Home is the Hunter by Helen MacInnes Read Free Book Online Page B

same.
    HOMER
    On the contrary!... I have already composed a very fine poem about Penelope weaving.
    CLIA
    So you are telling about Ulysses and Penelope? Isn’t that nice! Penelope!
(She knocks on the bedroom door, opens it a little.)
    Penelope! You’ve a visitor; he’s travelled a long way to see you!
    PENELOPE
(Urgently)
    Clia, don’t tease me. Who is it?
    CLIA
(To HOMER )
    Poor dear! She’s always thinking it might be Ulysses.
(To PENELOPE )
    It’s your friend the poet—the man who is making up the story about Ulysses.
(She leaves the bedroom door.)
    HOMER
    Clia, I don’t make up stories... I describe the truth. That is why I am here in Ithaca now. If I didn’t want to see the real facts for myself, I could stay in Smyrna, where I like the climate. And another thing—why do you call your master Ulysses? Give him his real name—Odysseus. Really, Clia... Ulysses! A complete bastardisation. It won’t even scan properly.
    CLIA
    Penelope always calls him Ulysses. She says Odysseus is too big a mouthful. For instance,
(She points to ULYSSES ’ chair.)
    you can say “Ulysses’ chair” without too much of a splutter. But who’s going to take a deep-enough breath to say “Odysseus’s chair”?
    HOMER
(Stiffly)
    I still say Odysseus.
    CLIA
(Placatingly)
    Turned out a nice day, hasn’t it? How far have you been travelling, this time?
    HOMER
    From Thessaly.
    CLIA
    Over all those mountains? My, that’s quite a journey—
(She strikes her forehead.)
    Your cloak—your boots—I was so excited I forgot to welcome you properly. I’ll just rush downstairs and get a basin of water. I’m sorry, I really am...
    HOMER
(Smiling again)
    What I need most is a drink. I’ve walked from the village, and I’ve collected as much dust in my throat as on my boots.
    CLIA
    Shan’t be a moment—
(As PENELOPE opens the bedroom door and enters the sitting room, CLIA exclaims and rushes out.)
    PENELOPE
(Coming forward to HOMER with hands outstretched. She has changed her dress—she is now wearing a blue silk gown, and her hair is charmingly arranged.)
    Homer! How wonderful to see you!... And how well you look.
(She takes his cloak and places it on one of the chairs.)
    HOMER
    You are looking remarkably well, yourself.
(He looks at her critically, though.)
    PENELOPE
(Looking down at her dress)
    You don’t like it? I thought it was—quite—pretty.
    HOMER
    It’s most charming, but isn’t it a little—lighthearted? Not quite what I had imagined you wearing.
    PENELOPE
    Really?
(She is amused. HOMER has been looking for a place to lay his harp. He almost puts it on ULYSSES ’ chair, but then refrains.)
    Yes, put it there.
    HOMER
    But it’s your husband’s chair, and only Odysseus sits there.
    PENELOPE
    Put it on the chair. Ulysses will be honoured.
    HOMER
    My dear, I wish you’d call him Odysseus.
    PENELOPE
(Laughing)
    But my tongue trips over it.
(She pulls two chairs forward, and invites him to sit down.)
    You always amaze me. You’ve never been in this room before, yet you know all about Ulysses’ chair.
    HOMER
    That’s easily explained. People talk, you know. And poets listen.
    PENELOPE
    And when Homer sings, the people grow silent.
    HOMER
(Now in very good humour)
    If there’s one thing nicer than being treated to a compliment, it’s having a pretty woman pay it.
    PENELOPE
    That wasn’t a compliment; it was the truth. No poet is so—
(She breaks off as the door opens. CLIA comes in with a bronze basin of water and a folded towel over her arm. AMARYLLIS follows her, carrying a large silver goblet of wine.)
    What’s this?
(She stares down at HOMER ’s boots and springs to her feet.) Heavens! What have we done—or, rather, what haven’t we done? Clia, you know the rule of this house: no stranger, however poor, arrives at our door without being welcomed. And what is our welcome?
    CLIA
    To speak kindly and invite him to enter; to bathe his hands and feet; to offer him bread and wine and a warm corner by the