Chapter 5
LADY TORMINSTER. This is very sudden. Why?
SIR GEOFFREY. Because, at least, not knowing the language, she won't be able to say unkind things about me to my friends.
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Her chin on her hand, looking squarely at him._] Geoffrey, _is_ Jack a bore?
SIR GEOFFREY. He never bores me.
LADY TORMINSTER. That's because he shot your tiger, and you rubbed his nose. Besides, you talk about horses, and so on. And yet I heard him, for a solid hour, telling you about a rubber he lost at bridge through his partner making diamonds trumps when he should have made spades.
SIR GEOFFREY. He's not clever, of course--and you are. But still! Is cleverness everything?
LADY TORMINSTER. Haven't I told you he's the very best fellow in all the world? And do you think I'm posing, pretending that I'm misunderstood, and the rest? You know me better. I am indulging, for once, in the luxury of absolute candour.
SIR GEOFFREY. You loved him--
LADY TORMINSTER. Of course I loved him--and I love him now.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Triumphantly._] You see!
LADY TORMINSTER. If we women had had a hand in the making of the language, how many words there would be to express our feelings towards the men we are fond of! Of course I love Jack. I'm cruel to him sometimes; and there comes a look into his eyes--he has dog's eyes, you know--a faithful Newfoundland--
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Very earnestly._] I don't think women quite realise what friendship means to a man.
LADY TORMINSTER. I am certain that men don't realise what marriage means to a woman! Dear funeral, am I not a good wife--shall I not remain a good wife, till the end of the chapter? Because there isn't only Jack--there are Jack's children.
SIR GEOFFREY. Yes.
LADY TORMINSTER. And isn't it wonderful, when you think of it--here are we two, Jack's friend and his wife, alone on a desert island--and we have confessed our love for each other, and we are able to discuss it as calmly as though it were rheumatism!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With a groan._] If only I hadn't induced you to stay!
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Smiling._] My dear friend, you didn't!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Amazed._] I didn't?
LADY TORMINSTER. Why no--of course not. I knew you were going to-morrow.
SIR GEOFFREY. How?
LADY TORMINSTER. Oh, never mind how! I knew. And I suspected you would be sitting up here to-night. So I came down, hoping to find you. I wanted this talk with you. And I extracted your confession--as though it had been a tooth.
SIR GEOFFREY. And why?
LADY TORMINSTER. Why? Because it will be something to think of, in the dull days ahead. Because I knew that you loved me, and wanted to be told. Because your life lies before you, and mine is ended. Because I love you, and insisted that you should know. You leave me now, and I have no illusions. Paolo and Francesca are merely a poet's dream. You will marry--of course you will marry--but this moment, at least, has been mine.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Stretching out yearning hands._] This moment, and every moment, in past and future!
LADY TORMINSTER. Ah, the future! Strange little syllables that hide so much! I can see you, introducing your wife to me, a little shyly--I can see myself, shaking hands with her--and with you.... My boy is seven already--time travels fast.... But it's good to know that you really have loved me, all these years....
SIR GEOFFREY. By day and by night--you, and only you!
LADY TORMINSTER. And I have loved you--ah, yes, I have loved you!... And, having said this to each other, we will not meet again--till you bring me your wife.
SIR GEOFFREY. Ah--then!
LADY TORMINSTER. I have loved you, and I love you, for the fine, upright, loyal creature that you are. I love you for loving Jack; and it is Jack's great quality in my eyes that he has been able to inspire such love. And, my dear friend, let us not be ashamed, we two, but only very proud, and very happy. We shall go our ways, and do our duty; but we shall never forget this talk we have had to-night.
SIR GEOFFREY. [_Gently._] I am beginning to understand....
LADY TORMINSTER. You will be less lonely in future ... and I no longer afraid of the stars.... Brave heart--oh, brave little heart that I for a moment have held in my hands!
SIR GEOFFREY. [_With a passionate movement towards her._] Gertrude!
LADY TORMINSTER. [_Lifting a finger._] No--stay where you are.... Those are the first rays of dawn--I must go.... Good-bye. We have no need to shake hands, you and I.... Ah, Geoffrey--good-bye!
[_She goes swiftly, and closes the door. He bends his head, and remains standing, motionless, by the table._
CURTAIN
THE BRACELET
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
HARVEY WESTERN HIS HONOUR JUDGE BANKET MARTIN WILLIAM MRS. WESTERN MRS. BANKET MISS FARREN SMITHERS
TIME--_The present_
_Produced at the Liverpool Repertory Theatre on Feb. 26, 1912_
THE BRACELET
_The dining-room in an upper middle-class house near the Park. It is furnished in the conventional modern style, soberly and without imagination. The room is on the ground floor, facing the street, the door is to the right, and leads into the hall. To the left of this door is a sideboard, glittering with silver. Three tall windows, at the back heavily curtained; between them hang two or three family portraits. The table, on which there is the usual debris of a meal that is over--coffee-cups, liqueur-glasses, etc.--has been laid for four persons, and their four chairs are still around it. The fireplace, with its rather crude and ambitious mantelpiece, is in the centre of the left wall; and uncomfortable-looking heavy armchairs are on each side of it. On the mantelpiece are a marble clock and a few bits of china. In the angle formed at the left side is a small Queen Anne writing-table, open. To the right of the room is a large sofa. The floor is heavily carpeted, and there are many rugs scattered about._
_When the curtain rises, the room is in darkness._ WILLIAM, _the footman, enters hurriedly and switches on the electric light. He rushes to the table, looks eagerly around, shifting cups and glasses, napkins, etc., then goes on his hands and knees and searches on the carpet. After a moment,_ SMITHERS, _the lady's-maid, follows him._
SMITHERS. [_Eagerly._] Can't you find it?
WILLIAM. [_Sulkily._] No. Not yet. Give me time.
SMITHERS. [_Feeling along the table-cloth._] Under one of those rugs, perhaps.
WILLIAM. Well, I'm looking. [_Motor-horn sounds sharply, off._] All right, all right!
SMITHERS. [_With a jerk of the head._] Missis is telling him to do it.
WILLIAM. [_On all fours, crawling about._] Very like her voice, too, when she's angry. Drat the thing! Where can it be?
[_He peers into the coal-scuttle._
SMITHERS. No good looking in there, stupid.
WILLIAM. They always say it's the unlikeliest places--
[MARTIN, _the butler, comes in._
MARTIN. Come, come, haven't you found it?
WILLIAM. No, Mr. Martin. It ain't here.
MARTIN. [_Bustling about._] Must be, must be. She says--
WILLIAM. I can't help what she says. It ain't.
MARTIN. [_Looking under the sofa._] Just you hustle, young man, and don't give me any back-answers.
[_Having completed his examination of the sofa, he moves to the sideboard, and fusses round that._
SMITHERS. [_Methodically shaking out each napkin._] I tell you she's cross.
MARTIN. [_Hard at work, searching._] Doesn't mind disturbing _us,_ in the midst of our supper!
WILLIAM. [_Who, all the time, has been on all fours searching._] We're dirt, that's what we are--dirt.
MARTIN. [_Reprovingly._] William, I've told you before--
WILLIAM. Very sorry, Mr. Martin, but this is the first time I've accepted an engagement at a stockbroker's. [_He has been crawling round the curtains at the back, shaking them; pulling hard at one of them he dislodges the lower part._] Lor! _Now_ I've done it!
SMITHERS. Clumsy!
MARTIN. [_Severely._] That comes of too much talk Never mind the curtain--go on looking.
[WILLIAM _drops on to his hands and knees again;_ HARVEY WESTERN _comes into the room, perturbed and restless. He is a well-preserved man of fifty._
HARVEY. I say--not found it?
MARTIN. Not yet, sir.
HARVEY. Nuisance. _Must_ be here, you know.
MARTIN. Is it a very valuable one, sir?
HARVEY. [_Who has gone to the table, and is turning things over._] No, no, not particularly--but that's not the point. [_He looks under the table._
MARTIN. [_Still seeking._] When did madam find that she'd lost it, sir?
HARVEY. Oh, about five minutes after we'd started And we've turned over everything in the car. It's certainly not there. [_He fusses around the table._
MARTIN. Is madam quite sure she was wearing it, sir?
SMITHERS. [_Fretfully._] Yes, yes, of course she was wearing it. I put it on her myself.
MARTIN. Where did madam put her cloak on, sir?
SMITHERS. In here. I brought it in.
MARTIN. You didn't notice whether--
SMITHERS. No. Don't you think if we moved _all_ the rugs--
[_She moves across the room and joins_ WILLIAM, _who is still grovelling on the floor, and goes on her knees by his side._
HARVEY. It must be here _somewhere._
[_They are all searching furiously_--WILLIAM _by the windows, peering into the spaces between the wall and the carpets,_ MARTIN _at the sideboard,_ SMITHERS _gathering the rugs together, all on their hands and knees, while_ HARVEY, _bent double, is looking under the table._ MRS. WESTERN _comes in stonily, followed by the_ JUDGE _and_ MRS. BANKET. MRS. WESTERN _is a handsome woman of forty-five, with a rather stern, cold face; the_ JUDGE, _a somewhat corpulent, genial man of fifty-five; and his wife, an amiable nullity, seven or eight years younger. They are all in evening-dress, the ladies in opera-cloaks._
MRS. WESTERN. [_Pausing on the threshold._] Well!
HARVEY. [_Rising and dusting himself._] No trace of it.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Looking around._] A nice mess you've made of the room!
MARTIN. You told us to look, Madam.
JUDGE. [_Going to the fire and standing with his back to it._] I'm afraid we'll be shockingly late, Alice.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Firmly._] I don't go without my bracelet.
[_She goes to the table, and proceeds to shift the cups and glasses._
MRS. BANKET. [_Moving to the other side of the table, and doing the same._] Quite right, dear--I wouldn't.
[_They all search, except the_ JUDGE, _who shrugs his shoulders placidly, then takes a cigarette from his case, and lights it. The three servants still are grovelling on the floor._
MRS. WESTERN. I _know_ I had it while I was drinking my coffee--
JUDGE. My experience is, one should never look for things. They find themselves.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Shortly._] Nonsense.
JUDGE. A fact. Or at least one should _pretend_ to be looking for something else. My glasses now. When I lose them I declare loudly I can't find my cigar-case. That disheartens the glasses--they return at once.
MRS. BANKET. [_Reproachfully._] Don't be so irritating, Tom!
JUDGE. That's all very well, but how about me? I was asked here to dine. I've dined--I'm not complaining about the dinner. But now the curtain's up--and here am I watching half-a-dozen people looking very hard for a thing that isn't there.
MRS. BANKET. Tom, Tom, it's those laughs you get in Court that make you so fond of talking. Don't you see how you're vexing your sister?
MRS. WESTERN. Oh, I'm used to Tom. Harvey, I think you might be looking.
HARVEY. My dear, I've been turning round and round in this corner like a bird in a cage.
MARTIN. [_Who all this time, like the other servants, has been crawling around the different articles of furniture in the room, suddenly rises to his feet and addresses his mistress firmly but respectfully._] It's not here, madam.
[_The other servants also rise; and stand, each in their corner._
JUDGE. That, I imagine, is perfectly clear; and I congratulate the witness on the manner in which he has given his evidence. [_He throws his cigarette into the fire and steps forward._] Now, my dear Alice--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Sitting doggedly in the chair in front of the table and proceeding to pull off her gloves._ I don't go without my bracelet.
JUDGE. Heaven forbid that I should speak slightingly of a gift of Harvey's--but really it isn't of such priceless value.
MRS. WESTERN. That has nothing to do with it.
MRS. BANKET. Of course not. Oh, these men!
HARVEY. [_Stepping forward._] Tom's right. Let's go. Look here, I'll get you another.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Drily._] Thanks--I want _that_ one.--Smithers, and you, William, just look again in the hall.
SMITHERS. Yes, m'm.
MRS. WESTERN. And then help the chauffeur--turn out _everything_ in the car.
SMITHERS. Yes, m'm.
MRS. WESTERN. Bring the rugs into the house, and shake them.
SMITHERS. Yes, m'm. [_She and_ WILLIAM _go._
JUDGE. [_Going hack to the fire._] Sumptuary laws--that's what we want. If women didn't wear bracelets, they couldn't lose them.
MRS. WESTERN. Martin, William is honest, isn't he?
HARVEY. [_Protesting._] Oh, hang it, Alice!
MARTIN. Quite, madam--excellent character--a little flighty, but a most respectable young man.
MRS. WESTERN. I've seen him reading a sporting paper.
JUDGE. A weakness, my dear Alice, common to the best of us, I do it myself sometimes, but I'm willing to be searched.
MRS. BANKET. O Tom, _do_ be quiet!
MRS. WESTERN. [_To the_ JUDGE.] You're very unsympathetic. [_Turning to_ MARTIN _again._] None of the other servants came in after we left?
MARTIN. No, madam.
MRS. WESTERN. You're sure?
MARTIN. Quite sure, madam. They were all downstairs, having their supper.
MRS. WESTERN. Most mysterious! Incomprehensible!
JUDGE. [_Looking at his watch._] Past nine! We shall plunge into the play--like body-snatchers, looking for the corpse of the plot--and we shall never know what it was that the heroine did.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Ignoring him, to_ MARTIN.] Smithers I'll answer for.
MARTIN. Oh yes, madam. If I _might_ make a suggestion--
MRS. WESTERN. Well?
MARTIN. It couldn't have fallen anywhere into your dress, madam?
MRS. WESTERN. Nonsense, how could it? [_She gets up and shakes herself._] Absurd. [_She sits again._
MARTIN. Into your cloak?
MRS. WESTERN. Silk! No. That'll do, Martin. You might help the others outside. [MARTIN _goes._
JUDGE. [_With a step forward._] Now, admirable sister--
MRS. WESTERN. Didn't it strike you that Martin's manner was rather strange?
HARVEY. [_Fretfully._] Really you _must_ not suspect the servants!
MRS. WESTERN. [_Turning to him._] _Must_ not--must! That's scarcely the way to speak to me, Harvey.
HARVEY. [_Deprecatingly._] My dear--
MRS. WESTERN. And I wasn't suspecting--I was merely asking a question of my brother.
JUDGE. Come, Alice, let's go.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Shaking her head._] You three go. You'll excuse me.
JUDGE. [_Cheerfully._] If you insist--
MRS. BANKET. [_Coming forward._] No, no. _Do_ come, Alice!
MRS. WESTERN. I can't--I'm so puzzled. [_With a sudden idea._] Oh!
HARVEY. [_Who is behind her to the left, between her and the_ JUDGE.] What? Have you found it?
MRS. WESTERN. No, no--of course not. But ring, please, will you?
HARVEY. Why?
MRS. WESTERN, I want you to ring. [_He presses the bell by the fireplace._] I just remember Miss Farren came in while we were having coffee.
HARVEY. [_Indignantly._] Alice!
MRS. WESTERN. I asked her to write a card to Harrod's--she'll have written it in here.
HARVEY. [_Angrily._] I say--really!
MRS. WESTERN. [_Coldly._] No need to snub me again--before our guests! I need scarcely say I am not _suspecting_ Miss Farren--but in justice to her--
MRS. BANKET. But, Alice, she'll have gone out--you told her she might--
MRS. WESTERN. Only to her sister's close by--and she may not have gone yet. Why don't they answer the bell? Ring again, Harvey.
JUDGE. The poor things are still searching.
HARVEY. [_Firmly._] Alice, I protest, I do indeed--
MRS. WESTERN. Don't be so foolishly sentimental--it's ridiculous at your age. The young woman is in my employ, as governess to my children. [MARTIN _comes in._] Has Miss Farren gone out yet?
MARTIN. No, madam. I believe she's in her room, dressing.
MRS. WESTERN. Ask her to come.
MARTIN. Yes, madam. [_He goes._
JUDGE. [_Shaking his head._] No sense of proportion, that's the truth--they've no sense of proportion.
MRS. BANKET. Tom!
JUDGE. A fact, my dear--but you can't help it. You've every quality in the world but just that--you _will_ always look through the wrong end of the telescope.
MRS. BANKET. Really, Tom, this isn't the moment for your nonsense--and if you only knew how stupid you are when you try to be funny!
HARVEY. [_Going nervously to_ MRS. WESTERN.] I say, I really do think--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Roughly._] I don't care _what_ you think. Leave me alone!
[_There is silence. The_ JUDGE, _sitting by the fire, whistles loudly "Waltz me around again, Willie!"_ HARVEY _has gone moodily across the room and stands by the sideboard._ MRS. BANKET _is sitting behind the table. After a moment the door opens, and_ MISS FARREN _comes in, with hat and cloak on, and goes straight to_ MRS. WESTERN. _She is an extremely pretty girl of twenty._
MISS FARREN. You want me, Mrs. Western?
MRS. WESTERN. Oh, Miss Farren, I've lost my bracelet.
MISS FARREN. Really! I'm so sorry! Where?
MRS. WESTERN. I don't know. You didn't see it, of course, after we'd gone?
MISS FARREN. [_Shaking her head._] No--and no one came in. I was writing the letter to Harrod's.
MRS. WESTERN. No one at all?
MISS FARREN. No--I'm sure of that. And I'd hardly got to my room when I heard the car come back.
MRS. WESTERN. Well, thank you, Miss Farren.
MISS FARREN. It's very annoying. You're sure it's not in the car?
JUDGE. My dear Miss Farren, it's not in the car, it's not anywhere, and I'm beginning to believe it never was at all. Come, Alice, let's go. We shan't see much of the play, but we can at least help the British drama by buying two programmes.
MISS FARREN. [_With a light laugh--then turning to_ MRS. WESTERN _again._] Do you want me any more, Mrs. Western?
MRS. WESTERN. No, thanks. [MISS FARREN _turns to go_--MRS. WESTERN, _who has suddenly cast an eager glance at her, as though attracted by something, calls her back._] Oh, Miss Farren!
MISS FARREN. [_Turning._] Yes?
MRS. WESTERN. I wonder whether you'd be so good as to shift this aigrette of mine--it's hurting me.
MISS FARREN. Certainly.
[_She comes back to_ MRS. WESTERN, _and stands by her side; as she raises her arm_ MRS. WESTERN _jumps up and seizes it by the wrist._
MRS. WESTERN. My bracelet!
[_Keeping a tight hold of_ MISS FARREN'S _wrist, she holds it at arm's length. There is a general cry of amazement--the_ JUDGE _and his wife start to their feet_--HARVEY _rushes eagerly towards her._
JUDGE. Alice!
MRS. BANKET. Oh!
HARVEY. No, no--
[_These three exclamations are simultaneous._
MRS. WESTERN. There it is! She took it!
JUDGE. Are you sure?
HARVEY. [_Breathless and urgent._] Alice--
MISS FARREN. [_Recovering from her shock and bewilderment._] Mrs. Western, it isn't--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Sternly, still holding the girl by the wrist._] You dare to pretend--
HARVEY. [_Who is now at the back of his wife's chair, looking closely at the bracelet._] Let me look, let me look.... I say, Alice, you're wrong. It's not yours at all. The setting's different.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Angrily._] What do you mean, different? You think I don't know my own bracelet? Are you mad? I say it's mine--and it is!
JUDGE. [_Stepping forward._] Alice, be careful--
MRS. WESTERN. Careful! You're as bad as he! Of course the thing's mine--I've been wearing it for weeks--and you think I can make a mistake? She found it, and took it.
MISS FARREN. [_Very distressed._] No, no, Mrs. Western, really! It isn't yours! I assure you!
HARVEY. Alice, I declare to you--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Roughly._] Be quiet and go away. This is no business of yours.
HARVEY. [_Eagerly._] But it is! It was I who bought the wretched thing--well, I am prepared to swear that this isn't the one!
MRS. WESTERN. [_A little shaken, looking at it again._] You're prepared to.... [_She lifts her head._] How can you talk such utter nonsense? There is not the least doubt--not the least!
JUDGE. [_Stopping_ HARVEY, _who is about to protest violently._] Alice, mind what you're saying. You'll get yourself into trouble. If Harvey says--
MRS. BANKET. [_Contemptuously._] He's saying it to shield her, that's all.
HARVEY. [_Indignantly._] I'm not. It's not true. But you mustn't bring such an accusation. It's monstrous. And I won't allow--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Drawing herself up._] You--won't--allow! The girl takes my bracelet--and you won't allow!
Miss FARREN. [_Trying to free herself._] Mrs. Western, I haven't, I haven't!
JUDGE. [_Impressively._] Alice, will you listen to me?
MRS. WESTERN. No, I won't! This doesn't concern you, or any one, but me and this girl! Look at her--she knows!
MISS FARREN. Mrs. Western, you're hurting my arm....
MRS. WESTERN. Come now--confess! I won't be hard on you if you confess--
[_She wrenches off the bracelet, and releases the girl, who staggers back, nursing her wrist._
HARVEY. [_Almost beside himself, stamping his foot._] Alice, Alice, will you hear--
MISS FARREN. Oh, you _have_ hurt me! And you've no right--to say such things....
HARVEY. No, you haven't, you haven't!
MRS. WESTERN. Besides, a bracelet like that! [_She holds it up. To_ MISS FARREN.] You won't confess? Very well, then. I'll send for a policeman.
HARVEY. [_Doggedly._] The bracelet is hers.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Jeeringly._] Turquoise and emeralds! Hers! A coincidence, perhaps. Very likely. I'll give her in charge at once.
HARVEY. The bracelet is hers, I tell you.
MRS. WESTERN. [_Turning furiously on him._] You dare to say that?
HARVEY. [_Steadily._] Yes. Because I myself--gave it to her.
[_There is a moment's almost stupefied silence;_ HARVEY _and_ ALICE _are face to face._ MISS FARREN _to the left of her,_ MRS. BANKET _is still at the back, the_ JUDGE _by the fire._ MRS. WESTERN _breaks the silence._
MRS. WESTERN. [_Sternly._] You--gave--it--her?
HARVEY. [_Steadily._] Yes.
MRS. WESTERN. You ask me to believe that you gave a bracelet to--this person--my children's governess?
HARVEY. I did.
MRS. WESTERN. An exact copy of the one you gave me?
HARVEY. I've told you--it's not an exact copy--there's a difference in the setting.
MRS. BANKET. Nonsense, nonsense, it can't be--he's just saying this--
JUDGE. Fanny, don't interfere.
HARVEY. I'm saying what's true.
MRS. WESTERN. I refuse to believe it. It's incredible. You've not sunk so low as that. It's a lie.
HARVEY. [_Indignantly._] Alice!
MRS. WESTERN. Yes, a lie. A trumped-up story. The girl has taken it--
MISS FARREN. I have not!
MRS. WESTERN. You can tell that to the magistrate--[_She turns to_ HARVEY] and you too, if you like. [_She moves to the bell._
JUDGE. [_Putting out a hand to stop her._] Alice--
MRS. WESTERN. Leave me alone, Tom. I know what I'm doing. I'll send for a policeman.
HARVEY. [_Imploringly._] Alice, Alice--
MRS. WESTERN. [_Pausing, with her hand on the bell._] I'll let the girl off, if you'll tell me the truth.
HARVEY. I _have_ told you the truth.
MRS. WESTERN. You persist in this silly falsehood?
HARVEY. It isn't--I tell you it isn't!
MRS. WESTERN. Very well, then.
[_She presses the bell. At that moment the door bursts open, and_ MARTIN _comes in triumphantly, with the bracelet on a salver._ SMITHERS _and_ WILLIAM _are behind him, but do not pass beyond the threshold._
MARTIN. [_Eagerly._] Ma'am, ma'am, we've found the--
[MRS. WESTERN _has turned towards him, still holding the other bracelet in her hand._ MARTIN _catches sight of it, and stops dead short, staring bewilderedly at it._