R. in foreground it small sewing
table with lamp on it. Near it are two arm-chairs. A hanging lamp at
center. Outside in the street an electric light. At L. there is a door
leading from piazza to the house, at R. a door leading to the kitchen.
Time, the present.]

ACT I.

[Thursday before Easter. The music before curtain is: Haydn: Sieben
Worte des Erloesers. Introduction: Maestoso Adagio.]

[A ray of sunlight falls across the room and strikes one of the chairs
near the sewing table. In the other chair, untouched by the sunshine,
sits Christine, running strings thro' muslin sash-curtains. Elis enters
wearing a winter overcoat, unbuttoned. He carries a bundle of legal
documents which he puts on the writing table. After that he takes off
his overcoat and hangs it at L.]

ELIS. Hello, sweetheart.

CHRISTINE. Hello, Elis.

ELIS [Looks around]. The double windows are off, the floor scoured,
fresh curtains at the windows--yes, it is spring again! The ice has
gone out of the river, and the willows are beginning to bud on the
banks--yes, spring has come and I can put away my winter overcoat.
[Weighs his overcoat in his hand and hangs it up.] You know, it's so
heavy--just as tho' it had absorbed the weight of the whole winter's
worries, the sweat and dust of the school-room.

CHRISTINE. But you have a vacation now.

ELIS. Yes, Easter. Five days to enjoy, to breathe, to forget. [Takes
Christine's hand a minute, and then seats himself in arm-chair.] Yes,
the sun has come again. It left us in November. How well I remember
the day it disappeared behind the brewery across the street. Oh, this
winter, this long winter.

CHRISTINE [With a gesture toward kitchen]. Sh! Sh!

ELIS. I'll be quiet--But I'm so happy that it's over with. Oh, the warm
sun! [Rubs his hands as tho' bathing them in the sunshine.] I want to
bathe in the sunshine and light after all the winter gloom--

CHRISTINE. Sh! Sh!

ELIS. Do you know, I believe that good luck is coming our way--that hard
luck is tired of us.

CHRISTINE. What makes you think so?

ELIS. Why, as I was going by the cathedral just now a white dove flew
down and alighted in front of me, and dropped a little branch it was
carrying right at my feet.

CHRISTINE. Did you notice what kind of branch it was?

ELIS. Of course it couldn't have been an olive branch, but I believe it
was a sign of peace--and I felt the life-giving joy of spring. Where's
mother?

CHRISTINE [Points