CURTIS-[With a smile.]I guess it's just that they want all the men with considerable practical experience they can get. There are bound to be hardships and they know I'm hardened to them.[Turning to his wife with an affectionate smile.] We haven't roughed it in the queer corners for the last ten years without knowing how it's done, have we, Martha?
MARTHA-[Dully.]No, Curt.
CURTIS-[With an earnest enthusiasm.]And this expedition IS what you call a large affair, Big. It's the largest thing of its kind ever undertaken. The possibilities, from the standpoint of anthropology, are limitless.
BIGELOW-[With a grin.]Aha! Now we come to the Missing Link!
CURTIS-[Frowning.]Darn your Barnum and Bailey circus lingo, Big. This isn't a thing to mock at. I should think the origin of man would be something that would appeal even to your hothouse imagination. Modern science believes-knows-that Asia was the first home of the human race. That's where we're going, to the great Central Asian plateau north of the Himalayas.
BIGELOW-[More soberly.]And there you hope to dig up-our first ancestor?
CURTIS-It's a chance in a million, but I believe we may, myself- at least find authentic traces of him so that we can reconstruct his life and habits. I was up in that country a lot while I was mining advisor to the Chinese government-did some of my own work on the side. The extraordinary results I obtained with the little means at my disposal convinced me of the riches yet to be uncovered. The First Man may be among them.
BIGELOW-[Turning to MARTHA.]And you were with him on that Asian plateau?
MARTHA-Yes, I've always been with him.
CURTIS-You bet she has.[He goes over and puts his hand on his wife's shoulder affectionately.] Martha's more efficient than a whole staff of assistants and secretaries. She knows more about what I'm doing than I do half the time.[He turns toward his study.] Well, I guess I'll go in and work some.
MARTHA-[Quietly.]Do you need me now, Curt?
BIGELOW-[Starting up.]Yes, if you two want to work together, why just shoo me-
CURTIS-[Puts both hands on his shoulders and forces him to his seat again.] No. Sit down, Big. I don't need Martha now.[Coming over to her, bends down and kisses her-rather mockingly.] I couldn't deprive Big of an audience for his confessions of a fond parent.
BIGELOW-Aha! Now it's you who are mocking at something you know nothing about.[An awkward silence follows this remark.]
CURTIS-[Frowning.]I guess you're forgetting, aren't you, Big? [He turns and walks into his study, closing the door gently behind him.]
MARTHA-[After a pause-sadly.]Poor Curt.
BIGELOW-[Ashamed and confused.]I had forgotten-
MARTHA-The years have made me reconciled. They haven't Curt.[She sighs- then turns to BIGELOW with a forced smile.] I suppose it's hard for any of you back here to realize that Curt and I ever had any children.
BIGELOW-[After a pause.]How old were they when-?
MARTHA-Three years and two-both girls.[She goes on sadly.] We had a nice little house in Goldfield.[Forcing a smile.] We were very respectable home folks then. The wandering came later, after- It was a Sunday in winter when Curt and I had gone visiting some friends. The nurse girl fell asleep-or something-and the children sneaked out in their underclothes and played in the snow. Pneumonia set in-and a week later they were both dead.
BIGELOW-[Shocked.]Good heavens!
MARTHA-We were real lunatics for a time. And then when we'd calmed down enough to realize-how things stood with us-we swore we'd never have children again-to steal away their memory. It wasn't what you thought-romanticism-that set Curt wandering- and me with him. It was a longing to lose ourselves-to forget. He flung himself with all his power into every new study that interested him. He couldn't keep still, mentally or bodily-and I followed. He needed me-then-so dreadfully!
BIGELOW-And is it that keeps driving him on now?
MARTHA-Oh, no. He's found himself. His work has taken the place of the children.
BIGELOW-And with you, too?
MARTHA-[With a wan smile.]Well, I've helped-all I could. His work has me in it, I like to think-and I have him.
BIGELOW-[Shaking his head.]I think people are foolish to stand by such an oath as you took-forever.[With a smile.] Children are a great comfort in one's old age, I've tritely found.
MARTHA-[Smiling.]Old age!
BIGELOW-I'm knocking at the door of fatal forty.
MARTHA-[With forced gaiety.]You're not very tactful, I must say. Don't you know I'm thirty-eight?
BIGELOW-[Gallantly.]A woman is as old as she looks. You're not thirty yet.
