The Landlady—(Scornfully)—Yes—Next week maybe I have to sell another liberty bond for seventy dollars what I paid a hundred dollars for, too. No sir I need the money NOW. Here—
She writes and hands it to him.
Jean (Reading)—Sell my piano? But please I cannot do that—yet.
The Landlady—A lot of good a piano does a deef person like you. That's a good one—( She laughs harshly). The deef musician—ho ho—with a piano.
Jean—Madam, I shall pay you surely next week. There has been some delay in my war risk insurance payment. I should think that you would trust a soldier who lost his hearing in the trenches—
The Landlady—That's old stuff. You soldiers think just because you were unlucky enough to get drafted you can spend the rest of your life patting yourselves on the back. Besides—what good did the war do anyway—except make a lot of rich people richer?
She scribbles emphatically "Either you pay up tonight or out you go."
Handing this to Jean with a flourish, she exits.
He sits on the bed for a long time.
Finally he glances up at the wall over his bed where hangs a cheap photo frame. In the center is a picture of President Wilson; on one side of this is a crude print of a soldier, on the other side a sailor; above is the inscription "For the Freedom of the World."