You know, Bill could have married any number of the right kind of girls around here. But I knew it would take more than the right kind of girl to get Bill to marry. It would take something special. And you're something special.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

How should I take that?

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

As a compliment. Thanks for the drink. Don't tell Harry I had one when you see him at dinner.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

We won't be over to the hall. I've laid in a sort of feast for tonight.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Celebrating something?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

No, just an impulse.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Well, don't tell Harry anyway.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

You'd better stop talking the way you've been talking, or I won't have to tell him.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Now, look, honey, don't you start going puritan on me. You're the only one in this school I can shoot my mouth off to, so don't change, baby. Don't change.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

I won't.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Some day I'm going to wheedle out o{ you all the juicy stories you must have from when you were in the theater.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Lilly, you would make the most hardened chorus girl blush.

 

 

 

 

LILLY (Pleased)

 

 

Really?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Really.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

That's the sweetest thing you've said to me in days. Good-bye. (She goes out the door, and a moment later we hear the outside door close.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA (Sits for a moment, listening to TOM'S rather plaintive whistling. She rises and looks at the Canada vacation literature on the desk, and then, looking at her watch, goes to the door, opens it, and calls up the stairway)

 

 

Tom . . . Oh, Tom.

 

 

(The moment TOM hears his name, he jumps from the bed, and goes through the sitting room, and appears on the stairs.)

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Yes?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

(She is very friendly with him, comradely)

 

 

If it won't spoil your supper, come on down for a cup of tea.

 

 

(TOM goes back into his room and brushes his hair, then he comes on down the stairs, and enters the study. He enters this room as though it were something rare and special. This is where LAURA lives.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA (Has gone out to the other part of the house. Comes to doorway for a moment pouring cream from bottle to pitcher)

 

 

I've iust about finished your costume for the play, and we can have a fitting.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Sure. That'd be great. Do you want the door open or shut?

 

 

 

 

LAURA (Goes off again)

 

 

It doesn't make any difference.

 

 

(TOM shuts the door. He is deeply in love with this woman, though he knows nothing can come of it. It is a sort of delayed puppy love. It is very touching and very intense. They are easy with each other, casual, though he is always trying in thinly veiled ways to tell her he loves her. LAURA enters with tea tray and sees him closing the door. She puts tray on table)

 

 

Perhaps you'd better leave it ajar, so that if some of the other boys get out of class early, they can come in too.

 

 

 

 

TOM (Is disappointed)

 

 

Oh, sure.

 

 

 

 

LAURA (Goes off for the plate of cookies, but pauses long enough to watch TOM open the door the merest crack. She is amused. In a moment, she re-enters with a plate of cookies)

 

 

Help yourself.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

(He takes a cookie, and then sits on the floor, near her chair.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Are the boys warm enough in the rooms? They shut down the heat so early this spring, I guess they didn't expect this little chill.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

We're fine. But this in nice. (He indicates low fire in fireplace.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA (Goes back to her sewing)

 

 

I heard you singing.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I'm sorry if it bothered you.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

It was very nice.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

If it ever bothers you, just bang on the radiator.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

What was the name of the song? It's lovely.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

It's an old French song . . . "The Joys of Love" . .