At Rise monologue — The Fool: A Play in Four Acts

_It is a Saturday evening in November, 1919. The_ GOODKINDS _have been entertaining informally at dinner, and, having finished the chief business of the occasion, the company is now diverting itself in the music room. This room is brilliantly illuminated; one sees the shadow of a man leaning against the glass door._ DILLY GILLIAM, _at the piano, is playing one of the syncopations popular at the time. After a moment, a servant, with a card tray, enters R., crosses and exits L. An instant later_, GOODKIND, _in evening clothes, enters L. He has a card in his hand. The_ SERVANT _re-enters, re-crosses, and re-exits, stopping, en route, to switch on the lights_. GOODKIND _looks at the pile on the table, and turns the topmost paper face down_. BENFIELD, _also in evening clothes, enters L._