[_Holding it to her ear._] It’s ticking! It ticks! It ticks! Oh, it’s good to hear the ticking of a clock! [_As he hears this, IAN, after a moment of terrible silence, goes and unscrews the plate of the sun-dial. All watch him, afraid to speak. He takes it off, holds it above the grave from which the alarm clock has been rescued._ ELOISE Ian! What are you doing? [_He does not answer, but puts the sun-dial in the alarm clock’s grave._] Ian! No! No! Not that! Not your beautiful sun-dial! Oh, no! Not that! [_IAN, having finished the burial of the sun-dial, sees the alarm clock and puts it on the pedestal from which the sun-dial has been taken._ IAN We bow down, as of old, to the mechanical. We will have no other god but it. [_He then sits on the step, sunk in gloom. ANNIE appears, in her hand a panful of water._ ANNIE This liver has to soak five minutes. I’ll soak it here. [_Sees the alarm clock; with a cry of joy._] My clock! My clock! [_Overcome with emotion._] Oh! My clock! My clock! Can I take it in the house to finish dinner? ELOISE [_In a hopeless voice._] Yes, take it away. [_Beaming, ANNIE bears it to her kitchen. ELOISE now kneels behind the grave of the sun-dial._ EDDY Let us leave them alone with their dead. [_Leads ALICE to the corner of the house; they look off down the road. ELOISE and IAN sit there on either side of the grave, swaying a little back and forth, as those who mourn._ ELOISE [_Looking at grave._] I had thought life was going to be so beautiful. IAN It might have been. ELOISE [_Looking at empty pedestal._] I suppose it will never be beautiful again. IAN It cannot be beautiful again. [_Suddenly, with a cry, ELOISE gets up and darts to the house: comes racing back with the alarm clock, snatches spade, desperately begins to dig a grave._ ELOISE Ian! Ian! Don’t you see what I’m doing? I’m willing to have a first-hand relation with the sun even though it’s _not_ regular. [_But IAN is as one who has lost hope. EDDY and ALICE turn to watch the re-burial of the alarm clock. ANNIE strides in._ ANNIE [_In no mood for feeling._] Where’s my alarm clock? ELOISE I am burying it. ANNIE Again? [_Looks at sun-dial._] And even the sun-clock’s gone? EDDY All is buried. Truth. Error. We have returned to the nothing from which we came. ANNIE This settles it. Now I go. I leave. [_Firm with purpose re-enters the house._ ALICE [_Excitedly._] Eloise! She means it! ELOISE [_Dully._] I suppose she does. [_Continues her grave digging._ ALICE But you can’t get anybody else! You can’t _get_ anybody now. Oh, this is madness. What does any of the rest of it matter if you have lost your cook? [_To IAN._] Eloise can’t do the work! Peel potatoes--scrub. What’s the difference what’s _true_ if you have to clean out your own sink? [_Despairing of him she turns to ELOISE._] Eloise, stop fussing about the moon and stars! You’re losing your _cook_!