Part 1 (1/2)

The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith.

by Arthur Wing Pinero.

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

AGNES

LUCAS CLEEVE

SYBIL CLEEVE

SIR SANDFORD CLEEVE

DUKE OF ST. OLPHERTS

GERTRUDE THORPE

REV. AMOS WINTERFIELD

SIR GEORGE BRODRICK

DR. KIRKE

FORTUNE

ANTONIO POPPI

NELLA

HEPHZIBAH

The Scene is laid in Venice--first at the Palazzo Arconati, a lodging house on the Grand Ca.n.a.l; afterwards in an apartment in the Campo S. Bartolomeo.

It is Easter-tide, a week pa.s.sing between the events of the First and Second Acts.

THE FIRST ACT

The Scene is a room in the Palazzo Arconati, on the Grand Ca.n.a.l, Venice. The room itself is beautiful in its decayed grandeur, but the furnis.h.i.+ngs and hangings are either tawdry and meretricious or avowedly modern. The three windows at the back open on to a narrow covered balcony, or loggia, and through them can be seen the west side of the ca.n.a.l. Between recessed double doors on either side of the room is a fireplace out of use and a marble mantelpiece, but a tiled stove is used for a wood fire. Breakfast things are laid on the table. The sun streams into the room.

[ANTONIO POPPI and NELLA, two Venetian servants, with a touch of the picturesque in their attire, are engaged in clearing the breakfast-table.]

NELLA. [Turning her head.] Ascolta! (Listen!)

ANTONIO. Una gondola allo scalo. (A gondala at our steps.)[They open the centre-window, go out on to the balcony, and look down below.] La Signora Thorpe. (The Signora Thorpe.)

NELLO. Con suo fratello. (With her brother.)