Part 10 (1/2)

”Flag of our Great Republic, guardian of our homes, whose stars and stripes stand for Bravery, Purity, Truth, and Union, we salute thee. We, the natives of distant lands, who find [_Half-sobbing_]

rest under thy folds, do pledge our hearts, our lives, our sacred honour to love and protect thee, our Country, and the liberty of the American people for ever.”

[_He ends almost hysterically._]

MENDEL [_Soothingly_]

Quite right. But you needn't get so excited over it.

DAVID Not when one hears the roaring of the fires of G.o.d? Not when one sees the souls melting in the Crucible? Uncle, all those little Jews will grow up Americans!

MENDEL [_Putting a pacifying hand on his shoulder and forcing him into a chair_]

Sit down. I want to talk to you about your affairs.

DAVID [_Sitting_]

_My_ affairs! But I've been talking about them all the time!

MENDEL Nonsense, David.

[_He sits beside him._]

Don't you think it's time you got into a wider world?

DAVID Eh? This planet's wide enough for me.

MENDEL Do be serious. You don't want to live all your life in this room.

DAVID [_Looks round_]

What's the matter with this room? It's princely.

MENDEL [_Raising his hands in horror_]

Princely!

DAVID Imperial. Remember when I first saw it--after pigging a week in the rocking steerage, swinging in a berth as wide as my fiddle-case, hung near the cooking-engines; imagine the hot rancid smell of the food, the oil of the machinery, the odours of all that close-packed, sea-sick----

MENDEL [_Putting his hand over DAVID'S mouth_]

Don't! You make me ill! How could you ever bear it?

DAVID [_Smiling_]

I was quite happy--I only had to fancy I'd been s.h.i.+pwrecked, and that after clinging to a plank five days without food or water on the great lonely Atlantic, my frozen, sodden form had been picked up by this great safe steamer and given this delightful dry berth, regular meals, and the spectacle of all these friendly faces.... Do you know who was on board that boat? Quincy Davenport.

MENDEL The lord of corn and oil?

DAVID [_Smiling_]

Yes, even we wretches in the steerage felt safe to think the lord was up above, we believed the company would never dare drown _him_. But could even Quincy Davenport command a cabin like this?

[_Waving his arm round the room._]

Why, uncle, we have a cabin worth a thousand dollars--a thousand dollars a _week_--and what's more, it doesn't wobble!

[_He plants his feet voluptuously upon the floor._]

MENDEL Come, come, David, I asked you to be serious. Surely, some day you'd like your music produced?

DAVID [_Jumps up_]

Wouldn't it be glorious? To hear it all actually coming out of violins and 'cellos, drums and trumpets.