s. Hanging upon the walls, variously, are suits
of old overalls and men's coats and, hats. The chairs stand
irregularly about the large table; a couple of old soft hats
are on the water filter. The former posters have been replaced
by two new ones. One shows a brawny workman with whiskers,
paper cap, and large sledge hammer leaning upon an upright
piano. Rubrics: "The Freedom and Fraternity Cooeperative
Upright." "The Piano You Ought to Support." The other poster
shows a workman with a banner upon which is printed: "No
Capital! The Freedom and Fraternity Cooeperative Upright The
Only Piano Produced by Toilers Not Ground by Capital. Buy One
to Help the Cause!"_
NORA _is busily engaged at_ GIBSON'S _desk. Her hat and jacket
hang on the wall._
CARTER _enters, smoking a pipe; he wears overalls and jumper.
He carries a heavy roll of typewritten sheets. Tosses this upon
the table, glances at_ NORA, _who does not notice him, divests
himself of overalls and jumper, and puts on the black frock
coat which he wore in Act II. He looks at his watch and at the
clock on the wall._
CARTER [_straightening out his coat_]: I thought it might look better to
get on my Sunday clothes for the meeting, as you might say, Miss
Gorodna. Being as I'm chairman it might look more dignified; kind o'
help give a kind of authority, maybe.
NORA [_absently, not looking up_]: Yes.
CARTER [_looking at his watch and at the clock again_]: It ought to be
wound up for meetings. [_He steps upon a chair; moves the hands of
clock._] There, doggone it, the key's lost! I believe Mrs. Simpson took
that key for their own clock. [_He goes to the table; sits, unrolls the
typewritten sheets, puts on his spectacles, and studies the sheets in a
kind of misery, roughing his hair badly and making sounds of moaning._]
Miss Gorodna, can you make this figure out here for me? Does that mean
profits--or what?
NORA: Oh, no; that's only an amount carried over.
CARTER: They's so many little puzzlin' things in this bookkeeper's
report. I don't believe he understands it himself. I don't see how he
expects me to read that to the meeting. Some parts I can't make head or
tail of. Others it looks like he's got the words jest changed round.
NORA: Oh, we'll work it all out at the meeting, Mr. Carter!
CARTER: My, we got a lot to work out at this meeting.
NORA: We'll do it, c
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