Ends and Odds Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was. (
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.) Tries to tell how it was. (
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.) It all. (
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.) It all.
    M
continues pacing. Five seconds. Fade out on strip. All in darkness. Steps cease.
    Long pause.
    Chime a little fainter still. Pause for echoes. Fade up to a little less still on strip. Rest in darkness.
M
discovered facing front at R.
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    M: Sequel. (M
begins pacing, after two lengths halts facing front at R
.) Sequel. A little later, when she was quite forgotten, she began to—(
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.) A little later, when as though she had never been, it never been, she began to walk. (
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.) At nightfall. (
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.) Slip out at nightfall and into the little church by the north door, always locked at that hour, and walk, up and down, up and down, His poor arm. (
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.) Some nights she would halt, as one frozen by some shudder of the mind, and stand stark still till she could move again. But many also were the nights when she paced without pause, up and down, up and down,before vanishing the way she came. (
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.) No sound. (
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.) None at least to be heard. (
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.) The semblance. (
Pause. Resumes pacing. Steps a little slower still. After two lengths halts facing front at R
.) The semblance. Faint, though by no means invisible, in a certain light. (
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.) Given the right light. (
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.) Grey rather than white, a pale shade of grey. (
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.) Tattered. (
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.) A tangle of tatters. (
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.) A faint tangle of pale grey tatters. (
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.) Watch it pass—(
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)—watch her pass before the candelabrum how its flames, their light … like moon through passing … rack. (
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.) Soon then after she was gone, as though never there, began to walk, up and down, up and down, that poor arm. (
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.) At nightfall. (
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.) That is to say, at certain seasons of the year, during Vespers. (
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.) Necessarily. (
Pause. Resumes pacing. After one length halts facing front at L. Pause
.) Old Mrs. Winter, whom the reader will remember, old Mrs. Winter, one late autumn Sunday evening, on sitting down to supper with her daughter after worship, after a few half-hearted mouthfuls laid down her knife and fork and bowed her head. What is it, Mother, said the daughter, a most strange girl, though scarcely a girl any more … (
brokenly
) … dreadfully
un—(Pause. Normal voice
.) What is it, Mother, are you not feeling yourself? (
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.) Mrs. W. did not at once reply. But finally, raising her head and fixing Amy—the daughter’s given name, as the reader will remember—raising her head and fixing Amy full in the eye she said— (
pause
)—she murmured, fixing Amy full in the eye she murmured, Amy, did you observe anything … strange at Evensong? Amy: No, Mother, I did not. Mrs. W: Perhaps it was just my fancy. Amy: Just what exactly, Mother, did youperhaps fancy it was? (
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.) Just what exactly, Mother, did you perhaps fancy this … strange thing was you observed? (
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.) Mrs. W: You yourself observed nothing … strange? Amy: No, Mother, I myself did not, to put it mildly. Mrs. W: What do you mean, Amy, to put it mildly, what can you possibly mean, Amy, to put it mildly? Amy: I mean, Mother, that to say I observed nothing … strange is indeed to put it mildly. For I observed nothing of any kind, strange or otherwise. I saw nothing, heard nothing, of any kind. I was not there. Mrs. W: Not there? Amy: Not there. Mrs. W: But I heard you respond. (
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.) I heard you say Amen. (
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.) How could you have responded if you were not there? (
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.) How could you possibly have said Amen if, as you claim, you were not there? (
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.) The love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, now, and for evermore. Amen. (
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.) I heard you distinctly. (
Pause. Resumes pacing. After five steps halts without facing front. Long pause. Resumes pacing, halts facing front at R. Long pause
.) Amy. (
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.) Amy. (
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.) Yes, Mother. (
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.) Will you