SCENE II]
MRS. HOLROYD
19
- ing now regained her confidence. Laura laughs in the last state of exhaustion, her hand on her breast.
Holroyd
- Shall ta ha’e it then?
Clara
- What do you say, Laura—are you having a drop?
Laura (submissively, and naturally tongue-tied)
- Well—I don’t mind—I will if you do.
Clara (recklessly)
- I think we ’ll ’ave a drop, Charlie, an’ risk it. It ‘ll ’appen hold the rest down.
- [There is a moment of silence, while Holroyd goes into the scullery. Clara surveys the room and the dramatic pose of Mrs. Holroyd curiously.
Holroyd (suddenly)
- Heh! What, come ’ere—!
- [There is a smash of pots, and a rat careers out of the scullery. Laura, the first to see it, utters a scream, but is fastened to her chair, unable to move.
Clara (jumps up to the table, crying)
- It’s a rat— Oh, save us! (She scrambles up, banging her head on the lamp, which swings violently)
Mrs. Holroyd (who, with a little shriek, jerks her legs up on to the sofa, where she was stiffly reclining, now cries in despairing falsetto, stretching forth her arms) The lamp—mind, the lamp!
- [Clara steadies the lamp, and holds her hand to her head.
Holroyd (coming from the scullery, a bottle of stout in his hand) Where is he?
Clara
- I believe he ’s gone under the sofa. My, an’ he ’s
