MS-HRC-SB-4-2-7

[0167] railway-station platform?[0168] No?
[0169] (^[₰] Pause.)^[₰]
[0170] When I look—
[0171] (^[₰]KRAPP switches off, broods, looks at his watch, gets up,
goes backstage into darkness.[0172] Ten seconds.[0173] Pop of cork.
[0174] Ten seconds.[0175] Second cork.[0176] Ten seconds.[0177] Third cork.
[0178] Ten seconds.[0179] Brief burst of quavering song.

[0180] (sings.)[0181] Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh-igh,
Shadows—

[0182] (^[₰]Fit of coughing.[0183] He comes back into light, sits down,
wipes his mouth, switches on, resumes his listening
posture.

[0184] —back on the year that is gone, with what I hope is
perhaps a glint of the old eye to come, there is of
course the house on the canal where mother lay a-dying,
in the late autumn, after her long viduity (KRAPP gives a
start), and the—[0185](KRAPP switches off, winds back tape a
little, bends his ear closer to machine, switches on)[0186]—
a-dying, after her long viduity, and the—

[0187] (^[₰]KRAPP switches off, raises his head, stares blankly before
him.[0188] His lips move in the syllables of 'viduity'.[0189] No sound.
[0190] He gets up, goes backstage into darkness, comes back
with an enormous dictionary, lays it on table, sits down
and looks up the word.

[0191] (reading from dictionary.)^{[   ]}[0192] State—or condition—of being
—or remaining—a widow—or widower.[0193] (Looks up.
[0194] Puzzled.)[0195] Being—or remaining?...[0196] (Pause.[0197] He peers
again at dictionary.[0198] Reading.)[0199] 'Deep weeds of viduity.'
...[0200] Also of an animal, especially a bird...the vidua or
weaver-bird....[0201] Black plumage of male....[0202] (He looks
up.[0203] With relish.)[0204] The vidua-bird!

[0205] (^[₰]Pause.[0206] He closes dictionary, switches on, resumes listening
posture.
[0207] —bench by the weir from where I could see her window.
[0208] There I sat, in the biting wind, wishing she were gone.
[0209] (Pause.)[0210] Hardly a soul, just a few regulars, nursemaids,