CLAIRE: Oh, yes, you are. Very superior to what you think is my feeling
of superiority, comparing my--isolation with your 'heart of humanity'.
Soon we will speak of the beauty of common experiences, of the--Oh, I
could say it all before we come to it.
HARRY: Adelaide came up here to help you, Claire.
CLAIRE: Adelaide came up here to lock me in. Well, she can't do it.
ADELAIDE: (_gently_) But can't you see that one may do that to one's
self?
CLAIRE: (_thinks of this, looks suddenly tired--then smiles_) Well, at
least I've changed the keys.
HARRY: 'Locked in.' Bunkum. Get that our of your head, Claire. Who's
locked in? Nobody that I know of, we're all free Americans. Free as air.
ADELAIDE: I wish you'd come and hear one of Mr Morley's sermons, Claire.
You're very old-fashioned if you think sermons are what they used to be.
CLAIRE: (_with interest_) And do they still sing 'Nearer, my God, to
Thee'?
ADELAIDE: They do, and a noble old hymn it is. It would do you no harm
at all to sing it.
CLAIRE: (_eagerly_) Sing it to me, Adelaide. I'd like to hear you sing
it.
ADELAIDE: It would be sacrilege to sing it to you in this mood.
CLAIRE: (_falling back_) Oh, I don't know. I'm not so sure God would
agree with you. That would be one on you, wouldn't it?
ADELAIDE: It's easy to feel one's self set apart!
CLAIRE: No, it isn't.
ADELAIDE: (_beginning anew_) It's a new age, Claire. Spiritual values--
CLAIRE: Spiritual values! (_in her brooding way_) So you have pulled
that up. (_with cunning_) Don't think I don't know what it is you do.
ADELAIDE: Well, what do I do? I'm sure I have no idea what you're
talking about.
HARRY: (_affectionately, as_ CLAIRE _is looking with intentness at what
he does not see_) What does she do, Claire?
CLAIRE: It's rather clever, what she does. Snatching the phrase--(_a
movement as if pulling something up_) standing it up between her
and--the life that's there. And by saying it enough--'We have life! We
have life! We have life!' Very good come-back at one who would really
be--'Just so! _We_ are that. Right this way, please--'That, I suppose is
what we mean by needing each other. All join in the chorus, 'This is it!
This is it! This is it!' And anyone who won't join is to be--visited by
relatives, (_regarding_ ADELAIDE _with curiosity_) Do you really think
that anything is going on in you?
ADELAIDE: (_stiffly_) I am not one to hold myself up as a perfect
example of what the human race may be.
CLAIRE: (_brightly_) Well, that's good.
HARRY: Claire!
CLAIRE: Humility's a _real_ thing--not just a fine name for laziness.
HARRY: Well, Lord A'mighty, you can't call Adelaide lazy.
CLAIRE: She stays in one place because she hasn't the energy to go
anywhere else.
ADELAIDE: (_as if the last word in absurdity has been said) I_ haven't
energy?
CLAIRE: (_mildly_) You haven't any energy at all, Adelaide. That's why
you keep so busy.
ADELAIDE: _Well_--Claire's nerves are in a worse state than I had
realized.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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