the heavenly taste of a piece of _Motso_ she
gave me dipped in raisin wine! Passover cake, you know.
KATHLEEN [_Proudly_]
Oh, I know _Motso_.
DAVID [_Smacks his lips, repeats_]
Heavenly!
KATHLEEN
Sure, I must tashte it.
DAVID [_Shaking his head, mysteriously_]
Only little boys get that tashte.
KATHLEEN
That's quare.
DAVID [_Smiling_]
Very quare. And then one day my uncle sent the old lady a ticket to come
to America. But it is not so happy for her here because you see my uncle
has to be near his theatre and can't live in the Jewish quarter, and so
nobody understands her, and she sits all the livelong day alone--alone
with her book and her religion and her memories----
KATHLEEN [_Breaking down_]
Oh, Mr. David!
DAVID
And now all this long, cold, snowy evening she'll sit by the fire alone,
thinking of her dead, and the fire will sink lower and lower, and she
won't be able to touch it, because it's the holy Sabbath, and there'll
be no kind Kathleen to brighten up the grey ashes, and then at last, sad
and shivering, she'll creep up to her room without a candlestick, and
there in the dark and the cold----
KATHLEEN [_Hysterically bursting into tears, dropping her parcel, and
untying her bonnet-strings_]
Oh, Mr. David, I won't mix the crockery, I won't----
DAVID [_Heartily_]
Of course you won't. Good night.
[_He slips out hurriedly through the street-door as KATHLEEN
throws off her bonnet, and the curtain falls quickly. As it rises
again, she is seen strenuously poking the fire, illumined by its
red glow._]
Act II
_The same scene on an afternoon a month later. DAVID is
discovered at his desk, scribbling music in a fever of
enthusiasm. MENDEL, dressed in his best, is playing softly on the
piano, watching DAVID. After an instant or two of indecision, he
puts down the piano-lid with a bang and rises decisively._
MENDEL
David!
DAVID [_Putting up his left hand_]
Please, please----
[_He writes feverishly._]
MENDEL
But I want to talk to you seriously--at once.
DAVID
I'm just re-writing the Finale. Oh, such a splendid inspiration!
[_He writes on._]
MENDEL [_Shrugs his shoulders and reseats himself at piano. He plays a
bar or two. Looks at watch impatiently. Resolutely_]
David, I've got wonderful news for you. Miss Revendal is bringing
somebody to see you, and we have hopes of getting you sent to Germany to
stu
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