...
(_The words come quietly, confidently; but it is the voice of an
exhausted man, whose physical resources are nearly at an end. For a long
time he sits quite still, holding his wife's hand, saying nothing, for he
has nothing more to say. A high screen behind the couch on which they rest
cuts off the gaslight; only the firelight plays fitfully upon the two
faces. Suddenly the brightness falls away, and over that foreshadowing of
death, now only three days distant, the scene closes_.)
The Man of Business
Dramatis Personae
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN (_Ex-Minister_)
JESSE COLLINGS (_His Friend_)
A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR
A NURSE
The Man of Business
SCENE: _Highbury. August_ 1913.
_Between double-doors, opening from living-room to conservatory, sits
the shadow of the once great and powerful Minister, State Secretary for
the Colonies. To the dark, sombre tones of the heavily furnished chamber
the gorgeous colours of the orchids, hanging in trails and festoons under
their luminous dome of glass, offer a vivid contrast. Yet even greater is
that which they present to the drawn and haggard features of the
catastrophically aged man whose public career is now over. In wheeled
chair, with lower limbs wrapped in a shawl and supported by a foot-rest,
he sits bent and almost motionless; and when he moves head or hand, it is
head or hand only, and the motion is slow, painful, and hesitating, as
though mind functioned on body with difficulty, uncertain of its ground.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116