I don’t know.

CHRISTINE — You think he might come tonight? (then with a mocking smile ) So he’s the beau you’re waiting for in the spring moonlight! (then after a pause ) But the night train got in long ago.

LAVINIA —(glances down the drive, left front — then starts to her feet excitedly ) Here’s someone! (Christine slowly rises. There is the sound of footsteps. A moment later Ezra Mannon enters from left, front. He stops short in the shadow for a second and stands, erect and stiff, as if at attention, staring at his house, his wife and daughter. He is a tall, spare, big-boned man of fifty, dressed in the uniform of a Brigadier-General. One is immediately struck by the mask-like look of his face in repose, more pronounced in him than in the others. He is exactly like the portrait in his study, which we have seen in Act Two, except that his face is more lined and lean and the hair and beard are grizzled. His movements are exact and wooden and he has a mannerism of standing and sitting in stiff, posed attitudes that suggest the statues of military heroes. When he speaks, his deep voice has a hollow repressed quality, as if he were continually withholding emotion from it. His air is brusque and authoritative. )

LAVINIA —(seeing the man’s figure stop in the shadow — calls excitedly ) Who’s that?

MANNON —(stepping forward into the moonlight ) It’s I.

LAVINIA —(with a cry of joy ) Father! (She runs to him and throws her arms around him and kisses him. ) Oh, Father! (She bursts into tears and hides her face against his shoulder. )

MANNON —(embarrassed — patting her head — gruffly ) Come! I thought I’d taught you never to cry.

LAVINIA —(obediently forcing back her tears ) I’m sorry, Father — but I’m so happy!

MANNON —(awkwardly moved ) Tears are queer tokens of happiness! But I appreciate your — your feeling.

CHRISTINE —(has slowly descended the steps, her eyes fixed on him — tensely ) Is it really you, Ezra? We had just given up hope of your coming tonight.

MANNON —(going stiffly to meet her ) Train was late. The railroad is jammed up. Everybody has got leave. (He meets her at the foot of the steps and kisses her with a chill dignity — formally ) I am glad to see you, Christine. You are looking well. (He steps back and stares at her — then in a voice that betrays a deep undercurrent of suppressed feeling ) You have changed, somehow. You are prettier than ever — But you always were pretty.

CHRISTINE —(forcing a light tone ) Compliments from one’s husband! How gallant you’ve become, Ezra! (then solicitously ) You must be terribly tired. Wouldn’t you like to sit here on the steps for a while? The moonlight is so beautiful.

LAVINIA —(who has been hovering about jealously, now manages to worm herself between them — sharply ) No. It’s too damp out here. And Father must be hungry. (taking his arm ) Come inside with me and I’ll get you something to eat. You poor dear! You must be starved.

MANNON —(really revelling in his daughter’s coddling but embarrassed before his wife — pulling his arm back — brusquely ) No, thanks! I would rather rest here for a spell. Sit down, Vinnie. (Christine sits on the top step at center; he sits on the middle step at right; Lavinia on the lowest step at left. While they are doing this he keeps on talking in his abrupt sentences, as if he were trying to cover up some hidden uneasiness. ) I’ve got leave for a few days. Then I must go back and disband my brigade. Peace ought to be signed soon. The President’s assassination is a frightful calamity. But it can’t change the course of events.

LAVINIA — Poor man! It’s dreadful he should die just at his moment of victory.

MANNON — Yes! (then after a pause — somberly ) All victory ends in the defeat of death. That’s sure. But does defeat end in the victory of death? That’s what I wonder! (They both stare at him, Lavinia in surprise, Christine in uneasy wonder.