SCENE I


_CROMWELL'S house at Ely, about the year 1639. An early summer evening.
The window of the room opens on to a smooth lawn, used for bowling, and
a garden full of flowers._

_OLIVER'S wife, ELIZABETH CROMWELL, is sitting at the table, sewing. In
a chair by the open window MRS. CROMWELL, his mother, is reading. She is
eighty years of age._

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
Oliver troubles me, persuading everywhere. Restless like this.

_Elizabeth:_
He says that the time is uneasy, and that we are part of it.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
There's a man's house. It's enough surely.

_Elizabeth:_
I know. But Oliver must be doing. You know how when he took the
magistracy he would listen to none of us. He knows best.

_Mrs. Cromwell:_
What time is John coming?

_Elizabeth:_