Yes, sir.... And I've written some po--poetry. NATHANIEL Excellent! JONATHAN They're not very good, but Susan always wants me to write the poetry for the music. [_Aunt Letitia has repacked the trunk and locked it. She sees that Nathaniel and Jonathan are getting on famously._ LETITIA I'll go to the house now and you can talk to Jonathan, Nathaniel. [_Jonathan looks appealingly at Letitia, but with a smile she goes downstairs._ _Jonathan and Nathaniel look at each other for an embarrassed minute, then Jonathan takes refuge at his theatre._ NATHANIEL May I see some of your plays? JONATHAN Do you really want to see them? NATHANIEL Yes. [_Jonathan goes to a box on the piano in which there are many manuscripts carefully bound. He hands one to Nathaniel._ JONATHAN Here is one that mother and I wrote. She loved the theatre. NATHANIEL (_taking the strange-looking little manuscript._ _Reading_:) "Robin Hood and His Merry Men." JONATHAN We used to make all those old stories into plays. NATHANIEL Do you like to write? JONATHAN Oh, yes. I wish I could write real plays, but there's no one to help me now. My mother used to correct them and tell me what was wrong. She knew a lot about the theatre and she used to tell me all sorts of things. But now Aunt Letitia doesn't say anything. Sometimes she comes to a show, but she can't help me. And Uncle John doesn't like the theatre. He thinks I'm too old to give shows, but I can't help it. There's nothing I like so much. NATHANIEL May I read this some time? JONATHAN Yes, sir.... Would you like to see it played? NATHANIEL I want to see them all. JONATHAN Forty-one of them? NATHANIEL Forty-one of them! Where do you keep them all? JONATHAN Here in this box. [_He shows all the manuscripts._ NATHANIEL What are the pink ones? JONATHAN Those are the ones mother liked best and these--(_showing blue ones_) are the ones I liked best.... I like them all now, but it used to be lots of fun to choose our favorites. NATHANIEL What is this one that's different from all the rest? JONATHAN That's one that mother wrote all by herself. It's best of all. NATHANIEL You must save these carefully, Jonathan--all your life. JONATHAN Oh, yes, sir. NATHANIEL Some day you may be proud of them. JONATHAN See--she wrote this, and I wrote this. I was a bad writer, wasn't I? NATHANIEL What do you want to do, Jonathan? JONATHAN You mean what do I want to be? NATHANIEL Yes. JONATHAN I want to write plays. NATHANIEL Is that all? JONATHAN Well, I'd like to run a theatre. NATHANIEL What else? JONATHAN I'd--you won't tell anyone, will you? NATHANIEL Of course not. JONATHAN You see, Uncle John wants me to go to Somerset School to study engineering and learn the business. NATHANIEL And you don't want to--Is that it? JONATHAN I'd rather be a writer. NATHANIEL They say you can't make any money at writing. JONATHAN That's what Uncle John says, but I want to just the same.