The Flutter of the Goldleaf | Page 3

waves, the signals from the deeps of space!

Warner
Hey, diddle, diddle!
Philo
Sleep-walkers all--the people in the streets, the shops--the mad people
with their heaps of gold!
Mrs. W.
Now don't work yourself up, Philo, with the doctor coming. You want
to tell him about your machine.
Philo
Yes. He is a great man. He has studied these things. I will talk to him.
He will not laugh.
Warner
Mary Ann, don't you think we'd better bring up some cider? It'll look
more hospitable like.
Mrs. W.
That city doctor won't care anything about cider.
Warner
My cider's good enough for anybody! And Dr. Bellows'll be sure to ask
for it.
Mrs. W.
Well, wait till he does. (Looks uneasily about room.) Don't you think,
son, that if you're going to take to having visitors here I'd better move
some furniture up? You could have the haircloth sofa--the springs are
broke anyway--and Alice says she don't want the wax flowers in the

parlor any more. They're turnin' yellow, but you wouldn't notice it up
here.
Philo (clinching his hands)
Do what you like, mother, only don't take anything out. If anything
happened to my work I believe I'd go crazy!
(The parents look at each other.)
Warner
Thought your work was tendin' the store.
Philo
Brother Will is more help there than I am, father.
Warner
You're right about that. Will's got a head on.
Mrs. W.
You'd better go down, Hiram, and meet the doctors.
Warner
Alice'll show them up.
Mrs. W.
Where's that strange smell comin' from? Do you work in the other room,
too, Philo? (Goes in, left.)
Philo
Father ... I'm sorry about the store ... I wish I could tell you ... but
what's the use? You won't believe!

(Re-enter MRS. W.)
Mrs. W.
Gracious! I couldn't breathe in there! Got to clear something out before
Reba comes up here. She'd have no respect for my housekeeping.
Philo
Reba?
Mrs. W.
Reba Sloan. She's been asking if she couldn't come. She's just wild to
see your machine.
Philo
Don't you ever let her up here, mother!
Mrs. W.
But she asked me, Philo--and a neighbor's daughter, you know----
Philo
I thought she was away from home.
Mrs. W.
Been back a month--walks all about right under your eyes. You ought
to be civil, Philo.
Philo
I want to see Dr. Seymour. I should like to have him know what I'm
doing. But if you're going to turn the whole village in here, I'll bar the
door, that's all.

Mrs. W.
My son, if you'd only interest yourself a little----
Philo
I'm not interested in anything nearer than thirty-five million miles!
Warner
What did I tell you, Mary Ann?
Mrs. W.
I hear the doctors! Now, Philo, if you can't talk sense, don't say
anything.
(Enter SEYMOUR and BELLOWS.)
Bellows
Good evening, Warner. How d' do, Mrs. Warner! My friend, Dr.
Seymour.
Warner and Mrs. W.
How do you do, sir!
Bellows
Philo, I've brought Dr. Seymour around to have a talk with you. He's
down from New York for a day or two. Been sleeping any better?
Philo
Too much. I need all my time. I'm very glad to see you, Dr. Seymour.
(All take seats.)

Mrs. W.
I hope you'll excuse the looks of the room, doctor.
Seymour
It looks very interesting indeed to me, Mrs. Warner. The workshop of a
student, and a busy one. (To PHILO.) You've been working too hard, I
see.
Philo
I'm tired, perhaps, but I am well. When a man makes a momentous
discovery he is apt to be overwrought. He may not eat or sleep well for
a time. He may even appear to be strange or mad.
(MRS. W. coughs suddenly.)
Mrs. W.
I'm afraid that's not a comfortable chair, Dr. Seymour.
Seymour
Quite comfortable, Mrs. Warner.
Mrs. W. (rapidly)
Philo is my oldest boy, and I never could keep him away from books.
Will, my second son, is as steady in the store as his father himself, and
Johnny is just fine on the wagon. As for Alice, there's not a neater
all-round girl to be found anywhere. They're healthy, sensible children,
every one of 'em, and don't care what's inside any book in the
world--but Philo was just bent on going to college----
Seymour
A very natural bent for an ambitious boy.

Bellows
Tell us about the discovery, Philo, my lad.
Philo (rising and walking slowly up and down the room)
I think I will. It will be another experiment. I know what the effect will
be on Dr. Bellows. He is an old friend of mine--but you, sir, are a
stranger. I should like to try your mind and see if you are awake or
asleep.
(BELLOWS winks toward SEYMOUR, who takes no notice, but gives
PHILO careful