The Complete Plays of J. M. Barrie - 30 Titles in One Edition. Джеймс Барри

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СКАЧАТЬ She shakes her fist at the keyhole.

      ALL. Why?

      MILLY. I don’t know.

      BAB comes upstairs.

      ROSE. Bab, why did you shake your fist at the keyhole?

      BAB. Because it is stuffed with paper.

      ALL. Oh!

      BAB. Yes, stuffed. How mean of Miss Sims. She might surely have trusted to our honour not to look.

      MILLY. Thank goodness, the holidays begin the day after tomorrow.

      BAB. But a great deal may happen before tomorrow. Girls, can you keep a secret — a secret that will freeze your blood and curl you up and make you die of envy?

      ALL. Yes, yes!

      BAB. That little sneak Jane Annie is not here?

      MILLY. She has gone upstairs to bed.

      BAB. You are sure?

      ROSE. I’ll make sure. (Runs upstairs and looks through keyhole.) It’s all right, girls! I can see her curling her eyelashes with a hairpin.

      GIRLS surround BAB.

      BAB. Then, girls, what do you value most in the world?

      MILLY. My curls.

      MEG. My complexion.

      ROSE. My diamond ring.

      MAUD. My cousin Dick.

      BAB. Well, Meg would be delighted her complexion fair to doff,

       And Milly take her scissors and cut her tresses off,

       And Rose with a careless “Take it” give up her diamond quick,

       And Maud would soon surrender her rights in Cousin Dick,

       To be me tonight!

      MILLY. What is his name?

      BAB. Jack.

      MAUD. A lovely name! What are you and Jack to do?

      JANE ANNIE steals downstairs.

      BAB. This very night we have —

      ALL. You have — ?

      BAB. Arranged to el —

      ALL. To el — (seeing JANE ANNIE.) Oh!

      JANE ANNIE comes forward. All turn their backs on her.

      JANE A. What have you arranged to do tonight, Bab? What is it, Maud? tell me, Milly.

      ROSE. You used to be the worst girl in the school, Jane Annie, and I believe you have become a sneak to win the good-conduct prize.

      MILLY. When it is presented to her tomorrow, I shall hiss.

      JANE A. What is your secret, Bab?

      BAB. Oh, I should like to pinch you!

      JANE A. Just because I am a good girl.

      SONG. — JANE ANNIE.

       I’m not a sneak for praise or pelf,

       But when they’re acting badly,

       I want to make them like myself,

       And so I tell tales gladly.

       Just because I am a good girl.

      ALL. She gives her reasons thus,

       But it’s rather hard on us,

       To suffer just because she is a good girl.

      JANE ANNIE. I told Miss Sims they read in bed,

       Although with guile they cloaked it,

       And when her cane chair vanished,

       I told her they had smoked it,

       And all because I am a good girl.

      ALL. And all because she is a good girl.

      JANE ANNIE. Although misunderstood, I’m meek —

       Bab, pinch me, pinch me well!

      (BAB pinches her.)

      Thanks! Next I offer you my cheek.

      (BAB slaps her.)

      Now, dear, I’ll go and tell.

       And just because I am a good girl.

      ALL. She gives her reasons thus,

       But it’s rather hard on us,

       To suffer just because she is a good girl.

      JANE A. If I liked I could make Bab tell me her secret. Beware!

       I have a power by which, if I chose to use it, I can

       make any one do anything I like.

      MILLY (scoffing). Then why don’t you use it?

      JANE A. Because I am a good girl.

       Exit JANE ANNIE downstairs.

      ROSE. Do you think she has such a power?

      MILLY. Of course not.

      MEG. Still, Jane Annie could not tell a lie.

      MILLY. You mistake. It was George Washington who could not tell a lie.

      MEG. So it was. How stupid of me.

      MAUD. Quick, Bab, your secret?

      ALL. Yes — the secret!

      BAB. Girls, this is my secret. Meg, watch! Jack is a soldier, and he loves me.

      ALL. Oh!

      BAB. But better still — I have two lovers.

      MILLY. Do they hate each other?

      BAB. Yes.

      MILLY. Scrumptious!

      BAB. And, oh girls! I have promised to elope with Jack tonight.

      ALL. Oh! (BAB sighs.)

      ROSE. But why do you sigh?

      BAB. Ah, there is Tom, dear Tom! What is poor Tom to do?

      ROSE. Then it is Tom you love?

      BAB. СКАЧАТЬ