The Title A Comedy in Three Acts
_The Title_ A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS BY ARNOLD BENNETT LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS MCMXVIII CHARACTERS MR. CULVER MRS. CULVER
Prince George of Windthorst, who insisted upon acting as his guide to
the Green Drawing Room.
As the door closed upon them, the King rose, saying as he did so,
"Please remain seated." He walked into one of the windows and stood
for some minutes looking out over the park. Whatever it was that was
passing through his mind, it was not a pleasant thought, as was shown
by his hands, which were clasped behind his back so tightly that the
fingers were perfectly white; and the veins of his neck swelled, while
the muscles of his jaws were firmly set. No one dared to move. The
silence in the room was so intense that the men about the table, as if
caught by a spell, sat with unfinished gestures, like the figures in a
moving picture when the film catches. The clock on the mantel seemed
suddenly to have waked up and to be trying by its loud ticking to fool
itself into thinking that it had been ticking all the time. When the
time came for it to strike five o'clock, it went at it with such
resounding vim that Admiral Sir William Brown, who had served his
apprenticeship in the turrets, seemed to think that he had better open
his mouth to save his ear-drums.
"War is war! All is fair! War is war! All is fair!" it seemed to say.
The King finally turned, and walking back to the table picked up the
innocent-looking instrument. He turned it over and over in his hand
and then slowly and carefully wound the platinum wires about it as a
boy winds a top and placed it back into its leather case. As he put it
_The Title_ A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS BY ARNOLD BENNETT LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS MCMXVIII CHARACTERS MR. CULVER MRS. CULVER