Windows

Windows

The Project Gutenberg Ebook of Windows (from the 5th Series Plays)
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**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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Title: Windows (from the 5th Series Plays)
Author: John Galsworthy
Release Date: December, 2003 [EBook #4766] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on March 14,
2002]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
WINDOWS--5TH SERIES PLAYS ***
This etext was produced by David Widger
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

WINDOWS
From the 5th Series of Plays
By John Galsworthy

PERSONS OF THE PLAY
GEOFFREY MARCH....... Freelance in Literature JOAN
MARCH........... His Wife MARY MARCH........... Their Daughter
JOHNNY MARCH......... Their Son COOK................. Their Cook MR
BLY............... Their Window Cleaner FAITH BLY............ His
Daughter BLUNTER.............. A Strange Young Man MR
BARNADAS.......... In Plain Clothes

The action passes in Geofrey March's House, Highgate-Spring-time.
ACT I. Thursday morning. The dining-room-after breakfast.
ACT II. Thursday, a fortnight later. The dining-room after lunch.
ACT III. The same day. The dining-room-after dinner.

ACT I
The MARCH'S dining-room opens through French windows on one of
those gardens which seem infinite, till they are seen to be coterminous
with the side walls of the house, and finite at the far end, because only
the thick screen of acacias and sumachs prevents another house from
being seen. The French and other windows form practically all the

outer wall of that dining-room, and between them and the screen of
trees lies the difference between the characters of Mr and Mrs March,
with dots and dashes of Mary and Johnny thrown in. For instance, it
has been formalised by MRS MARCH but the grass has not been cut
by MR MARCH, and daffodils have sprung up there, which MRS
MARCH desires for the dining-room, but of which MR MARCH says:
"For God's sake, Joan, let them grow." About half therefore are now in
a bowl on the breakfast table, and the other half still in the grass, in the
compromise essential to lasting domesticity. A hammock under the
acacias shows that MARY lies there sometimes with her eyes on the
gleam of sunlight that comes through: and a trail in the longish grass,
bordered with cigarette ends, proves that JOHNNY tramps there with
his eyes on the ground or the stars, according. But all this is by the way,
because except for a yard or two of gravel terrace outside the windows,
it is all painted on the backcloth. The MARCHES have been at
breakfast, and the round table, covered with blue linen, is thick with
remains, seven baskets full. The room is gifted with old oak furniture:
there is a door, stage Left, Forward; a hearth, where a fire is burning,
and a high fender on which one can sit, stage Right, Middle; and in the
wall below the fireplace, a service hatch covered with a sliding shutter,
for the passage of dishes into the adjoining pantry. Against the wall,
stage Left, is an old oak dresser, and a small writing table across the
Left Back corner. MRS MARCH still sits behind the coffee pot,
making up her daily list on tablets with a little gold pencil fastened to
her wrist. She is personable, forty-eight, trim, well-dressed, and more
matter-of-fact than seems plausible. MR MARCH is sitting in an
armchair, sideways to the windows, smoking his pipe and reading his
newspaper, with little explosions to which no one pays any attention,
because it is his daily habit. He is a fine-looking man of fifty odd, with
red-grey moustaches and hair, both of which stiver partly by nature and
partly because his hands often push them up. MARY and JOHNNY are
close to the fireplace, stage Right. JOHNNY sits