The Naturewoman | Page 9

this girl's been playing around on the beaches with savages . . . and what's been happening to her?
DR. MASTERSON. My dear niece, I'm afraid you'll have to take some account of our civilized prejudices. We simply don't say everything that we think.
OCEANA. [Springing up.] Oh, dear me! I'm so sorry ! I didn't mean to make you unhappy! I was going to be so good. I was going to try to conform to everything. Why, just think of it, Aunt Sophronia . . . in Rio I actually bought a pair of corsets. And I tried to wear them. I . . . Oceana! Around my waist! Think of it! [She looks for sympathy.] I couldn't stand them . . . I climbed to the topmast and threw them to the sharks. But now it seems that you all wear corsets on your minds and souls. [A pause.] Never mind . . . let's talk about something else. I'm getting restless. You see . . . I'm not used to being in a room . . . it seems like a box to me . . . I can hardly breathe. The air in here is dreadful . . . hadn't any of you noticed? [Silence. Apparently nobody had.] Would you mind if I opened a window?
MRS. MASTERSON. It is storming outside, Anna.
OCEANA. Yes, but one can exercise and keep warm. just a minute . . . please. [She flings up a window; a gale blows in.] Ah, feel that!
[MRS. MASTERSON, LETITIA and DR. MASTERSON draw away from the window.]
MRS. MASTERSON. This is simply outrageous!
LETITIA. It is beyond all words!
DR. MASTERSON. My dear, consider . . .
MRS. MASTERSON. I won't have that creature in my house a minute longer.
DR. MASTERSON. My dear, be reasonable!
LETITIA. REASONABLE?
DR. MASTERSON. Consider what is at stake!
MRS. MASTERSON. But what hope have we to get anything out of such a woman?
DR. MASTERSON. We have some hope, I'm sure. If we . . .
MRS. MASTERSON. Didn't you hear her say she'd come home for nothing but the money?
DR. MASTERSON. Yes . . . but at least she's honest enough to say it, Sophronia. And she's here as our guest . . . she wants to be friendly . . . don't let it come to an open break with her!
LETITIA. But how can we HELP it, father?
DR. MASTERSON. It's just a matter of letting her talk. And what harm will that do us?
MRS. MASTERSON. But we can't lock her up in the house. And can we introduce her to our friends? Tomorrow night, for instance!
DR. MASTERSON. We must manage it somehow. When we've once had an understanding with her, it won't take long to get the papers signed, and after that we won't care. Control yourself, Sophronia, I implore you! Don't let your prejudices ruin us!
ETHEL. [Steals to them, in agitation.] Mother, CAN'T you be good to her? You don't understand her at all.
MRS. MASTERSON. [Coldly.] Thank you, Ethel . . .
ETHEL. [To FREDDY, who joins them.] Can't you say something to them, Freddy? They treat her so badly.
FREDDY. They hate her, Ethel! They couldn't understand her.
[OCEANA takes deep breaths, expelling them in short, sharp puffs.]
LETITIA. What in the world are you doing?
OCEANA. That's one of the Yogi exercises. Haven't any of you studied the Vedantas?
LETITIA. We are all Episcopalians here, Oceana.
OCEANA. Oh, I see!
[She takes a deep breath and then pounds her chest like a gorilla.]
MRS. MASTERSON. And pray, what is THAT?
OCEANA. I'm just getting some of the civilization out of my lungs.
[A furious gale blows.]
MRS. MASTERSON. Really, my dear, we shall have to leave the room. We'll all catch our death of cold.
OCEANA. My dear Aunt Sophronia, nobody ever caught a cold from winter air. Colds come from over-eating and bad ventilation. [She closes the window.] However, there you are! [Eagerly.] Now, let's have something beautiful - so that I can forget my blunders. Let's have some music. Will you play for me, Cousin Letitia?
LETITIA. I don't play, my dear.
OCEANA. What? Why, father told me you played all the time!
LETITIA. That was before my marriage.
OCEANA. Oh, I see! [Laughs.] The music has accomplished its purpose! [Stops, alarmed.] Oh! I've done it again! [Goes to LETITIA.] My dear cousin, believe me, I meant no offense. I'm never personal. I was simply formulating a principle of sociology!
MRS. MASTERSON. You have strange ways, my dear niece.
DR. MASTERSON. Are you always so direct, so ruthless?
OCEANA. That's the word, isn't it? That's what father taught me. Never to think about personalities . . . to go after the truth! He used to quote that saying of Nietzsche's: "To hunger after knowledge as the lion for his food!"
MRS. MASTERSON. Oh, you read Nietzsche, do you? How could you get such books?
OCEANA. We had a government steamer from New Zealand three