Within the Gates by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. DOCTOR ESMERALD THORNE, _a city physician_. HELEN THORNE, _his wife_. LADDIE, _their child_. (_Between four and five years of age._) MRS. FAYTH, _a patient of the Doctor's, and a friend of Mrs. Thorne's, an invalid_. DOCTOR GAZELL, _a hospital physician not in harmony with Dr. Thorne_. DR. CARVER, _a young surgeon_. MAGGIE, _a maid_. A Priest, Nurses, Patients, Servants, People in the Street, Spirits, the Angel Azrael.

A library in a city house. A dining-room opens beyond a portière. The dinner-table is set. The library is furnished in red leather and dark wood. Books run to the ceiling. The carpet is indeterminate in tone. The heavy curtains are of a rich, dark crimson. A window is to be seen. The library is littered a little with the signs of feminine occupation. At one of the tables sits Mrs. Thorne. She is a young and beautiful woman, of stately presence and modest, high-bred manner. She is well-dressed -- but not over-dressed -- in a tea-gown such as a lady might wear in her own home when guests are not expected. The dress is cream-white; it falls open over a crimson skirt. The lamps are shaded with lace of red or of white. One with a white shade is on the table by which she sits. Her sewing materials are lying about, among books and magazines half-cut. She tries to sew upon a little boy's lace collar, but throws her work down restlessly. Her face wears a troubled expression.