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back in place)
    Sweet suffering Jupiter!
    PENELOPE
(Watching him)
    You’re nervous, Eumaeus. You’re just a little afraid of me, today. Why? What are you hiding?
    EUMAEUS
    Hiding? Nothing, Penelope—
(He opens his arms; the blanket starts unwinding, and he clutches it again.)
    Nothing except myself.
    PENELOPE
(Suddenly serious)
    If you want to lie to me, I suppose you can. I’ve no claim on your loyalty—I’ve only fed you and given you a job so that you could at least earn an honest living.
    EUMAEUS
    It was Ulysses who gave me that.
    PENELOPE
(Angry)
    And who has kept you in it? The villagers wanted you driven away. You know that.
    EUMAEUS
    Yes, they’d have driven me away, all right. But they never offered to chase away those young toughs downstairs, did they? No, they might have been hurt doing that!
    PENELOPE
    Don’t sidetrack me, Eumaeus. The village has been terrorised too, and you know it... I’m angry with you. You’ve betrayed my trust.
    EUMAEUS
    I’ve never done that!
    PENELOPE
    You’ve taught my son—
    EUMAEUS
    No, never! I’ve taught him nothing. Except what I’ve become. Once, I was a prince, and look at me now... Women, wine, and dice. That’s a sobering lesson for any lad. And that’s all I’ve taught him. I swear it, Penelope!
    PENELOPE
    You’ve taught him to deceive me! Something has happened this morning. He knows. You know. And you are both hiding it from me.
    EUMAEUS
(Relieved)
    We’re hiding nothing, nothing to worry about.
    PENELOPE
    You’re lying to me, Eumaeus. And even with all your years of practice, you aren’t doing it very well. What do you think I am? A complete fool? That story about a fishing rod! Why, only three days ago, he was complaining that there were no fish left in our streams.
( EUMAEUS ’ ugly face is lined with worry.)
    Why are you sending him to your hut? Why is he so eager to go? Why, Eumaeus, why ?
( EUMAEUS shrugs his shoulders.)
    There’s only one person in this world who could make you keep silent like this. And that’s Ulysses. Is it Ulysses who waits in your hut?
    EUMAEUS
    I—I—There’s no one in the hut, except an old beggar who needed a place to rest.
    PENELOPE
(Standing over the hapless EUMAEUS , who tries to avoid her eyes)
    A beggar... A beggar?... It couldn’t be. Or is it? Is it Ulysses?
(Her voice rises with joy and amazement. She claps her hands, then she turns back to EUMAEUS , her voice low, intense.)
    Oh, Eumaeus—you wouldn’t lie to me about this? Oh, Eumaeus, you wouldn’t...
    EUMAEUS
(Frightened)
    I said nothing about Ulysses!
    PENELOPE
    No... You didn’t, did you? You are not supposed to talk about him? Is that it?
    EUMAEUS
    I—I—
    PENELOPE
    The truth, Eumaeus! Or I’ll go down to your hut, myself.
    EUMAEUS
    But the men would follow you—
    PENELOPE
    Why worry about that, if they’ll only find a poor old beggar? Or is it Ulysses they’ll find?
(She relents as she sees how miserable EUMAEUS is. She calms her voice.)
    All right. Let’s put it this way. Penelope has been making wild guesses. How wild are they?
(She waits tensely, EUMAEUS stares unhappily at the ground.)
    I only asked a question about Penelope. Is she wrong in her guesses? Is she?
    EUMAEUS
    No.
    PENELOPE
(In sudden joy)
    Oh! Dear Athena, kind, sweet Goddess of Reason—you’ve won, you’ve won. You’ve brought him home.
(Almost weeping)
    Thank you, thank you.
    EUMAEUS
    And I’m a dead man before sunset—for answering a question that only dealt with Penelope.
    PENELOPE
    No, I’ll keep this secret, too... But why didn’t Ulysses come here? Why all this mystery?
(She is suddenly hurt.)
    If this is supposed to be a joke, it isn’t funny one bit.
    EUMAEUS
    If Ulysses had returned—now I’m not saying he did —if he had returned, if he had heard that a lot of men were in possession here, and if he was alone, then what would you expect him to do?
    PENELOPE
(Shocked)
    He’s alone?
    EUMAEUS
    Now I only said that if he were to return, he might