sing her hand over her eyes with a
gesture of pathetic weariness_). How long would it take us to
reach home--if we started now?

KEENEY (_frowning_). 'Bout two months, I reckon, Annie, with fair
luck.

MRS. KEENEY (_counts on her fingers--then murmurs with a rapt
smile_). That would be August, the latter part of August, wouldn't
it? It was on the twenty-fifth of August we were married, David,
wasn't it?

KEENEY (_trying to conceal the fact that her memories have moved
him--gruffly_). Don't you remember?

MRS. KEENEY (_vaguely--again passes her hand over her eyes_). My
memory is leaving me--up here in the ice. It was so long ago. (_A
pause--then she smiles dreamily._) It's June now. The lilacs will
be all in bloom in the front yard--and the climbing roses on the
trellis to the side of the house--they're budding.

(_She suddenly covers her face with her hands and commences to
sob._)

KEENEY (_disturbed_). Go in and rest, Annie. You're all wore out
cryin' over what can't be helped.

MRS. KEENEY (_suddenly throwing her arms around his neck and
clinging to him_). You love me, don't you, David?

KEENEY (_in amazed embarrassment at this outburst_) Love you? Why
d'you ask me such a question, Annie?

MRS. KEENEY (_shaking him--fiercely_). But you do, don't you,
David? Tell me!

KEENEY. I'm your husband, Annie, and you're my wife. Could there
be aught but love between us after all these years?

MRS. KEENEY (_shaking him again--still more fiercely_). Then you do
love me. Say it!

KEENEY (_simply_). I do, Annie.

MRS. KEENEY. (_Gives a sigh of relief--her hands drop to her
sides._ KEENEY _regards her anxiously. She passes her hand across
her eyes and murmurs half to herself._) I sometimes think if we
could only have had a child. (KEENEY _turns away from her, deeply
moved. She grabs his arm and turns him around to face
her--intensely._) And I've always been a good wife to you,
haven't I, David?

KEENEY (_his voice betraying his emotion_). No man ever had a
better, Annie.

MRS. KEENEY. And I've never asked for much from you, have I,
David? Have I?

KEENEY. You know you could have all I got the power to give ye,
Annie.

MRS. KEENEY (_wildly_). Then do this, this once, for my sake, for
God's sake--take me home! It's killing me, this life--the
brutality and cold and horror of it. I'm going mad. I can feel
the threat in the air. I can hear the silence threatening me--day
after gray day and every day the same.