Page:The Prime Minister by Hall Caine.djvu/47

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FIRST ACT

Scene.Doctor Gottfried Schiller's apartment in Soho Square. Large room fronting the square. Three windows at back. Doors right and left. Fireplace on right. Pictures of composers on walls—Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Chopin, Wagner; also a portrait of the Kaiser. Grand piano on right. Harp, violin, music-stand. Table, sideboard, and sofa on left.

It is afternoon, late in the autumn. Trees in square are almost leafless. A fire is burning. An elderly woman, Mrs. Schiller, is knitting by the fire. As curtain rises a military band (playing "Tipperary") is heard passing through the square, accompanied by the tramp of troops. Old woman listens, sighs. Sound of band dies away. Door on left is opened with a bang, and a young man comes bounding in. It is Otto Schiller, twenty years of age. He has an open telegram in his hand; is excited and overjoyed.

Otto.
Auntie!

Mrs. Schiller.
Well, Otto?

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