But comedy of this order has a knack of cutting rather deeply, of ceasing, in some minds, to be comedy at all; and it may be said that this is what has happened in the present instance. Luckily it is equally true that certain matters are less painful, because less actual, in print than upon the stage. The "wicked publisher," therefore, even when bombs are dropping round him, can afford to be more independent than the theatrical manager; and for this reason I have not hesitated to ask my friend Mr. Heinemann to publish THE BIG DRUM in its original form. ARTHUR PINERO LONDON, _September_ 1915 _THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY_ PHILIP MACKWORTH SIR RANDLE FILSON, KNT. BERTRAM FILSON (_his son_) SIR TIMOTHY BARRADELL, BART. ROBERT ROOPE COLLINGHAM GREEN LEONARD WESTRIP (_Sir Randle's secretary_) ALFRED DUNNING (_of Sillitoe and Dunning's Private Detective Agency_) NOYES (_Mr. Roope's servant_) UNDERWOOD (_servant at Sir Randle's_) JOHN (_Mr. Mackworth's servant_) A WAITER OTTOLINE DE CHAUMIE, COMTESSE DE CHAUMIE, _nee_ FILSON LADY FILSON HON. MRS. GODFREY ANSLOW MRS. WALTER QUEBEC MISS TRACER (_Lady Filson's secretary_) PERIOD--1913 ACT I. ROBERT ROOPE'S FLAT IN SOUTH AUDLEY STREET. JUNE. ACT II. MORNING-ROOM AT SIR RANDLE FILSON'S, ENNISMORE GARDENS. THE NEXT DAY. ACT III. MACKWORTH'S CHAMBERS, GRAY'S INN. NOVEMBER. ACT IV. THE SAME PLACE. THE FOLLOWING MORNING. _The curtain falls for a moment in the course of the First and Third Acts._ THE BIG DRUM THE FIRST ACT _The scene is a room, elegantly decorated, in a flat in South Audley Street. On the right, two windows give a view, through muslin curtains, of the opposite houses. In the wall facing the spectator are two doors, one on the right, the other on the left. The left-hand door opens into the room from a dimly-lighted corridor, the door on the right from the dining-room. Between the doors there is a handsome fireplace. No fire is burning and the grate is banked with flowers. When the dining-room door is opened, a sideboard and a side-table are seen in the further room, upon which are dishes of fruit, an array of ice-plates and finger-bowls, liqueurs in decanters, glasses, silver, etc._ _The pictures, the ornaments upon the mantelpiece, and the articles of furniture are few but choice. A high-backed settee stands on the right of the fireplace; near the settee is a fauteuil-stool; facing the settee is a Charles II arm-chair. On the left of the room there is a small table with a chair beside it; on the right, not far from the nearer window, are a writing-table and writing-chair. Pieces of bric-a-brac lie upon the tables, where there are also some graceful statuettes in ivory and bronze. Another high-backed settee fills the space between the windows, and in each window there is an arm-chair of the same period as the one at the fireplace._ _The street is full of sunlight._ (_Note: Throughout, "right" and "left" are the spectators' right and left, not the actor's._)