PAGE 5
Barbara’s Wedding
by
BILLY.
‘Odd.’
BARBARA.
soothingly, ‘Never mind, dear, Granny will make it all right. She is the one for you.’
COLONEL.
‘She is the one for me.’
KARL.
‘If there had been a wedding, wouldn’t she have taken the Colonel with her?’
BARBARA.
‘Of course she would.’
KARL.
‘You are not too old to have a kind eye for a wedding, sir.’
COLONEL.
wagging his head, ‘Aha, aha! You know, if I had gone, very likely I should have kissed the bride. Brides look so pretty on their wedding day. They are often not pretty at other times, but they are all pretty on their wedding day.’
KARL.
‘You have an eye for a pretty girl still, sir!’
COLONEL.
‘Yes, I have; yes, I have!’
BARBARA.
‘I do believe I see it all. Granny has been talking to you about Billy boy and me, and you haven’t been able to wait; you have hurried on the wedding!’
BILLY.
‘Bravo, Barbara, you’ve got it.’
COLONEL.
doubtfully, ‘That may be it. Because I am sure you were to be there, Barbara.’
BARBARA.
‘Our wedding, Billy!’
KARL.
‘It doesn’t explain those other people, though.’
The Colonel moves about in agitation.
BARBARA.
‘What is it, dear?’
COLONEL.
‘I can’t quite remember, but I think that is why she didn’t take me. It is your wedding, Barbara, but I don’t think Billy boy is to be there, my love.’
BARBARA.
‘Not at my wedding!’
BILLY.
‘Grandfather!’
COLONEL.
‘There’s something sad about it.’
BARBARA.
‘There can’t be anything sad about a wedding, dear. Granny didn’t say it was a sad wedding, did she?’
COLONEL.
‘She was smiling.’
BARBARA.
‘Of course she was.’
COLONEL.
‘But I think that was only to please the nurse.’
BARBARA.
‘That nurse again! Dear, don’t think any more about it. There’s no wedding.’
COLONEL.
gently, though he wonders why they can go on deceiving him, ‘Is there not?’
The village wedding bells begin to ring.
The Colonel is triumphant. ‘I told you! There is a wedding!’
The bells ring on gaily. Billy and Barbara take a step nearer to each other, but can go no closer. The bells ring on, and the three young people fade from the scene.
When they are gone and he is alone, the Colonel still addresses them. ‘It’s Barbara’s wedding. Billy boy, why are you not at Barbara’s wedding?’
Soon the bells stop. He knows that he is alone now, but he does not understand it. The sun is shining brightly, but he sits very cold in his chair. He shivers. He is very glad to see his wife coming to him through the open window. She is a dear old lady, and is dressed brightly, as becomes one who has been to a wedding. Her face beams to match her gown. She is really quite a happy woman again, for it is several years since any deep sorrow struck her; and that is a long time. No one, you know, understands the Colonel as she does, no one can soothe him and bring him out of his imaginings as she can. He hastens to her. He is no longer cold. That is her great reward for all she does for him.
‘I have come back, John,’ she says, smiling tranquilly on him. ‘It hasn’t seemed very long, has it?’
‘No, not long, Ellen. Had you a nice walk?’