MILLER: "We"re not doing anything."

MRS. CURWEN: "We"re waiting for you to do something."

MISS LAWTON: "Oh, papa!"

LAWTON: "Don"t be troubled, Lou, we"ll soon have you out."

YOUNG MR. BEMIS: "Don"t be alarmed, sir, Miss Lawton is all right."

MISS LAWTON: "Yes, I"m not frightened, papa."

LAWTON: "Well, that"s a great thing in cases of this kind. How did you happen to get there?"

MILLER, indignantly: "How do you suppose? We came up in the elevator."

LAWTON: "Well, why didn"t you come the rest of the way?"

MILLER: "The elevator wouldn"t."

LAWTON: "What seems to be the matter?"

MILLER: "We don"t know."

LAWTON: "Have you tried to start it?"

MILLER: "Well, I"ll leave that to your imagination."

LAWTON: "Well, be careful what you do. You might" -

MILLER, interrupting: "Roberts, who"s that talking?"

ROBERTS, coming forward politely: "Oh, excuse me! I forgot that you didn"t know each other. Dr. Lawton, Mr. Miller." Introducing them.

LAWTON: "Glad to know you."

MILLER: "Very happy to make your acquaintance, and hope some day to see you. And now, if you have completed your diagnosis"

MRS. CURWEN: "None of us have ever had it before, doctor; nor any of our families, so far as we know."

LAWTON: "Ha! ha! ha! Very good! Well, just keep quiet. We"ll have you all out of there presently."

BEMIS: "Yes, remain perfectly still."

ROBERTS: "Yes, we"ll have you out. Just wait."

MILLER: "You seem to think we"re going to run away. Why shouldn"t we keep quiet? Do you suppose we"re going to be very boisterous, shut up here like rats in a trap?"

MRS. CURWEN: "Or birds in a cage, if you want a more pleasing image."

MRS. CRASHAW: "How are you going to get us out, Edward?"

ROBERTS: "We don"t know yet. But keep quiet" -

MILLER: "Keep quiet! Great heavens! we"re afraid to stir a finger.

Now don"t say "keep quiet" any more, for we can"t stand it."

LAWTON: "He"s in open rebellion. What are you going to do, Roberts?"

ROBERTS, rising and scratching his head: "Well, I don"t know yet.

We might break a hole in the roof."

LAWTON: "Ah, I don"t think that would do. Besides you"d have to get a carpenter."

ROBERTS: "That"s true. And it would make a racket, and alarm the house"--staring desperately at the grated doorway of the shaft. "If I could only find an elevator man--an elevator builder! But of course they all live in the suburbs, and they"re keeping Christmas, and it would take too long, anyway."

BEMIS: "Hadn"t you better send for the police? It seems to me it"s a case for the authorities."

LAWTON: "Ah, there speaks the Europeanized mind! They always leave the initiative to the authorities. Go out and sound the fire-alarm, Roberts. It"s a case for the Fire Department."

ROBERTS: "Oh, it"s all very well to joke, Dr. Lawton. Why don"t you prescribe something?"

LAWTON: "Surgical treatment seems to be indicated, and I"m merely a general pract.i.tioner."

ROBERTS: "If Willis were only here, he"d find some way out of it.

Well, I"ll have to go for help somewhere" -

MRS. ROBERTS and MRS. MILLER, bursting upon the scene: "Oh, what is it?"

LAWTON: "Ah, you needn"t go for help, my dear fellow. It"s come!"

MRS. ROBERTS: "What are you all doing here, Edward?"

MRS. MILLER: "Oh, have you had any bad news of Mr. Miller?"

MRS. ROBERTS: "Or Aunt Mary?"

MILLER, calling up: "Well, are you going to keep us here all night?

Why don"t you do something?"

MRS. MILLER: "Oh, what"s that? Oh, it"s Mr. Miller! Oh, where are you, Ellery?"

MILLER: "In the elevator."

MRS. MILLER: "Oh! and where is the elevator? Why don"t you get out?

Oh" -

MILLER: "It"s caught, and we can"t."