Can I go?

RICHARD

Yes.

ARCHIE

Ask mamma now can I go. Will you?

RICHARD

(Glances towards the door.) I will.

ARCHIE

He said he will show me the cows he has in the field. Do you know how many cows he has?

RICHARD

How many?

ARCHIE

Eleven. Eight red and three white. But one is sick now. No, not sick. But it fell.

RICHARD

Cows?

ARCHIE

(With a gesture.) Eh! Not bulls. Because bulls give no milk. Eleven cows. They must give a lot of milk. What makes a cow give milk?

RICHARD

(Takes his hand.) Who knows? Do you understand what it is to give a thing?

ARCHIE

To give? Yes.

RICHARD

While you have a thing it can be taken from you.

ARCHIE

By robbers? No?

RICHARD

But when you give it, you have given it. No robber can take it from you. (He bends his head and presses his son's hand against his cheek.) It is yours then for ever when you have given it. It will be yours always. That is to give.

ARCHIE

But, pappie?

RICHARD

Yes?

ARCHIE

How could a robber rob a cow? Everyone would see him. In the night, perhaps.

RICHARD

In the night, yes.

ARCHIE

Are there robbers here like in Rome?

RICHARD

There are poor people everywhere.

ARCHIE

Have they revolvers?

RICHARD

No.

ARCHIE

Knives? Have they knives?

RICHARD

(Sternly.) Yes, yes. Knives and revolvers.

ARCHIE

(Disengages himself.) Ask mamma now. She is coming.

RICHARD

(Makes a movement to rise.) I will.

ARCHIE

No, sit there, pappie. You wait and ask her when she comes back. I won't be here. I'll be in the garden.

RICHARD

(Sinking back again.) Yes. Go.

ARCHIE

(Kisses him swiftly.) Thanks.

(He runs out quickly by the door at the back leading into the garden. Bertha enters by the door on the left. She approaches the table and stands beside it, fingering the petals of the roses, looking at Richard.)

RICHARD

(Watching her.) Well?

BERTHA

(Absently.) Well. He says he likes me.

RICHARD

(Leans his chin in his hand.) You showed him his note?

BERTHA

Yes. I asked him what it meant.

RICHARD

What did he say it meant?

BERTHA

He said I must know. I said I had an idea. Then he told me he liked me very much. That I was beautiful-- and all that.

RICHARD

Since when!

BERTHA

(Again absently.) Since when-- what?

RICHARD

Since when did he say he liked you?

BERTHA

Always, he said. But more since we came back.