Mrs. Atkins monologue (Act 3) — Beyond the Horizon

(_peremptorily_) Wheel me in there this minute. I don’t want him to see me looking a sight. I’ll lay down in the room the other side. You don’t need me now and I’m dead for sleep. (RUTH _wheels her mother off right. The noise of the motor grows louder and finally ceases as the car stops on the road before the farmhouse._ RUTH _returns from the kitchen with a lighted lamp in her hand which she sets on the table beside the other. The sound of footsteps on the path is heard--then a sharp rap on the door._ RUTH _goes and opens it._ ANDREW _enters, followed by_ DOCTOR FAWCETT _carrying a small black bag._ ANDREW _has changed greatly. His face seems to have grown highstrung, hardened by the look of decisiveness which comes from being constantly under a strain where judgments on the spur of the moment are compelled to be accurate. His eyes are keener and more alert. There is even a suggestion of ruthless cunning about them. At present, however, his expression is one of tense anxiety._ DOCTOR FAWCETT _is a short, dark, middle-aged man with a Vandyke beard. He wears glasses_).