dresses ruffles with her snores. GRACE hobbles in and sits on a stool beside
her.)
GRACE
Duchess? I was looking for you---
COUNTESS
VAN DER CAVE
(Lifting her head)We live in a cube now.
GRACE
I
need someone to listen.
COUNTESS
VAN DER CAVE
Hand me my
snuff.(GRACE gives her a big box. The COUNTESS snorts greedily.)
COUNTESS VAN DER CAVE
(Continued)
When
I was younger, I went all over the countryside recording the stories of old
peasant women before they died. I
learned many a charm.
GRACE
I’m not interesting like that---
COUNTESS
VAN DER CAVE
No---
GRACE
But
no one listens---
COUNTESS
VAN DER CAVE
I
soon grew tired of the peasants’ lives: a brother dies, a sister’s raped, a lover
boils in oil. But tell me, dear: your tale’s not distressing?
GRACE
(Thinks)I didn’t think so. Maybe . . .
COUNTESS
VAN DER CAVE
Well, make
up your mind before you cough up the depressing details. I don’t want our cube brimming over with depressing details.(The PANTHER LADY bays from the top of the cube.)
END OF EPISODE 23.
