ic concert before the war. His shoulders sag
dejectedly and his face is drawn and white. He comes in and sits on the
bed. A knock--a determined knock--is heard at the door but Jean does not
move. The door opens and his landlady--a shrewish, sharp faced woman of
40--appears. He gets up off the bed when he sees her and bows.

The Landlady--I forgot you was deef or I wouldn't have wasted my time
hitting my knuckles against your door.

Jean gazes at her.

The Landlady--Well Mr. Rosen I guess you know why I'm here--it's pay up
today or get out.

Jean--Please write it down--you know I cannot hear a word you say. I
suppose it's about the rent.

The landlady takes paper and pencil and writes.

The Landlady--(Reading over the result of her
labor)--"To-day--is--the--last day. If you can't pay, you must get out."

She hands it to Jean and he reads.

Jean--But I cannot pay. Next week perhaps I shall get work--

The Landlady--(Scornfully)--Yes--Next week maybe I have to sell another
liberty bond for seventy dollars what I paid a hundred dollars for, too.
No sir I need the money NOW. Here--

She writes and hands it to him.

Jean (Reading)--Sell my piano? But please I cannot do that--yet.

The Landlady--A lot of good a piano does a deef person like you. That's
a good one--( She laughs harshly). The deef musician--ho ho--with a
piano.

Jean--Madam, I shall pay you surely next week. There has been some delay
in my war risk insurance payment. I should think that you would trust a
soldier who lost his hearing in the trenches--

The Landlady--That's old stuff. You soldiers think just because you
were unlucky enough to get drafted you can spend the rest of your
life patting yourselves on the back. Besides--what good did the war do
anyway--except make a lot of rich people richer?

She scribbles emphatically "Either you pay up tonight or out you go."

Handing this to Jean with a flourish, she exits.

He sits on the bed for a long time.

Finally he glances up at the wall over his bed where hangs a cheap photo
frame. In the center is a picture of President Wilson; on one side of
this is a crude print of a soldier, on the other side a sailor; above is
the inscription "For the Freedom of the World."

Jean takes down the picture and looks at it. As he replaces it on the
wall he sees hanging above it the bayonet which he had carried through
the war. He slowly takes the weapon down, runs his fingers along the
edge and smile