The Children’s Hour
Two-hander · Drama
The Children’s Hour
The Children’s Hour · Lillian Hellman
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The Children’s Hour
Published by scriptsandsketches.com
In a late 19th-century setting, Mary and Rosalie engage in a battle of wits, revealing secrets and testing loyalties. As accusations fly, the stakes rise, leading to a dramatic confrontation.
Duologue
Characters: MARY, ROSALIE
Set in the late 19th century, MARY and ROSALIE are passing time together in MARY’s grandma’s house.
MARY:
(Softly) Whoooooo
ROSALIE:
(Belligerently) Oh, so it’s you. Well, who likes to hear funny noises at night? You could have been a werewolf.
MARY:
A werewolf sure wouldn't want you.
ROSALIE:
You know everything, don't you?
MARY:
What's funny about it?
ROSALIE:
Don't act like you can come home every night.
MARY:
Maybe I can from now on.
ROSALIE:
Am I going back? I don’t want to stay home.
MARY:
What’ll you give to know?
ROSALIE:
Nothing. I’ll ask Mamma.
MARY:
Will you give me a free T.L. if I tell you?
ROSALIE:
(Thinks for a moment) All right. Lois Fisher told Helen that you were very smart.
MARY:
That's an old one. I won't take it.
ROSALIE:
You gotta take it.
MARY:
Nope.
ROSALIE:
(Laughs) You don’t know, anyway.
MARY:
I know what I heard, and I know Grandma phoned your mother in New York. You're just going to spend the night here.
ROSALIE:
But what's happened? Peggy and Helen and Evelyn and Lois went home tonight, too. Do you think somebody's got scarlet fever or something?
MARY:
No.
ROSALIE:
Do you know what it is? How’d you find out?
MARY:
(no answer)
ROSALIE:
You're always pretending you know everything. You're just faking. (Flounces away) Never mind, don't bother telling me. I think curiosity is very unladylike, anyhow. I have no concern with your silly secrets.
MARY:
Suppose I told you that I just may have said that you were in on it?
ROSALIE:
In on what?
MARY:
The secret. Suppose I told you that I may have said that you told me about it?
ROSALIE:
Why, Mary Tilford You can't do a thing like that. I didn't tell you about anything.
MARY:
Maybe.
ROSALIE:
Did you?
MARY:
Maybe.
ROSALIE:
Well, I'm going right up to your grandmother and tell her I didn't tell you anything - whatever it is. You're just trying to get me into trouble and I’m not going to let you.
MARY:
Wait a minute. I’ll come with you. I want to tell her about Helen Burton's bracelet.
ROSALIE:
(Sits down suddenly) What about it?
MARY:
Just that you stole it.
ROSALIE:
Shut up. I didn't do any such thing.
MARY:
Yes you did.
ROSALIE:
(Tearfully) You made it up. You're always making things up.
MARY:
You can’t call me a fibber, Rosalie Wells. That’s a kind of a dare and I won’t take a dare. I guess I’ll go tell Grandma, anyway, then she can call the police and they’ll come for you and you’ll spend the rest of your life in one of those solitary prisons and you'll get older and older, and when you’re very old and can’t see any more, they’ll let you out and maybe your mother and father will be dead and you won’t have anyplace to go and you'll beg on the streets -
ROSALIE:
(Weeping hysterically) I didn't steal anything. I borrowed the bracelet and I was going to put it back as soon as I'd worn it to the movies. I never meant to keep it.
MARY:
Nobody'll believe that, least of all the police. You're just a common ordinary thief. Stop that bawling. You'll have the whole house down here in a minute.
ROSALIE:
You won’t tell? Say you won’t tell.
MARY:
Am I a fibber?
ROSALIE:
No.
MARY:
Then say: “I apologize on my hands and knees.”
ROSALIE:
I apologise on my hands and knees. Let's play with the puzzle.
MARY:
Wait a minute. Say: “From now on, I, Rosalie Wells, am the vassal of Mary Tilford and will do and say whatever she tells me under the solemn oath of a knight.”
ROSALIE:
I won't say that. That’s the worst oath there is.
MARY:
Will you swear it?
ROSALIE:
(Sniffing) … but then you could tell me to do anything.
MARY:
Say it! or I’ll ….
ROSALIE:
From now on-Rosalie Wells, am the vassal of Mary Tilford and will do and say whatever she tells me under the solemn oath of a knight.
MARY:
Don't forget that.
