第8章 III.(2)

And it's all my fault, sending you back after my fan, and I had it all the time in my own pocket; and it comes from my habit of giving it to you to carry in your overcoat pocket, because it's deep, and the fan can't break. And of course I never thought of my own pocket, and I never SHOULD have thought of it at all if Mr. Curwen hadn't been going back to get Mrs. Curwen's glove, for he'd brought another right after she'd sent him for a left, and we were all having such a laugh about it, and I just happened to put my hand on my pocket, and there I felt the fan. And oh, WHAT shall I do?" Mrs. Miller utters these explanations and self-reproaches in a lamentable voice, while crouching close to the grated door to the elevator shaft, and clinging to its meshes.

MILLER: "Well, well, it's all right. I've got you another fan, here. Don't be frightened."

MRS. ROBERTS, wildly: "Where's Aunt Mary, Edward? Has Willis got back?" At a guilty look from her husband: "Edward! DON'T tell me that SHE'S in that elevator! Don't do it, Edward! For your own sake don't. Don't tell me that your own child's mother's aunt is down there, suspended between heaven and earth like--like" - LAWTON: "The coffin of the Prophet."

MRS. ROBERTS: "Yes. DON'T tell me, Edward! Spare your child's mother, if you won't spare your wife!"

MRS. CRASHAW: "Agnes! don't be ridiculous. I'm here, and I never was more comfortable in my life."

MRS. ROBERTS, calling down the grating "Oh! Is it you, Aunt Mary?"

MRS. CRASHAW: "Of course it is!"

MRS. ROBERTS: "You recognize my voice?"

MRS. CRASHAW: "I should hope so, indeed! Why shouldn't I?"

MRS. ROBERTS: "And you know me? Agnes? Oh!"

MRS. CRASHAW: "Don't be a goose, Agnes."

MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, it IS you, aunty. It IS! Oh, I'm SO glad! I'm SO happy! But keep perfectly still, aunty dear, and we'll soon have you out. Think of baby, and don't give way."

MRS. CRASHAW: "I shall not, if the elevator doesn't, you may depend upon that."

MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, what courage you DO have! But keep up your spirits! Mrs. Miller and I have just come from seeing baby. She's gone to sleep with all her little presents in her arms. The children did want to see you so much before they went to bed. But never mind that now, Aunt Mary. I'm only too thankful to have you at all!"

MRS. CRASHAW: "I wish you did have me! And if you will all stop talking and try some of you to do something, I shall be greatly obliged to you. It's worse than it was in the sleeping car that night."

MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, do you remember it, Aunt Mary? Oh, how funny you are!" Turning heroically to her husband: "Now, Edward, dear, get them out. If it's necessary, get them out over my dead body.

Anything! Only hurry. I will be calm; I will be patient. But you must act instantly. Oh, here comes Mr. Curwen!" MR. CURWEN mounts the stairs to the landing with every sign of exhaustion, as if he had made a very quick run to and from his house. "Oh, HE will help--I know he will! Oh, Mr. Curwen, the elevator is caught just below here with my aunt in it and Mrs. Miller's husband" - LAWTON: "And my girl."

BEMIS: "And my boy."

MRS. CURWEN, calling up: "And your wife!"

CURWEN, horror-struck: "And my wife! Oh, heavenly powers! what are we going to do? How shall we get them out? Why don't they come up?"

ALL: "They can't."

CURWEN: "Can't? Oh, my goodness!" He flies at the grating, and kicks and beats it.

ROBERTS: "Hold on! What's the use of that?"

LAWTON: "You couldn't get at them if you beat the door down."

BEMIS: "Certainly not." They lay hands upon him and restrain him.

CURWEN, struggling: "Let me speak to my wife! Will you prevent a husband from speaking to his own wife?"

MRS. MILLER, in blind admiration of his frenzy: "Yes, that's just what I said. If some one had beaten the door in at once" - MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, Edward, dear, let him speak to his wife."

Tearfully: "Think if _I_ were there!"

ROBERTS, releasing him: "He may speak to his wife all night. But he mustn't knock the house down."

CURWEN, rushing at the grating: "Caroline! Can you hear me? Are you safe?"

MRS. CURWEN: "Perfectly. I had a little faint when we first stuck"

-

CURWEN: "Faint? Oh!"

MRS. CURWEN: "But I am all right now."

CURWEN: "Well, that's right. Don't be frightened! There's no occasion for excitement. Keep perfectly calm and collected. It's the only way--What's that ringing?" The sound of an electric bell is heard within the elevator. It increases in fury.

MRS. ROBERTS and MRS. MILLER: "Oh, isn't it dreadful?"

THE ELEVATOR BOY: "It's somebody on the ground-floor callin' the elevator!"

CURWEN: "Well, never mind him. Don't pay the slightest attention to him. Let him go to the deuce! And, Caroline!"

MRS. CURWEN: "Yes?"

CURWEN: "I--I--I've got your glove all right."

MRS. CURWEN: "Left, you mean, I hope?"

CURWEN: "Yes, left, dearest! I MEAN left."

MRS. CURWEN: "Eight-button?"

CURWEN: "Yes."

MRS. CURWEN: "Light drab?"

CURWEN, pulling a light yellow glove from his pocket: "Oh!" He staggers away from the grating and stays himself against the wall, the mistaken glove dangling limply from his hand.

ROBERTS, LAWTON, and BEMIS: "Ah! ha! ha! ha!"

MRS. ROBERTS: "Oh, for shame! to laugh at such a time!"