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see.
    PENELOPE
    I’ve waited and waited, and what have I seen? Ship after ship sailing into harbour, and still no Ulysses. He doesn’t want to come back, Clia.
    CLIA
    Now, you aren’t being fair. Troy is a far journey from Ithaca.
    PENELOPE
    Not seven years far!
    CLIA
    But we live on an island. We’ve been stormbound for the worst seven winters, one right after another, that I’ve ever seen.
    PENELOPE
    Seven winters had seven summers.
    CLIA
(Her voice sharpening)
    Will you listen to me?
    PENELOPE
    I’ve always listened to you. That’s been part of my trouble.
    CLIA
    Your trouble is that you’ve been thinking too much about yourself and too little about Ulysses.
    PENELOPE
(Too hurt to be angry)
    Oh, Clia!
    CLIA
(More gently)
    Well, in this last week you certainly have. I’ve been watching you—sitting here, boiling up like a volcano. Ulysses has had his share of problems, don’t forget.
    PENELOPE
(Miserable, in a low voice)
    What colour of hair did they have?
    CLIA
(Angry again)
    Shipping was scarce after the war. It still is. All the veterans had trouble finding transportation.
    PENELOPE
    But they came home, didn’t they? They’re home now.
    CLIA
(Quietly)
    Not all of them.
    PENELOPE
(Chastened)
    Some will never come back... But at least, their women know that. They know the worst. I don’t. I know nothing. You can’t go on living with nothing, Clia.
    CLIA
(Her anger increasing with her worry)
    All right, I’ll give you something to live with! I’ve been trying to keep the news from you, but—
(She breaks off, upset. As her control weakens, PENELOPE becomes strong, calm, alert.)
    PENELOPE
    What is it, Clia? More trouble with our unwanted guests?
    CLIA
    Trouble? Disaster! Those men downstairs—they’ve taken over your house, they’ve bullied and threatened and thieved—
    PENELOPE
    Now, Clia, stop upsetting yourself. It won’t help us deal with those men, I assure you. Look, I’ll make a bargain with you—
(She sits down before the breakfast tray.)
    I’ll eat some breakfast if you’ll tell me quietly just what is the trouble now.
(She pours some wine in a goblet, waters it, and begins to sip. Slowly, though. And she eats very little. She is only making the pretence to please CLIA .)
    Well?
    CLIA
(Recovering herself, wiping her eyes, shaking her head in amazement)
    Are you never afraid of them, Penelope?
    PENELOPE
    Constantly. Does that make you feel any better?
    CLIA
    I couldn’t feel worse. We’ve got to do something, Penelope.
    PENELOPE
    Do? What can we do, except play for time and use our wits?
    CLIA
    Do you know how much food we have left? Enough for two days. The fields haven’t been ploughed. The barns are empty. Summer is here, but there’s nothing growing—except grass and weeds.
    PENELOPE
    Last spring, we ploughed the fields. And last fall, we harvested. What did we get?—Another winter of these men.
    CLIA
    They’re drunk from morning till night.
    PENELOPE
    Then the cellars will soon be as empty as the barns. Good.
    CLIA
    You mean—you planned it this way? But you’ve left us with nothing. Our cattle and sheep have been killed and eaten. There’s hardly a deer left in all our forests, we’ve nothing, I tell you, nothing!
    PENELOPE
    Except ourselves. You are still alive, Clia. So is Telemachus, so is the rest of the household. Once the men have gone, we can work. We can restore everything. We can live on fish from the sea, if necessary. But meanwhile, the important thing is that we are intact.
    CLIA
    Intact? You weren’t referring to the maids, were you? You should go down into the Hall more often instead of sitting up here, and see how the girls are behaving.
    PENELOPE
    It’s wiser to stay here, Clia. The less I’m seen, the better.
    CLIA
    There’s no decency left. No discipline. I warned you when you gave the girls their freedom—
    PENELOPE
    I’ll have no slaves in my house!
    CLIA
(Bitterly)
    That’s right, give them their freedom, give them a home, and what do you get?