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496
ROBERT LOWELL
ROBIN
Here's my last crown, your double price
for ferrying us across the marsh
at this ungodly hour.
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
A crown!
Do you want me to lose my soul?
Do you see King George's face
judging us on this silver coin?
I have no price.
You asked for double.
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
I'll take the crown for your return trip.
No one returns though.
No one?
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
No one.
People go round in circles here.
This is
the city of the dead.
What's that?
FERRYMAN
ROBIN
I said this city's Boston,
No one begs here. Are you deaf?
Brother, look! The lights of Boston!
(To the
Boy)
(The little houses on stage light up, then dim out.)
ROBIN
(To the
FERRYMAN)
Show me my kinsman's mansion. You
must know him-Major Molineux,
the most important man in town.
FERRYMAN
The name's familiar . . . Molineux . . .
Wasn't he mixed up with the French?
He's never at home now.
If
y~>u'll
wait
here, you'll meet him on his rounds.