The Stage Manager waits until everyone is seated and then states that three years have passed since Act I. He philosophizes that almost everybody in the world gets married. Act I, he says, was called “Daily Life ” This act is called “Love and Marriage ” The time of Act II is early morning on July 7, 1904, just after the high school commencement. As in Act I, the 5:45 rumbles through town, bound for Boston.
The stage is about the same. Mrs. Gibbs’ garden is on one side and Mrs. Webb’s on the other, each drenched with heavy rain. As in the first act, the two women come down to make breakfast in their respective kitchens. In the Stage Manager’s assessment of the women’s lives: “They brought up two children apiece, washed, cleaned the house—and never a nervous breakdown ”.
