like to see folks reasonable. I don’t know what you’d want of a
third of all mother’s got, Ella.

SADIE (_to Ella_)

You, all alone in the world!

ELLA

Maybe I won’t be, when I get that money.

SADIE

You don’t mean you’d get married?

EMMA

At your age!

ELLA

I mean I never had anything in all my life; now I’m going to. I’m the
youngest of all of you, except Ben, and he never was a real Jordan.
I’ve never had a chance; I’ve been stuck here till I’m most forty,
worse than if I was dead, fifty times worse! Now I’m going to buy
things--everything I want--I don’t care what--I’ll buy it, even if
it’s a man! Anything I want!

NETTIE

A man!

[_Nettie looks at Ella in cruel amazement and all but Orin burst into
a laugh--Ella turns up and hides her face against the window as Orin
pulls at his mother’s skirt._

ORIN

Mum! Mum! I thought you told me not to laugh, not once, while we was
here!

HENRY

You’re right, nephew, and we’re wrong, all of us. I’m sorry, Ella,
we’re all sorry.

ELLA (_wipes her eyes_)

Laugh if you want to--maybe it won’t be so long before I do some of
it myself.

HENRY (_thoughtfully_)

Equally between us three? Well, poor mother knows best of course.

[_He sighs._

SADIE

She wouldn’t leave _him_ any, would she,--Ben?

ELLA (_shocked_)

Ben!

HENRY (_in cold anger_)

She’s a woman of her word; no!

SADIE

If he was here he’d get around her; he always did!

HENRY

Not again!

SADIE

If she ever spoiled anybody it was him, and she’s had to pay for it.
Sometimes it looks like it was a sort of a judgment.

HENRY

There hasn’t been a Jordan, before Ben, who’s disgraced the name in
more’n a hundred years; he stands indicted before the Grand Jury
for some of his drunken devilment. If he hadn’t run away, like the
criminal he is, he’d be in the State’s Prison now, down to Thomaston.
Don’t talk _Ben_ to me, after the way he broke mother’s heart, and
hurt my credit!

NETTIE

I don’t remember him very well. Mother thought it better I shouldn’t
come around last time he was here; but he looked real nice in his
uniform.

SADIE

It was his bein’ born so long after us that made him seem like an
outsider; father and mother hadn’t had any children for years and
years! Of course I never want to sit in judgment on my own parents,
but I never approved of it; it never seemed quite--what I call proper.

NETTIE (_to Emma_)

Mother, don’t you think I’d better leave the room?

SADIE (_angrily_)

Not if half the stories I’ve heard about you are true, I don’t.

HENRY

Come, come, no rows! Is this a time or place for spite? We’ve always
been a united family, we’ve always got to be,--leavin’ Ben out, of
course. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

ORIN

Mum! Say Mum! (_He pulls at Sadie’s dress_) Why should anybody want
to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?

ELLA

Can’t you stop that boy askin’ such fool questions?

SADIE

Well, as far as that goes, why should they? It never sounded
reasonable to me.

HENRY (_sternly_)

Decent folks don’t reason about religion; they just accept it.

ORIN

You could make a skin purse out of a sow’s ear, but I’ll be darned if
you could make a silk purse out of one. I’ll bet God couldn’t.

HENRY

Are you going to let him talk about God like that, like he was a real
person?

ELLA

I don’t know as a body could expect any better; his father was a
Baptist!

SADIE (_angrily_)

His father was a good man, and if he talked about God different from
what you do, it was because he knew more about him. And as for my
being here at all--(_she rises with her arms about Orin_)--I wouldn’t
do it, not for anything less than my own mother’s deathbed.

HENRY

This family don’t ever agree on nothin’ but just to differ.

EMMA

As far as I see, the only time you ever get together is when one of
you is dead.

ELLA

Maybe that’s the reason I got such a feelin’ against funerals.

[_The outside door opens and Jane enters, a druggist’s bottle in her
hand; she is followed by John Bradford, a man of about thirty-five.
He is better dressed than any of the others and is a man of a more
cosmopolitan type,--a New Englander, but a university man, the local
judge and the leading lawyer of the town._

JANE

I met Judge Bradford on the way.

JUDGE (_John Bradford_)

Court set late. I couldn’t get here before. Jane tells me that she’s
very low.

HENRY

Yes.

JUDGE

I can’t realize it; she has always been so strong, so dominant.

ELLA

In the midst of life we are in death.

ORIN

Say, Mum, that’s in the Bible too!

SADIE

Hush!

ORIN

Well, ain’t it?

SADIE

Will you hush?

HENRY

It’s our duty to hope so long as we can.

JUDGE

Yes, of course.

JANE

I’ll take this right up.

[_She exits up the stairs._

JUDGE (_removes his coat_)

I’ll wait.

SADIE

She can’t see you; she ain’t really what a body could call in her
right mind.

JUDGE

So Jane said.

[_He crosses to stove and warms his hands._

ELLA (_sighs_)

It’s a sad time for us, Judge!

JUDGE

She was always such a wonderful woman.

HENRY

An awful time for us. Did you come up Main Street, Judge?

JUDGE

Yes.

HENRY

Did you happen to notice if my store was open?

JUDGE

No.

HENRY

Not that it matters----

SADIE

Nothing matters now.

HENRY

No--Mother wasn’t ever the kind to neglect things; if the worst does
come she’ll find herself prepared. Won’t she? Won’t she, Judge?

JUDGE

Her affairs are, as usual, in perfect order.

HENRY

In every way?

JUDGE (_looks at him coldly_)

Her will is drawn and is on deposit in my office, if that is what you
mean.

HENRY

Well--that _is_ what I mean--I’m no hypocrite.

EMMA

He’s the oldest of the family. He’s got a right to ask, hasn’t he?

JUDGE

Yes.

HENRY (_honestly_)

If I could make her well by givin’ up everything I’ve got in the
world, or ever expect to git, I’d do it!

SADIE

All of us would.

HENRY

If it’s in my mind at all, as I stand here, that she’s a rich woman,
it’s because my mind’s so worried, the way business has been, that
I’m drove most frantic; it’s because, well--because I’m human;
because I can’t help it.

ELLA (_bitterly_)

You’re a man! What do you think it’s been for me!

SADIE (_with arm about Orin_)

His father didn’t leave much, you all know that, and it’s been scrimp
and save till I’m all worn to skin and bone.

ELLA

Just to the three of us, that would be fair.

HENRY

Judge! My brother’s name ain’t in her will, is it? Tell me that?
Ben’s name ain’t there!

JUDGE

I’d rather not talk about it, Henry.

ELLA

She’d cut him off, she said, the last time he disgraced us, and she’s
a woman of her word.

SADIE (_eagerly, to Judge_)

And the very next day she sent for you because I was here when she
telephoned; and you came to her that very afternoon because I saw you
from my front window cross right up to this door.

JUDGE

Possibly. I frequently drop in to discuss business matters with your
mother for a moment on my way home.

SADIE

It was five minutes to four when you went in that day, and six
minutes to five when you came out, by the clock on my mantel.

JUDGE

Your brother has been gone for almost two years; Your memory is very
clear.

ELLA

So’s her window.

NETTIE

I know folks in this town that are scared to go past it.

SADIE (_to her_)

I know others that ought to be.

HENRY (_discouraged_)

Every time you folks meet there’s trouble.

[_Jane enters down the stairs and into the room._

JUDGE (_looks at her_)

Well, Jane?

JANE

No change. It’s--it’s pitiful, to see her like that.

[_Sadie sobs and covers her face._

HENRY

It’s best we should try to bear this without any fuss, she’d ’a’
wanted it that way.

SADIE

She didn’t even want me to cry when poor Will died, but I did; and
somehow I don’t know but it made things easier.

HENRY

When father died she didn’t shed a tear; she’s been a strong woman,
always.

[_The early fall twilight has come on and the stage is rather dim,
the hall at R. is in deep shadow, at the end of Henry’s speech
the outside door supposedly out at R. is open, then shut rather
violently._

ELLA (_startled_)

Someone’s come in.

SADIE

Nobody’s got any right----

[_She rises as some one is heard coming along the hall._

HENRY (_sternly_)

Who’s that out there? Who is it?

ORIN

Mum! Who is it!

[_He clings to his mother afraid, as all turn to the door, and Ben
Jordan steps into the room and faces them with a smile of reckless
contempt. Ben is the black sheep of the Jordan family, years younger
than any of the others, a wild, selfish, arrogant fellow, handsome
but sulky and defiant. His clothes are cheap and dirty and he is
rather pale and looks dissipated. He doesn’t speak but stands openly
sneering at their look of astonishment._

JANE (_quietly_)

I’m glad you’ve come, Ben.

BEN (_contemptuously_)

_You_ are?

JANE

Yes, your mother’s awful sick.

BEN

She’s alive?

JANE

Yes.

BEN

Well--(_He looks contemptuously about_)

Nobody missin’. The Jordans are gathered again, handkerchiefs and all.

HENRY

You’ll be arrested soon as folks know you’ve come.

BEN (_scornfully_)

And I suppose you wouldn’t bail me out, would you, Henry?

HENRY (_simply_)

No, I wouldn’t.

BEN

God! You’re still the same, all of you. You stink of the Ark, the
whole tribe. It takes more than a few Edisons to change the Jordans!

ELLA

How’d you get here? How’d you know about mother?

BEN (_nods at Jane_)

She sent me word, to Bangor.

SADIE (_to Jane_)

How’d you get to know where he was?

JANE (_quietly_)

I knew.

HENRY

How’d you come; you don’t look like you had much money?

BEN

She sent it. (_He nods toward Jane_) God knows, it wasn’t much.

ELLA (_to Jane_)

Did mother tell you to----?

BEN

Of course she did!

JANE (_quietly_)

No, she didn’t.

HENRY

You sent your own money?

JANE

Yes, as he said it wasn’t much, but I didn’t have much.

BEN (_astonished_)

Why did you do it?

JANE

I knew she was going to die; twice I asked her if she wanted to see
you, and she said no----

HENRY

And yet you sent for him?

JANE

Yes.

HENRY

Why?

JANE

He was the one she really wanted. I thought she’d die happier seeing
him.

ELLA

You took a lot on yourself, didn’t you?

JANE

Yes, she’s been a lonely old woman. I hated to think of her there, in
the churchyard, hungry for him.

BEN

I’ll go to her.

JANE

It’s too late; she wouldn’t know you.

BEN

I’ll go.

JANE

The doctor will call us when he thinks we ought to come.

BEN (_fiercely_)

I’m going now.

HENRY (_steps forward_)

No, you ain’t.

BEN

Do you think I came here, standin’ a chance of bein’ sent to jail, to
let _you_ tell me what to do?

HENRY

If she’s dyin’ up there, it’s more’n half from what you’ve made her
suffer; you’ll wait here till we go to her together.

EMMA

Henry’s right.

SADIE

Of course he is.

ELLA

Nobody but Ben would have the impudence to show his face here, after
what he’s done.

BEN

I’m going just the same!

HENRY

No, you ain’t.

[_Their voices become loud._

EMMA

Henry! Don’t let him go!

SADIE

Stop him.

ELLA (_grows shrill_)

He’s a disgrace to us. He always was.

HENRY

You’ll stay right where you are.

[_He puts his hand heavily on Ben’s shoulder--Ben throws him off
fiercely._

BEN

Damn you! Keep your hands off me!

[_Henry staggers back and strikes against a table that falls to the
floor with a crash. Nettie screams._

JANE

Stop it--stop! You must!

JUDGE

Are you crazy? Have you no sense of decency?

[_Doctor Curtis comes quickly downstairs._

DOCTOR

What’s this noise? I forbid it. Your mother has heard you.

HENRY (_ashamed_)

I’m sorry.

BEN (_sulkily_)

I didn’t mean to make a row.

HENRY

It’s him. (_He looks bitterly at Ben_) He brings out all the worst in
us. He brought trouble into the world with him when he came, and ever
since.

[_Hannah, a middle-aged servant, comes hastily half-way downstairs
and calls out sharply._

HANNAH

Doctor! Come, Doctor!

[_She exits up the stairs, as the Doctor crosses through the hall and
follows her._

ORIN (_afraid_)

Is she dead, Mum? Does Hannah mean she’s dead!

[_Sadie hides her head on his shoulder and weeps._

JANE

I’ll go to her.

[_She exits._

ELLA (_violently_)

She’ll go. There ain’t scarcely a drop of Jordan blood in her veins,
and _she’s_ the one that goes to mother.

EMMA (_coldly_)

Light the lamp, Nettie; it’s gettin’ dark.

NETTIE

Yes, mother.

[_She starts to light lamp._

HENRY

I’m ashamed of my part of it, makin’ a row, with her on her deathbed.

BEN

You had it right, I guess. I’ve made trouble ever since I came into
the world.

NETTIE

There!

[_She lights lamp; footlights go up._

JUDGE (_sternly_)

You shouldn’t have come here; you know that, Ben.

BEN

I’ve always known that, any place I’ve been, exceptin’ only those two
years in the Army. That’s the only time I ever was in right.

JUDGE (_sternly_)

I would find it easier to pity you if you had any one to blame
besides yourself.

BEN

Pity? Do you think I want your pity?

[_There is a pause._

_Jane is seen on stairs, they all turn to her nervously as she comes
down and crosses into room. She stops at the door looking at them._

HENRY (_slowly_)

Mother--mother’s--gone!

JANE

Yes.

[_There is a moment’s silence broken by the low sobs of the women who
for a moment forget their selfishness in the presence of death._

HENRY

The Jordans won’t ever be the same; she was the last of the old
stock, mother was--No, the Jordans won’t ever be the same.

[_Doctor Curtis comes downstairs and into the room._

DOCTOR

It’s no use tryin’ to tell you what I feel. I’ve known her since I
was a boy. I did the best I could.

HENRY

The best anybody could, Doctor, we know that.

DOCTOR

I’ve got a call I’d better make--(_He looks at watch_)--should have
been there hours ago, but I hadn’t the heart to leave her. Who’s in
charge here?

HENRY

I am, of course.

DOCTOR

I’ve made arrangements with Hannah; she’ll tell you.

I’ll say good night now.

HENRY

Good night, Doctor.

JANE

And thank you.

DOCTOR

We did our best, Jane.

[_He exits._

SADIE

He’s gettin’ old. When Orin had the stomach trouble a month ago, I
sent for Doctor Morris. I felt sort of guilty doin’ it, but I thought
it was my duty.

JUDGE

You will let me help you, Jane?

JANE

Hannah and I can attend to everything. Henry! (_She turns to him_)
You might come over for a minute this evening and we can talk things
over. I’ll make the bed up in your old room, Ben, if you want to stay.

EMMA (_rises and looks at Jane coldly_)

Now, Henry Jordan, if she’s all through givin’ orders, maybe you’ll
begin.

ELLA

Well, I should say so. Let’s have an understandin’.

SADIE

You tell her the truth, Henry, or else one of us will do it for you.

HENRY (_hesitates_)

Maybe it might be best if I should wait until after the funeral.

ELLA

You tell her now, or I will.

JANE

Tell me what?

HENRY

We was thinkin’ now that mother’s dead, that there wasn’t much use in
your stayin’ on here.

JANE

Yes?

[_She looks at him intently._

HENRY

We don’t aim to be hard, and we don’t want it said we was mean about
it; you can stay on here, if you want to, until after the funeral,
maybe a little longer, and I don’t know but what between us, we’d be
willing to help you till you found a place somewheres.

JANE

You can’t help me, any of you. Of course now she’s dead, I’ll go.
I’ll be glad to go.

ELLA

Glad!

JANE (_turns on them_)

I hate you, the whole raft of you. I’ll be glad to get away from you.
She was the only one of you worth loving, and she didn’t want it.

EMMA

If that’s how you feel, I say the sooner you went the better.

HENRY

Not till after the funeral. I don’t want it said we was hard to her.

JUDGE (_quietly_)

Jane isn’t going at all, Henry.

HENRY

What’s that?

ELLA

Of course she’s going.

JUDGE

No, she belongs here in this house.

HENRY

Not after I say she don’t.

JUDGE

Even then, because it’s hers.

SADIE

Hers?

JUDGE

From the moment of your mother’s death, everything here belonged to
Jane.

HENRY

Not everything.

JUDGE

Yes, everything--your mother’s whole estate.

BEN

Ha! Ha! Ha!

[_He sits at right laughing bitterly._

JANE

That can’t be, Judge, you must be wrong. It’s a mistake.

JUDGE

No.

HENRY

My mother did this?

JUDGE

Yes.

HENRY

Why? You’ve got to tell me why!

JUDGE

That isn’t a part of my duties.

HENRY

She couldn’t have done a thing like that without sayin’ why. She said
something, didn’t she?

JUDGE

I don’t know that I care to repeat it.

HENRY (_fiercely_)

You must repeat it!

JUDGE

Very well. The day that will was drawn she said to me, “The Jordans
are all waiting for me to die, like carrion crows around a sick cow
in a pasture, watchin’ till the last twitch of life is out of me
before they pounce. I’m going to fool them,” she said, “I’m going to
surprise them; they are all fools but Jane--Jane’s no fool.”

BEN (_bitterly_)

No--Ha! Ha! Ha! Jane’s no fool!

JUDGE

And she went on--(_He turns to Jane_) You’ll forgive me Jane; she
said, “Jane is stubborn, and set, and wilful, but she’s no fool.
She’ll do better by the Jordan money than any of them.”

ELLA

We’ll go to law, that’s what we’ll do!

SADIE

That’s it, we’ll go to law.

HENRY (_to Judge_)

We can break that will; you know we can!

JUDGE

It’s possible.

HENRY

Possible! You _know_, don’t yer! You’re supposed to be a good lawyer.

JUDGE

Of course if I _am_ a good lawyer you can’t break that will, because
you see I drew it.

ELLA

And we get nothing, not a dollar, after waitin’ all these years?

JUDGE

There are small bequests left to each of you.

SADIE

How much?

JUDGE

One hundred dollars each.

ELLA (_shrilly_)

One hundred dollars.

JUDGE

I said that they were small.

BEN

You said a mouthful!

ELLA

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[_She laughs wildly._

HENRY (_sternly_)

Stop your noise, Ella.

ELLA

I----Ha! Ha! Ha!----I told you I was going to have my laugh, didn’t
I? Ha! Ha! Ha!

ORIN (_pulls Sadie’s dress_)

Mum! What’s she laughin’ for?

SADIE

You hush!

EMMA (_faces them all in evil triumph_)

If anybody asked me, I’d say it was a judgment on all of yer. You
Jordans was always stuck up, always thought you was better’n anybody
else. I guess I ought to know, I married into yer!--You a rich
family?--You the salt of the Earth--You Jordans! You paupers--Ha! Ha!
Ha!

ORIN (_pulls Sadie’s skirt_)

Ain’t she still dead, Mum! Ain’t grandma still dead?

SADIE (_angrily_)

Of course she is.

ORIN

But I thought we was all goin’ to cry!

SADIE

Cry then, you awful little brat.

[_She slaps his face and he roars loudly; she takes him by the arm
and yanks him out of the room, followed by Henry, Emma, Nettie and
Ella--through his roars, they all speak together as they go._

EMMA (_to Henry_)

One hundred dollars! After all your blowin’.

HENRY

It’s you, and that child of your’n; you turned her against me.

NETTIE

Well, I just won’t spend my hundred dollars for mournin’. I’ll wear
my old black dress!

ELLA

And me makin’ hats all the rest of my life--just makin’ hats!

[_The front door is heard to shut behind them. Jane, Ben and Judge
are alone. Judge stands by stove. Jane is up by window, looking out
at the deepening twilight. Ben sits at right._

BEN

Ha! Ha! Ha! “Crow buzzards” mother called us--the last of the
Jordans--crow buzzards--and that’s what we are.

JUDGE

You can’t stay here, Ben; you know that as well as I do. I signed the
warrant for your arrest myself. It’s been over a year since the Grand
Jury indicted you for arson.

BEN

You mean you’ll give me up?

JANE

You won’t do that, Judge; you’re here as her friend.

JUDGE

No, but if it’s known he’s here, I couldn’t save him, and it’s bound
to be known.

JANE (_to Ben_)

Were you careful coming?

BEN

Yes.

JUDGE

It’s bound to be known.

BEN

He means they’ll tell on me. (_He nods his head toward door_) My
brother, or my sisters.

JUDGE

No, I don’t think they’d do that.

BEN

Let ’em! What do I care. I’m sick of hiding out, half starved! Let
’em do what they please. All I know is one thing,--when they put her
into her grave her sons and daughters are goin’ to be standin’ there,
like the Jordans always do.

JANE (_quietly_)

Hannah will have your room ready by now. There are some clean shirts
and things that was your father’s; I’ll bring them to you.

BEN (_uneasily_)

Can I go up there, just a minute?

JANE

To your mother?

BEN

Yes.

JANE

If you want to.

BEN

I do.

JANE

Yes, you can go.

[_Ben turns and exits up the stairs. Jane crosses and sits by stove,
sinking wearily into the chair._

JUDGE

And she left him nothing, just that hundred dollars, and only that
because I told her it was the safest way to do it. I thought he was
her one weakness, but it seems she didn’t have any.

JANE

No.

JUDGE

She was a grim old woman, Jane.

JANE

I think I could have loved her, but she didn’t want it.

JUDGE

And yet she left you everything.

JANE

I don’t understand.

JUDGE

She left a sealed letter for you. It’s in my strong box; you may
learn from it that she cared more about you than you think.

JANE

No.

JUDGE

There was more kindness in her heart than most people gave her credit
for.

JANE

For her own, for Uncle Ned, who never did for her, for Ned, for the
Jordan name. I don’t understand, and I don’t think I care so very
much; it’s been a hard week, Judge.

[_She rests her head against the back of the chair._

JUDGE

I know, and you’re all worn out.

JANE

Yes.

JUDGE

It’s a lot of money, Jane.

JANE

I suppose so.

JUDGE

And so you’re a rich woman. I am curious to know how you feel?

JANE

Just tired.

[_She shuts her eyes. For a moment he looks at her with a smile,
then turns and quietly fills the stove with wood as Ben comes slowly
downstairs and into the room._

BEN

If there was only something I could do for her.

JUDGE

Jane’s asleep, Ben.

BEN

Did she look like that, unhappy, all the time?

JUDGE

Yes.

BEN

Crow buzzards! God damn the Jordans!

[_Front door bell rings sharply, Ben is startled._

JUDGE

Steady there! It’s just one of the neighbors, I guess. (_Bell rings
again as Hannah crosses downstairs and to hall_) Hannah knows enough
not to let any one in.

BEN (_slowly_)

When I got back, time before this, from France, I tried to go
straight, but it wasn’t any good, I just don’t belong----

[_Hannah enters frightened._

HANNAH

It’s Jim Jay!

BEN (_to Judge_)

And you didn’t think my own blood would sell me?

[_Jim Jay, a large, kindly man of middle age, enters._

JIM

I’m sorry, Ben, I’ve come for you!

[_Jane wakes, startled, and springs up._

JANE

What is it?

JIM

I got to take him, Jane.

BEN (_turns fiercely_)

Have you!

JIM (_quietly_)

I’m armed, Ben--better not be foolish!

JANE

He’ll go with you, Mr. Jay. He won’t resist.

JIM (_quietly_)

He mustn’t. You got a bad name, Ben, and I ain’t a-goin’ to take any
chances.

BEN

I thought I’d get to go to her funeral, anyway, before they got me.

JIM

Well, you could, maybe, if you was to fix a bail bond. You’d take
bail for him, wouldn’t you, Judge?

JUDGE

It’s a felony; I’d have to have good security.

JANE

I’m a rich woman, you said just now. Could I give bail for him?

JUDGE

Yes.

BEN (_to her_)

So the money ain’t enough. You want all us Jordans fawnin’ on you for
favors. Well, all of ’em but me will; by mornin’ the buzzards will be
flocking round you thick! You’re going to hear a lot about how much
folks love you, but you ain’t goin’ to hear it from me.

JANE (_turns to him quietly_)

Why did you come here, Ben, when I wrote you she was dying?

BEN

Why did I come?

JANE

Was it because you loved her, because you wanted to ask her to
forgive you, before she died--or was it because you wanted to get
something for yourself?

BEN (_hesitates_)

How does a feller know why he does what he does?

JANE

I’m just curious. You’ve got so much contempt for the rest, I
was just wondering? You were wild, Ben, and hard, but you were
honest--what brought you here?

BEN (_sulkily_)

The money.

JANE

I thought so. Then when you saw her you were sorry, but even then the
money was in your mind--well--it’s mine now. And you’ve got to take
your choice,--you can do what I tell you, or you’ll go with Mr. Jay.

BEN

Is that so? Well I guess there ain’t much doubt about what I’ll do.
Come on, Jim?

JIM

All right. (_He takes a pair of handcuffs from his pocket_) You’ll
have to slip these on, Ben.

BEN (_steps back_)

No--wait--(_He turns desperately to Jane_) What is it you want?

JANE

I want you to do as I say.

BEN (_after a look at Jim and the handcuffs_)

I’ll do it.

JANE

I thought so. (_She turns to Judge_) Can you fix the bond up here?

JUDGE

Yes. (_He sits at table and takes pen, ink and paper from a drawer_)
I can hold court right here long enough for that.

JIM

This is my prisoner, Judge, and here’s the warrant.

[_He puts warrant on table._

JANE

First he’s got to swear, before you, to my conditions.

BEN

What conditions?

JANE

When will his trial be, Judge?

JUDGE

Not before the spring term, I should think--say early April.

JANE

You’ll stay here till then, Ben; you won’t leave town! You’ll work
the farm,--there’s plenty to be done.

BEN (_sulkily_)

I don’t know how to work a farm.

JANE

I do. You’ll just do what I tell you.

BEN

Be your slave? That’s what you mean, ain’t it?

JANE

I’ve been about that here for eight years.

BEN

And now it’s your turn to get square on a Jordan!

JANE

You’ll work for once, and work every day. The first day you don’t
I’ll surrender you to the judge, and he’ll jail you. The rest of the
Jordans will live as I tell them to live, or for the first time in
any of their lives, they’ll live on what they earn. Don’t forget,
Ben, that right now I’m the head of the family.

JUDGE (_to Ben_)

You heard the conditions? Shall I make out the bond?

BEN (_reluctantly_)

Yes.

[_He sits moodily at right, looking down at the floor. Jane looks at
him for a moment, then turns up to window._

JANE

It’s snowing!

JIM

Thought I smelled it. (_He buttons his coat_) Well, nothin’ to keep
me, is there, Judge?

JUDGE

No. (_He starts to write out the bond with a rusty pen_) This pen is
rusty!

JIM

I was sorry to hear about the old lady. It’s too bad, but that’s the
way of things.

JUDGE (_writes_)

Yes.

JIM

Well--It’s early for snow, not but what it’s a good thing for the
winter wheat.

[_He exits._

CURTAIN