Merely Mary Ann

Publisher Marketing: Excerpt from Merely Mary Ann: Comedy in Four Acts The Scene represents the hall of Mrs. Lradbatter's lodging house. The hall door is R., with letter box and door mat. There is also a window in this wall. There are two hall chairs, one up stage R. and another down stage R., a hat rack and umbrella stand -these two latter furnished with sundry coals and hats of all colours, sticks and umbrellas of all shapes. On the hall table stand five bedroom candlesticks with matches, three little heaps of letters, postcards and newspapers, and a large clothes brush. Gaudy oleographs on passage wall. The dining-room door is R. C. Carpeted stairs lead to Lancelot's door, L., with a little landing, both visible ere the stairs turn. Before these stairs goes the passage leading past the hall bench to the kitchen and parlour doors l. The gas is burning in the hall lamp, but rather dimly, with suggestion of lateness and economy. The stage is empty. The wind and rain are heard swishing outside. After a while a latchkey is heard to adjust itself in the lock, the door opens and O'Gorman, a pock-marked, good-humoured, rather seedy journalist, stands half in and half out, his head turning towards an unseen driver, his lowered umbrella dripping. O'Gorman (to unseen Cabman, who is heard growling and grumbling hoarsely in reply throughout this speech). What do I call that? I call it quite enough for three-quarters of a mile. Eh? It's a wet night. Pwhat else would I be taking a cab for, begorra? Pwhat's that? I must give you sixpence more? Needs must when the divil drives, eh? Is that it? No, divil take me, don't you try swearing at me, because I'm a journalist and can bate you at it. Sacre-bleu, Donner-Blitzen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hellespont! (Enters and bangs door.) Mother in heaven! Pwhat a blessing to get the paper to bed! (Yawns, puts wet umbrella in stand, sings.) "Kiss mo good-night, dear love. Drame of the old delight, My spirit is summoned -" Bad luck to it! Shall I never get the tune out of my head? It's as catching as 'flu, and I've got it bad. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Contributor Bio:  Zangwill, Israel Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864 - 1 August 1926) was a British humorist and writer. The Big Bow Mystery was the first locked room mystery novel. It has been almost continuously in print since 1891 and has been used as the basis for three commercial films. His play The Lens Grinder, based on the life of Spinoza, was widely produced.