A bell at the door on our left rings._ NORA _goes to the door and opens it._
MIFFLIN [_entering_]: Good morning, Miss Gorodna.
[MIFFLIN _is a beaming man of forty, with gold-rimmed eyeglasses and a somewhat grizzled beard which has been, a week or so ago, a neatly trimmed Vandyke. He wears a "cutaway suit," not much pressed, not new; a derby hat, a standing collar, and a "four-in-hand" dark tie; hard, round cuffs, not link cuffs. He carries a folded umbrella, not a fashionable one; wears no gloves; and has two or three old magazines and a newspaper under his arm._]
MIFFLIN: I believe I'm here just to the hour, Miss Gorodna.
NORA: Mr. Gibson has been very nice about it. He told me he would give you the interview for your article. He's in the factory--trying to settle some things he _can't_ settle. I'll let him know you're here.
[_She goes out by the door into the factory._ MIFFLIN, _smiling with benevolent anticipation, places his umbrella and hat on a chair, then takes his fountain pen and a pencil from his pocket, smilingly decides to use the pencil, sharpens it without going to a wastebasket over by the desk; then beamingly looks about the room. He is about to strike a chord on the piano, seems alarmed by the idea, moves away from it, dusts the lapel of his coat, adjusts his collar, studies the posters, shakes his head over them as if they were not to his taste, goes to the desk, and after studying it smiles at the rose and gives it a kittenish peck with his forefinger._ NORA _comes back and_ MIFFLIN _turns to her with his benevolent smile._]
NORA [_going back to her work at the piano_]: He'll be right here.
[GIBSON _appears in the open doorway, speaking with crisp determination to someone not seen._]
GIBSON: That's my last word on it; that's in accordance with the agreement you signed two weeks ago.
A HARSH VOICE: We don't care nothin' about no agreement!
[_He comes in. He is a man of thirty-something; well but not clubbishly dressed; an intelligent, thoughtful face; a man of affairs. Just now he is exercising some self-control over irritations which have become habitual, but he is not uncordial, merely quiet, during his greeting of_ MIFFLIN.]
MIFFLIN [_heartily, as they shake hands_]: I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Gibson! I hope you don't mind my not writing to you myself for this interview.