The Naturewoman | Page 6

briskly; a college boy, about twenty-one, overgrown, narrow- chested, good-natured and slangy.] Ethel!
ETHEL. [Starts.] Freddy! Where's Oceana?
FREDDY. She won't get here till morning.
ETHEL. Oh, Freddy!
FREDDY. They can't dock the steamer to-night . . . there's some tangle at the pier.
ETHEL. Did you go and see?
FREDDY. I telephoned about it. I didn't want to wait in this blizzard.
ETHEL. I'm so sorry!
FREDDY. Me, too. But there's no help for it.
ETHEL. So long as she doesn't miss to-morrow night! Did I read you what she said about that, Freddy? [Takes letter from pocket.] "I'll pray for fair weather, so that I may get there to see the beautiful dancing. There is nothing in all the world that I love more . . . my whole being seems to flow into the dance. I send you the music of my Sunrise Dance, that father composed for me. You can learn it, and I'll do it for you. I don't know, of course; but father used to think that I was wonderful in it . . and he had known all the great dances in Europe. It was the last thing I heard him play, before he went out in the boat, and I saw him perish before my eyes." Don't you think that she writes beautifully, Freddy?
FREDDY. Yes; it's surprising.
ETHEL, Oh, yes. Her father was an extraordinary man, Henry says . . . a musician and a poet. They had books and everything, apparently. You'd think she's been living in Europe.
FREDDY. I see.
ETHEL. Listen to this: [Reads.] "About my name . . . I forgot to explain. You see, Anna sounds like England . . . or New England . . . and I am not the least like those places. Father used to see me, as a little tot, diving through the breakers, and floating out in the sea, with the snow-white frigate- birds flashing by overhead; and he said I was the very spirit of the island and the wild, lonely ocean. So he called me Oceana, and that's the name I've always borne."
FREDDY. It just fits my idea of her.
ETHEL. She goes on: "You mustn't be surprised at what I am. You may think it's dreadful . . . even wicked. But at least don't expect anything like you've ever known before. Fifteen years with only cocoa- palms and naked savages . . . the Boston varnish rubs off one. But I'm going to try to behave. I expect to feel quite at home . . . I have pictures of all of you, and a picture of the house . . . I even have father's keys, to let myself in with!"
FREDDY. Can you play her music, Ethel?
ETHEL. Play it? I could play it in my sleep. [Opens piano.] The Sunrise Dance! [She sits and plays.] Listen!
[She plunges into the ecstatic part of the music. FREDDY leans by the piano, watching her; she plays, more and more enthralled. The door opens softly.]
[OCEANA enters; a girl of twenty-two, superbly formed, dark-skinned, a picture of glowing health. She is clad in a short skirt and a rough sailor's reefer with cap to match; underneath this a knitted garment, tight-fitting and soft - no corsets. She carries two extremely heavy suitcases, and with no apparent effort. She sets these down and stands listening to the music, completely absorbed in it. There is the faintest suggestion of the Sunrise Dance in her attitude.
[OCEANA is trusting, and yet with power of reserve. Throughout the action, however vehemently she speaks, she seldom really grows angry; she does not take the game seriously enough. On the other hand her enjoyment, however keen, never becomes boisterous. Her actions proceed from a continual overflow of animal health. She is like a little child, in that she cannot remain physically still for very long at a time; she moves about the room like an animal in a cage. Her speech proceeds from an overwhelming interest in the truth, regardless of all personality. She never conceals anything, and she never represses anything.]
ETHEL. [Finishes the music, then turns, and leaps up.] Oceana!
FREDDY. [Turns.] Oceana!
OCEANA. Ethel! [Embraces her.] Oh, my dear! How glad I am to see you!
ETHEL. Oceana! But how did you get here?
OCEANA. I came on the steamer.
FREDDY. But it isn't docked
OCEANA. They took us to another dock.
ETHEL. [Holds her at arm's length.] Oh, how fine you are!
OCEANA. And you--you can play my father's music! I'm so glad!
ETHEL. You liked the way I played it?
OCEANA. I liked it! And so I know I shall like you! And I'm so happy about it--I wanted to like you!
ETHEL. But how big you are!
OCEANA. [Laughing.] Oh, that's the clothes. I got them in Rio. They're queer, I guess, but I only had a couple of hours. And this is Freddy! [They shake hands.] It's