GRANT WILLIAMS _is a more striking personality than his wife; about forty, with a tinge of iron gray on his temples, he has a strong virile face not without traces of idealism. His whole appearance is normal and devoid of any conscious affectation of dress. But a very close inspection might reveal that his suit, though carefully pressed, is well worn--as is the overcoat which covers it._ GRANT _happens to be a man of cultivation and breeding, with a spark of genius, who has strayed into strange pastures. At present there lurks an unexpected depression back of his mood; perhaps it is only the normal reaction which comes to every artist when success is won and the critical sense within mocks the achievement so beneath the dream. Perhaps with_ GRANT WILLIAMS _it is something else_. JERRY Oh, Grant, I thought you’d never come home. GRANT Best, the house manager, detained me. JERRY (_Detecting his mood_) There’s nothing the matter with the play? GRANT Nothing; except it’s an enormous success. (_She smiles again, and he wants to keep her smiling._) We were sold out to-night. The second night! Think of that! I had to stand myself. JERRY Well, I don’t see why you should be blue about it. There were always plenty of empty seats at your other plays. I knew THE SAND BAR couldn’t fail. GRANT (_Throwing coat carelessly over chair_) You felt the same about the others. JERRY (_Trying to cheer him_) They didn’t fail--artistically. GRANT You mean nobody came to see them--except on passes. But THE SAND BAR! That’s different! (_With a tinge of sarcasm throughout._) You ought to have seen the way the mob at the National ate it up. JERRY I wanted to go but I couldn’t ask Mrs. Hale to take care of the baby again. Besides, I was anxious to read all the notices over quietly by myself and.... GRANT (_Picking them up and glancing through them_) Great, aren’t they? Not a “roast” among them. JERRY Not one. I couldn’t find Arthur Black’s review: he was always so kind to your other plays, too. GRANT (_Evasively_) I forgot to bring in the _Gazette_. Best says he never saw such “money” notices. (_Glances at one._) Doran outdid himself. (_Reading the critic’s notice with a touch of theatrical exaggeration._) “The perception of human nature evinced by Grant Williams in his profoundly moving drama THE SAND BAR places him in the front rank of American dramatists!” JERRY Just where you belong. GRANT (_Skipping_) “His hero, Tom Robinson, the artist, who deliberately deserts his highest ideals because his wife’s happiness is of more value than his own egoistic self-expression, is a new angle on the much abused artistic temperament.” (_With a wise smile._) That “twist” seems to have got them. (_Reading_) “Marie, his wife, who is willing to risk her honor to test his love and thus awaken him to a sense of his human responsibility, is a character which will appeal to every married woman.” JERRY (_She nods in approval, without his seeing her_)