OCEANA. Oh, yes--lots of things.
ETHEL. Oh, Oceana! I'm just wild to see you!
OCEANA. And I'm wild to dance. I must have some vent pretty soon. You
see, at home I was out of doors all the time. I hunted and fished, I
swam and dived, I danced on the beach. And here... why, I walk down the
street, and I daren't even so much as sing out loud. I have to remember
that I'm a young lady, and have an ermine cloak on! Truly, I don't see
how you ever stand it!
ETHEL. We were brought up that way.
OCEANA. Yes; and that's why you're undeveloped and frail. But tell
me, don't you ever have an impulse to play? That beautiful snow out
there--don't you want to tumble round in it and pelt each other with
snowballs?
FREDDY. We did that when we were children.
OCEANA. Yes, that's the way. But I, you see... I'm a child still; and I
expect to be always.
ETHEL. And are you always happy, Oceana?
OCEANA. Always.
ETHEL. You never... you never even start to feel sad?
OCEANA. Why yes, now and then. But I don't permit such moods. You see,
I have the conviction that there is nothing beautiful or right about
sorrow--never, under any circumstances.
ETHEL. You mean you would not mourn, even if some one you loved were to
die?
OCEANA. I mean that I did not. [She pauses.] Yes, exactly... my father.
He had been my life's companion, and they brought him home drowned; and
yet I did not mourn.
ETHEL. Oceana!
OCEANA. I had trained myself... for just that. We had made ourselves
what you might call soul-exercises; little ceremonies to remind
ourselves of things we wished to hold by. The Sunrise Dance was one of
those. And then, on the last day of each month, at sunset, we would
sit and watch the shadows fade, and contemplate death. [She pauses,
gravely.] We would say to ourselves that we, too, were shadows ...
rainbows in the sea-mist; that we held our life as a gift... we carried
it in our hands, ready to give it up when we heard the call. [A pause.]
HENRY. [Opens door centre and enters. Sees OCEANA and halts.] Oh!
OCEANA. [Turns and sees him.] Why! Here's a man! [They gaze at each
other, transfixed.] Ethel! Who is he?
ETHEL. Why, this is Henry. Letitia's husband.
OCEANA. Oh! Letitia's husband! [With a sudden, frank gesture, putting
out her hand.] Henry!
HENRY. Oceana!
[As their hands meet, they stand looking into each other's faces.]
OCEANA. [Gripping his hand tightly.] You are strong! [Looks at his
hand.] And you do not smoke, either! Let me see your eyes.
HENRY. [Perplexed.] My eyes?
OCEANA. Your eyes. [Turns him toward the light; studies his eyes.] They
dosed you with quinine! Malaria, I suppose?
HENRY. Why... yes. But how can you tell?
OCEANA. I can tell many things. Let me see your tongue.
HENRY. [Bewildered.] My tongue?
OCEANA. Your tongue.
HENRY. But what for?
OCEANA. I can tell more about a man by looking at his tongue for a
minute than by listening to it for a week.
HENRY. But, Oceana--
OCEANA. I am in earnest.
HENRY. [Laughs.] Why... really...
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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