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    Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts
    Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts
    Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts

    By A. A. Milne

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    About this ebook

    Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateNov 3, 2015
    ISBN9781473374485
    Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts
    Author

    A. A. Milne

    A.A.Milne was born in London in 1882 and became a highly successful writer of plays, poems and novels. He based Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and friends on the real nursery toys of his son Christopher Robin and published the first book of their adventures together in 1926. Since then, Pooh has become a world-famous bear, and Milne’s stories have been translated into seventy-two languages.

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      Book preview

      Belinda - An April Folly in Three Acts - A. A. Milne

      Belinda.

      An April Folly in Three Acts

      by

      A. A. Milne

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Contents

      A. A. Milne

      Characters

      Act I

      Act II

      Act III

      A. A. Milne

      Alan Alexander Milne was born in London, England in 1882. He was educated at Westminster School, before enrolling at Cambridge University, where he was elected editor of the literary magazine, Granta. Milne graduated in 1903, with third class honours in mathematics, and began a career as a freelance writer. Within a matter of months, he was hired as assistant editor of Punch magazine, and published his first (unsuccessful) novel. His burgeoning career was interrupted by World War I, however, and despite surviving the trenches, Milne’s experience left him a committed pacifist.

      During the twenties, Milne became a prolific and popular dramatist, before turning to fiction for children at the recommendation of his agent. His collections When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927) were both highly successful, as were the novels for which he is now best-remembered: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Somewhat unwittingly cast as a children’s writer – a situation he was never entirely happy with – Milne resolved during the thirties to write more adult fiction. However, neither his later novels – Two People (1931), Four Days’ Wonder (1933) and Chloe Marr (1946) – nor his later short story collections – The Birthday Party (1948), A Table Near the Band (1950) – proved as popular as his children’s fiction. Milne died in old age while living in Hartfield, Sussex.

      Characters

      Produced by Mr. Dion Boucioault at the New Theatre, London, on April 8, 1918, with the following cast:—

      Belinda Tremayne .......... Irene Vanbrugh.

      Delia (her Daughter) ...... Isabel Elsom.

      Harold Baxter ............. Dion Boucicault.

      Claude Devenish ........... Dennis Neilson-Terry.

      John Tremayne ............. Ben Webster.

      Betty ..................... Anne Walden.

      The action takes place in Belinda’s country-house in Devonshire at the end of April, the first act in the garden and the second and last acts in the hall

      Act I

      It is a lovely April afternoon–a foretaste of summer–in Belinda’s garden.

      Betty, a middle-aged servant, is fastening a hammock–its first appearance this year–to a tree down L. In front there is a garden-table, with a deck-chair on the right of it and a straight-backed one to the left. There are books, papers, and magazines on the table. Belinda, of whom we shall know more presently, is on the other side of the open windows which look on to the garden, talking to Betty, who crosses to R. of hammock, securing it to tree C.

      Belinda (from inside the house). Are you sure you’re tying it up tightly enough, Betty?

      Betty (coming to front of hammock). Yes, ma’am; I think it’s firm.

      Belinda. Because I’m not the fairy I used to be.

      Betty (testing hammock). Yes, ma’am; it’s quite firm this end too.

      Belinda (entering from portico with sunshade open). It’s not the ends I’m frightened of; it’s the middle where the weight’s coming. (Comes down R. and admiring.) It looks very nice. (She crosses at back of wicker table, hanging her hand-bag on hammock. Closes and places her sunshade at back of tree C.)

      Betty. Yes, ma’am.

      Belinda (trying the middle of it with her hand). I asked them at the Stores if they were quite sure it would bear me, and they said it would take anything up to–I forget how many tons. I know I thought it was rather rude of them. (Looking at it anxiously, and trying to get in, first with her right leg and then her left.) How does one get in! So trying to be a sailor!

      Betty. I think you sit in it, ma’am, and then (explaining with her hands) throw your legs over.

      Belinda. I see. (She sits gingerly in the hammock, and then, with a sudden flutter of white, does what Betty suggests.) Yes. (Regretfully.) I’m afraid that was rather wasted on you, Betty. We must have some spectators next time.

      Betty. Yea, ma’am

      Belinda. Cushions.

      (Betty moves to and takes a cushion from deck-chair. Belinda assists her to place it at back of her head. Betty then goes to back of hammock and arranges Belinda’s dress.)

      There! Now then, Betty, about callers.

      Betty. Yes, ma’am.

      Belinda. If Mr. Baxter calls–he is the rather prim gentleman—

      Betty. Yea, ma’am; the one who’s been here several times before. (Moves to below and L. of hammock.)

      Belinda (giving Betty a quick look). Yes. Well, if he calls, you’ll say, Not at home.

      Betty. Yes, ma’am.

      Belinda. He will say (imitating Mr. Baxter), Oh–er–oh–er–really. Then you’ll smile very sweetly and say, "I beg your pardon, was it Mr. Baxter? And he’ll say, Yes! and you’ll say, Oh, I beg your pardon, sir; this way, please."

      Betty. Yes, ma’am.

      Belinda. That’s right, Betty. Well now, if Mr. Devenish calls–he is the rather poetical gentleman—

      Betty. Yes, ma’am; the one who’s always coming here.

      Belinda (with a pleased smile). Yes. Well, if he calls you’ll say, Not at home.

      Betty. Yes, ma’am.

      Belinda. He’ll immediately (extending her arms descriptively) throw down his bunch of flowers and dive despairingly into the moat. You’ll stop him, just as he is going in, and say, "I beg your pardon, sir, was it Mr. Devenish? And he will say, Yes! and you will say, Oh, I beg your pardon, sir; this way, please."

      Betty. Yes, ma’am. And suppose they both call together?

      Belinda (non-plussed for a moment). We won’t suppose anything so exciting, Betty.

      Betty. No, ma’am. And

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