tability. I've been a man of principle, my girl, as you saw
yesterday. Well, they don't want that! [He draws her close] You can sit
on my knee now.

CAMILLE. [Shrinking] No; I don't want to, to-day.

BUILDER. But you shall. They've asked for it!

CAMILLE. [With a supple movement slipping away from him] They? What is
all that? I don't want any trouble. No, no; I am not taking any.

She moves back towards the door. BUILDER utters a sardonic laugh.

Oh! you are a dangerous man! No, no! Not for me! Good-bye, sare!

She turns swiftly and goes out. BUILDER again utters his glum
laugh. And then, as he sits alone staring before him, perfect
silence reigns in the room. Over the window-sill behind him a BOY'S
face is seen to rise; it hangs there a moment with a grin spreading
on it.

BOY'S VOICE. [Sotto] Johnny Builder!

As BUILDER turns sharply, it vanishes.

'Oo beat 'is wife?

BUILDER rushes to the window.

BOY'S VOICE. [More distant and a little tentative] Johnny Builder!

BUILDER. You little devil! If I catch you, I'll wring your blasted
little neck!

BOY'S VOICE. [A little distant] 'Oo blacked the copper's eye?

BUILDER, in an ungovernable passion, seizes a small flower-pot from
the sill and dings it with all his force. The sound of a crash.

BOY'S VOICE. [Very distant] Ya-a-ah! Missed!

BUILDER stands leaning out, face injected with blood, shaking his
fist.

The CURTAIN falls for a few seconds.

SCENE III

Evening the same day.

BUILDER's study is dim and neglected-looking; the window is still
open, though it has become night. A street lamp outside shines in,
and the end of its rays fall on BUILDER asleep. He is sitting in a
high chair at the fireside end of the writing-table, with his elbows
on it, and his cheek resting on his hand. He is still unshaven, and
his clothes unchanged. A Boy's head appears above the level of the
window-sill, as if beheaded and fastened there.

BOY'S VOICE. [In a forceful whisper] Johnny Builder!

BUILDER stirs uneasily. The Boy's head vanishes. BUILDER, raising
his other hand, makes a sweep before his face, as if to brush away a
mosquito. He wakes. Takes in remembrance, and sits a moment
staring gloomily before him. The door from the hall is opened and
TOPPING comes in with a long envelope in his h