hey are all faces.
SAVVA _(leaving the window, calm and stern, but also pale)_ Well,
sister?
LIPA _(flinging herself about the room)_
I want to run with the rest. I'll run. Where is my scarf? Where is my
scarf? My God, My God! Where is my scarf?
SAVVA
Your scarf? There it is. But I won't give it to you. Sit down; you
have nothing to do there.
LIPA
Let me have it.
SAVVA
No, sit down, sit down. It's too late now anyway.
LIPA
Too late?
SAVVA
Yes, too late. Don't you hear the noise the crowd is making and the
way they are running and pushing?
LIPA
I'll run, I'll run.
SAVVA
Keep still--sit down. _(Forces her to sit down)_ Tony, did you hear?
They've exploded God.
TONY _(looking at Savva's face in terror)_
Savva, don't make me laugh. Turn your face away.
_[Savva smiles and walks around the room with buoyant step, without
his usual stoop._
LIPA _(faintly)_
Savva.
SAVVA
What is it? Speak louder.
LIPA
Is it, really true?
SAVVA
It's true.
LIPA
And doesn't He really exist?
SAVVA
He does not.
_[Lipa begins to cry, at first low, then more and more loudly. The
sound of the ringing bells and the noise of the crowd continue to
swell. The rolling and clatter of wagons is also heard._
SAVVA
They are running. My, how they are running! _(Lipa says something, but
her words are inaudible)_ Louder. I can't hear you. My, how they are
ringing.
LIPA _(aloud)_
Kill, me, Savva.
SAVVA
Why? You'll die anyhow.
LIPA
I can't wait. I'll kill myself.
SAVVA
Go ahead, kill yourself, kill yourself quick!
_[Lipa cries, burying her head in the armchair Tony, his face
distorted with fear, looks at Savva, holding both his hands in
readiness at his mouth. Loud peals of the bell. The disquieting sound
blends with the loud tone of Savva's speech._
SAVVA _(shouting)_
Ah! They are ringing. Ring on! Ring on! Soon the whole earth will
ring. I hear! I hear! I see your cities burning! I see the flames. I
hear the crackling. I see the houses tumbling on your heads. There
is no place to run to. No refuge! No refuge! Fire everywhere. The
churches are burning. The factories are burning. The boilers are
bursting. An end to all slavish toil!
TONY _(trembling with fear)_
Savva, shut up, or I am going to laugh.
SAVVA _(unheeding)_
The time has come! The time has come! Do you hear? The earth is
casting you out. There is no place for you on earth. No
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