"
FREDDY. It just fits my idea of her.
ETHEL. She goes on: "You mustn't be surprised at what I am. You may
think it's dreadful . . . even wicked. But at least don't expect
anything like you've ever known before. Fifteen years with only cocoa-
palms and naked savages . . . the Boston varnish rubs off one. But I'm
going to try to behave. I expect to feel quite at home . . . I have
pictures of all of you, and a picture of the house . . . I even have
father's keys, to let myself in with!"
FREDDY. Can you play her music, Ethel?
ETHEL. Play it? I could play it in my sleep. [Opens piano.] The
Sunrise Dance! [She sits and plays.] Listen!
[She plunges into the ecstatic part of the music. FREDDY leans by the
piano, watching her; she plays, more and more enthralled. The door
opens softly.]
[OCEANA enters; a girl of twenty-two, superbly formed, dark-skinned, a
picture of glowing health. She is clad in a short skirt and a rough
sailor's reefer with cap to match; underneath this a knitted garment,
tight-fitting and soft - no corsets. She carries two extremely heavy
suitcases, and with no apparent effort. She sets these down and stands
listening to the music, completely absorbed in it. There is the
faintest suggestion of the Sunrise Dance in her attitude.
[OCEANA is trusting, and yet with power of reserve. Throughout the
action, however vehemently she speaks, she seldom really grows angry;
she does not take the game seriously enough.
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