FIRST SCENE
The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing.
Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom.
At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed outside.
At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture and household utensils that have been saved from the fire.
SJÖBLOM, the painter, is painting the window-frames of the inn. He listens closely to everything that is said.
ANDERSON, the mason, is digging in the ruins.
The DETECTIVE enters.
DETECTIVE. Is the fire entirely out?
ANDERSON. There isn't any smoke, at least.
DETECTIVE. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [Pause] You were born in this quarter, were you not?
ANDERSON. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father helped to put in the brick.
DETECTIVE. Then you know everybody around here?
ANDERSON. We all know each other. There is something particular about this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is way out there at the end of the street.