tall, thin, abstracted, and slightly grizzled in the hair. He
has a pad of paper over his knee, ink on the stool to his right
and the Encyclopedia volume on the stand to his left-barricaded
in fact by the article he is writing. He is reading a page over
to himself, but the words are drowned in the sound of the song
his WIFE is singing in the next room, partly screened off by the
curtain. She finishes, and stops. His voice can then be heard
conning the words of his article.

PROF. "Orpheus symbolized the voice of Beauty, the call of life,
luring us mortals with his song back from the graves we dig for
ourselves. Probably the ancients realized this neither more nor less
than we moderns. Mankind has not changed. The civilized being still
hides the faun and the dryad within its broadcloth and its silk. And
yet"--[He stops, with a dried-up air-rather impatiently] Go on, my
dear! It helps the atmosphere.

[The voice of his WIFE begins again, gets as far as "made them
sing" and stops dead, just as the PROFESSOR's pen is beginning
to scratch. And suddenly, drawing the curtain further aside]

[SHE appears. Much younger than the PROFESSOR, pale, very
pretty, of a Botticellian type in face, figure, and in her
clinging cream-coloured frock. She gazes at her abstracted
husband; then swiftly moves to the lintel of the open window,
and stands looking out.]

THE WIFE. God! What beauty!

PROF. [Looking Up] Umm?