PERSONS. _A stoist motherly_ MADAME, _a wrinkled fatherly_
MONSIEUR, _and a plain but pleasant_ MA'MSELLE. _Some English
soldiers drinking_. CECIL _is talking in French to_ MONSIEUR,
_and they are all very friendly_.

MADAME. Alors, vous n'avez pas encore été aux tranchées?

CECIL. Mais non, Madame, peut-être ce soir.

(MONSIEUR _and_ MADAME _exchange glances_. CECIL _rises to go._)

CECIL. À Jeudi, Monsieur, Madame, Ma'mselle.

MONSIEUR, MADAME, AND MA'MSELLE (_in chorus_). À Jeudi, Monsieur.

MADAME (_earnestly_). Bon courage, Monsieur!

(_Curtain_)


ACT I. DAWN

CECIL _is discovered lying behind a wall of sandbags. On one
side are the sandbags, and on the other an idyllic spring scene,
with flowers and orchards seen in the half-light of a spring
morning. The dawn breaks gently, and soon bullets begin to ping
through the air, flattening themselves against the sandbags, or
passing over_ CECIL's _head. He wakes and yawns, and then
composes himself with his eyes open._