leaps up and runs Left.)_ Was it the check?

_Will (enters)._ Yes.

_Peggy._ For how much?

_Will (in a voice of agony)._ _Guess_ how much?

_Peggy._ Tell me!

_Will._ Two-fifty.

_Peggy._ Two-fifty!

_Will._ Two dollars and a half!

_Peggy._ Great God!

_Will (furiously)._ How do they expect a poet to live on two dollars
and a half for a poem?

_Peggy (hysterically)._ They don't expect poets to live! They don't
care anything about poets! Poets are cheap!

_Will (catches her by the arm, stares at her)._ Peggy! Peggy! This
play has got to succeed! It's got to succeed! People have got to
like it!

_Peggy._ Oh, Will. I hope they like it! I could get them by the
throats and choke them until they promise to like it! I could fall