The Girl with the Green Eyes - LightNovelsOnl.com
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[_Both talk at once in great admiration and intense excitement for a few moments. Then he suddenly drops into his ordinary tone and manner._
HE. Allons, allons nous!
SHE. [_In the same tone._] Oui, j'ai faim!
[_They go out Right._
[_JINNY and AUSTIN enter Left, he looking over his shoulder. They stand a moment just inside the doorway._
JINNY. What are you looking back so much for, Jackie?
AUSTIN. I thought I saw some one I know.
JINNY. Who?
AUSTIN. I didn't know who; it just seemed to be a familiar back.
JINNY. [_Playfully._] Oh, come! I think the present works of art and your loving wife are quite enough for you to look at without hunting around for familiar backs!
AUSTIN. And Baedeker! [_Reading from Baedeker about the Apollo._] Apollo Belvedere, found at the end of the fifteenth century, probably in a Roman villa--
JINNY. Of course, Apollo!
AUSTIN. Great, isn't it?
JINNY. Stunning! [_She turns and looks at him, smiling quizzically._]
_Still_--but I suppose I'm prejudiced!
AUSTIN. [_Obtuse._] Still what?
JINNY. You dear old stupid! You know, Jack, you're deeply and _fundamentally_ clever and brilliant, but you're not quite-- _bright_-- _not quick_!
[_Laughing._
AUSTIN. Don't you think having _one_ in the family quick as chain lightning is enough? What have I missed this time, Jinny? You don't mean you've found a family likeness in the statue over there? I don't want to be unappreciative, but it doesn't suggest your father to me in the least,--nor even Geoffrey.
JINNY. _Stupid!!_ Of course it doesn't _suggest_ anybody to me--I was only thinking I sympathized with Mrs. Perkins of Boston,--don't you know the old story about her?
AUSTIN. No, what was it?
JINNY. [_After a quick look around to see that they are alone._]
Well--Mrs. Perkins from Boston was personally conducted here once and shown this very statue, and she looked at it for a few moments, and then turned around and said, "Yes, it's all right, but give _me Perkins_!"
AUSTIN. Jinny!
[_Laughing._
JINNY. Are you shocked? Come, I'm tired; let's sit down here and read my letters--there's one from Geof.
[_They sit on the bench at Right, and JINNY takes out a letter from GEOFFREY._
AUSTIN. I'll read ahead in Baedeker and you tell me if there's any news.
[_He opens the Baedeker and reads, and she opens and reads the letter._]
Where is Geof's letter from?
JINNY. New York, of course; where else would it be?
AUSTIN. I had an idea he was going away.
JINNY. Geof! Where?
AUSTIN. West, a good way somewhere.
JINNY. But _why_ would he go West?
AUSTIN. Oh, he had some business, I believe; I remember thinking it was a good idea when he told me. It was the day we were married--I was waiting for you to come downstairs.
JINNY. I think it's very funny Geof never said anything about it to _me_.
AUSTIN. My dear, what time had _you_? You were _getting married_!!
JINNY. I _was_! Thank heaven! I'm _so happy_, Jack!
[_Snuggling up to him on the bench._
AUSTIN. [_Steals a little, quick hug with his arm about her waist._]
Bless you, darling, I don't think there was ever a man as happy as I am!
[_They start apart quickly as a GERMAN COUPLE enter Right, with a YOUNG DAUGHTER, who is munching a cake, and hanging, a tired and unwilling victim, to her mother's hand._
WOMAN. Ach! schon! sehr schon!!
MAN. Grosses, nicht?
WOMAN. _Yah!_
[_They stand admiring._
AUSTIN. By the way, when you answer your brother's letter, I wish you'd say I seemed surprised he was still in New York.
JINNY. [_Reading._] Um--um--
MAN. [_Wiping his warm brow._] _Wunderbaum!_
WOMAN. _Yah!!_
[_They go out Left, talking._
