Complete Poems and Plays (58 page)

Because I’ve changed my mind. I mean, I’ve decided

That it’s all no use. I’m going to California.

C
ELIA
.
You’re going to California!

P
ETER.
                                             Yes, I have a new job.

E
DWARD
.
And how did that happen, overnight?

P
ETER
.
Why, it’s a man Alex put me in touch with

And we settled everything this morning.

Alex is a wonderful person to know,

Because, you see, he knows everybody, everywhere.

So what I’ve really come for is to say good-bye.

C
ELIA
.
Well, Peter, I’m awfully glad, for your sake,

Though of course we … I shall miss you;

You know how I depended on you for concerts,

And picture exhibitions — more than you realised.

It
was
fun, wasn’t it! But now you’ll have a chance,

I hope, to realise your ambitions.

I shall miss you.

P
ETER
.
                    It’s nice of you to say so;

But you’ll find someone better, to go about with.

C
ELIA
.
I don’t think that I shall be going to concerts.

I am going away too.

[L
AVINIA
lets
herself
in
with
a
latch-key
]

P
ETER
.
                    You’re going abroad?

C
ELIA
.
I don’t know. Perhaps.

E
DWARD
.
                                  You’re both going away!

[
Enter
L
AVINIA
]

L
AVINIA
.
Who’s going away? Well, Celia. Well, Peter.

I didn’t expect to find either of you here.

P
ETER
and
C
ELIA
.
But the telegram!

L
AVINIA
.
                                              What telegram?

C
ELIA
.
                                                               The one you sent to Julia.

P
ETER
.
And the one you sent to Alex.

L
AVINIA
.
                                               I don’t know what you mean.

Edward, have you been sending telegrams?

E
DWARD
.
Of course I haven’t sent any telegrams.

L
AVINIA
.
This is some of Julia’s mischief.

And is
she
coming?

P
ETER
.
                          Yes, and Alex.

L
AVINIA
.
Then I shall ask
them
for an explanation.

Meanwhile, I suppose we might as well sit down.

What shall we talk about?

E
DWARD
.
                               Peter’s going to America.

P
ETER
.
Yes, and I would have rung you up tomorrow

And come in to say good-bye before I left.

L
AVINIA
.
And Celia’s going too? Was that what I heard?

I congratulate you both. To Hollywood, of course?

How exciting for you, Celia! Now you’ll have a chance

At last, to realise your ambitions.

You’re going together?

P
ETER
.
                                 We’re not going together.

Celia told us she was going away,

But I don’t know where.

L
AVINIA
.
                              You don’t know where?

And do you know where you are going, yourself?

P
ETER
.
Yes, of course, I’m going to California.

L
AVINIA
.
Well, Celia, why don’t you go to California?

Everyone says it’s a wonderful climate:

The people who go there never want to leave it.

C
ELIA
.
Lavinia, I think I understand about Peter …

L
AVINIA
.
I have no doubt you do.

C
ELIA
.
                                             And why he is going …

L
AVINIA
.
I don’t doubt that either.

C
ELIA
.
                                              And I believe he is right to go.

L
AVINIA
.
Oh, so you advised him?

P
ETER
.
                                             She knew nothing about it.

C
ELIA
.
But now that I may be going away — somewhere —

I should like to say good-bye — as friends.

L
AVINIA
.
Why, Celia, but haven’t we always been friends?

I thought you were one of my dearest friends —

At least, in so far as a girl
can
be a friend

Of a woman so much older than herself.

C
ELIA
.
                                                          Lavinia,

Don’t put me off. I may not see you again.

What I want to say is this: I should like you to remember me

As someone who wants you and Edward to be happy.

L
AVINIA
.
You are very kind, but very mysterious.

I’m sure that we shall manage somehow, thank you,

As we have in the past.

C
ELIA
.
                                Oh, not as in the past!

[
The
doorbell
rings,
and
E
DWARD
goes
to
answer
it
]

Oh, I’m afraid that all this sounds rather silly!

But …

[E
DWARD
re-enters
with
J
ULIA
]

J
ULIA.
       There you are, Lavinia! I’m sorry to be late.

But your telegram was a bit unexpected.

I dropped everything to come. And how is the dear aunt?

L
AVINIA.
So far as I know, she is very well, thank you.

J
ULIA.
She must have made a marvellous recovery.

I said so to myself, when I got your telegram.

L
AVINIA.
But where, may I ask, was this telegram sent from?

J
ULIA.
Why, from Essex, of course.

L
AVINIA.
                                             And why from Essex?

J
ULIA.
Because you’ve been in Essex.

L
AVINIA.
                                                 Because I’ve been in Essex!

J
ULIA.
Lavinia! Don’t say you’ve had a lapse of memory!

Then that accounts for the aunt — and the telegram.

L
AVINIA.
Well, perhaps I was in Essex. I really don’t know.

J
ULIA.
You don’t know where you were? Lavinia!

Don’t tell me you were abducted! Tell us

I’m thrilled …

[
The doorbell rings.
E
DWARD
goes to answer it.
Enter
A
LEX
]

A
LEX.
Has Lavinia arrived?

E
DWARD.
                               Yes.

A
LEX.
                                            Welcome back, Lavinia!

When I got your telegram …

L
AVINIA.
                                      Where from?

A
LEX.
                                                              Dedham.

L
AVINIA.
Dedham is in Essex. So it was from Dedham.

Edward, have
you
any friends in Dedham?

E
DWARD.
No,
I
have no connections in Dedham.

J
ULIA.
Well, it’s all delightfully mysterious.

A
LEX.
But what is the mystery?

J
ULIA.
                                        Alex,
don’t
be inquisitive.

Lavinia has had a lapse of memory,

And so, of course, she sent us telegrams:

And now I don’t believe she really wants us.

I can see that she is quite worn out

After her anxiety about her aunt —

Who, you’ll be glad to hear, has quite recovered, Alex —

And after that long journey on the old Great Eastern,

Waiting at junctions. And I suppose she’s famished.

A
LEX.
Ah, in that case I know what I’ll do …

J
ULIA.
                                                                 No, Alex.

We must leave them alone, and let Lavinia rest.

Now we’ll all go back to
my
house. Peter, call a taxi.

[
Exit
P
ETER
]

We’ll have a cocktail party at
my
house to-day.

C
ELIA
.
Well, I’ll go now. Good-bye, Lavinia.

Good-bye, Edward.

E
DWARD
.
                      Good-bye, Celia.

C
ELIA
.
Good-bye, Lavinia.

L
AVINIA
.
                               Good-bye, Celia.

[
Exit
C
ELIA
]

J
ULIA
.
And now, Alex, you and I should be going.

E
DWARD
.
Are you sure you haven’t left anything, Julia?

J
ULIA
.
Left anything? Oh, you mean my spectacles.

No, they’re here. Besides, they’re no use to me.

I’m not coming back again
this
evening.