(THIRD Border Full Up.)
(A gay chatter is heard off L. of party returning from concert.)
Smith. (Not hearing it) Oh, damn Wobbles. (Crosses L.) I'm going because---- (The center doors open quickly. Grice, Steele, Faraday, Tarver and Phyllis, Evelyn, Raleigh and Aunt Ida are in the doorway, having come from the left. Conscious of the presence of returning party, Smith reverts to his tone of solemnity and Celia bows her head with grief. Faraday, in doorway, hearing Smith, turns and raises his hands to quiet the party. Grice and Aunt Ida have drifted down L. ahead of the others. Aunt Ida sinks wearily into chair by desk.) Hour by hour, he lay on his sick bed, looking out across the--thatched roofs of Berbera to the Arab---- (Grice sneezes loudly. Turning) Good Lord, what's that! (The others come down in the following order: Steele, Raleigh and Evelyn come down R.; Phyllis and Tarver up C.; Faraday to R. of Celia; Madge by Aunt Ida's chair. Grice has gone down L.C. Some of the party are carrying programs. The doors are left open.) In the midst of our sad communings, how strangely out of place are these revelers.
Omnes. Revelers?
Smith. They come flushed with new wine.
Grice. New wine? They dined with me, sir.
Celia. (Turning to Faraday) Was the concert a success?
Faraday. Of course it was. We were there. (Goes up stage.)
Grice. (Plaintively) We missed you, Celia.
Smith. Miss Faraday couldn't go without hearing Colonel Smith's last message.