Complete Poems and Plays (91 page)

But by previous appointment. He said he knew that,

So he had brought this note. He said that when you read it

You would want to see him. Said you’d be very angry

If you heard that he’d gone away without your seeing him.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
What sort of a person?

L
AMBERT.
                                                   A foreign person

By the looks of him. But talks good English.

A pleasant-spoken gentleman.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
[
after
reading
the
note
]
.
I’ll see him in the library.

No, stop. I’ve left too many papers about there.

I’d better see him here.

L
AMBERT
.
                         Very good, my Lord.

Shall I take the trolley, Miss Monica?

M
ONICA
.
Yes, thank you, Lambert.

[
Exit
L
AMBERT
]

C
HARLES
.
                                             I ought to be going.

M
ONICA
.
Let
us
go into the library. And then I’ll see you off.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I’m sorry to turn you out of the room like this,

But I’ll have to see this man by myself, Monica.

I’ve never heard of this Señor Gomez

But he comes with a letter of introduction

From a man I used to know. I can’t refuse to see him.

Though from what I remember of the man who introduces him

I expect he wants money. Or to sell me something worthless.

M
ONICA
.
You ought not to bother with such people now, Father.

If you haven’t got rid of him in twenty minutes

I’ll send Lambert to tell you that you have to take a trunk call.

Come, Charles. Will you bring my coat?

C
HARLES
.
I’ll say goodbye, sir.

And look forward to seeing you both at Badgley Court

In a week or two.

[
E
nter
L
AMBERT
]

L
AMBERT
.
               Mr. Gomez, my Lord.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
            Goodbye, Charles. And please remember

That we both want to see you, whenever you can come

If you’re in the vicinity. Don’t we, Monica?

M
ONICA
.
Yes, Father.
(
To
C
HARLES
)
We
both
want to see you.

[
Exeunt
M
ONICA
and
C
HARLES
]

[L
AMBERT
shows
in
G
OMEZ
]

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Good evening, Mr…. Gomez. You’re a friend of Mr. Culverwell?

G
OMEZ
.
We’re as thick as thieves, you might almost say.

Don’t you know me, Dick?

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                    Fred Culverwell!

Why do you come back with another name?

G
OMEZ.
You’ve changed your name too, since I knew you.

When we were up at Oxford, you were plain Dick Ferry.

Then, when you married, you took your wife’s name

And became Mr. Richard Claverton-Ferry;

And finally, Lord Claverton. I’ve followed your example,

And done the same, in a modest way.

You know, where
I
live, people do change their names;

And besides, my wife’s name is a good deal more normal

In my country, than Culverwell — and easier to pronounce.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Have you lived out there ever since … you left England?

G
OMEZ
.
Ever since I finished my sentence.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
What has brought you to England?

G
OMEZ
.
                                                                          Call it homesickness,

Curiosity, restlessness, whatever you like.

But I’ve been a pretty hard worker all these years

And I thought, now’s the time to take a long holiday,

Let’s say a rest cure — that’s what I’ve come for.

You see, I’m a widower, like you, Dick.

So I’m pretty footloose. Gomez, you see,

Is now a highly respected citizen

Of a central American republic: San Marco.

It’s as hard to become a respected citizen

Out there, as it is here. With this qualification:

Out there they respect you for rather different reasons.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Do you mean that you’ve won respect out there

By the sort of activity that lost you respect

Here in England?

G
OMEZ
.
                     Not at all, not at all.

I think that was rather an unkind suggestion.

I’ve always kept on the right side of the law —

And seen that the law turned its right side to
me.

Sometimes I’ve had to pay pretty heavily;

But I learnt by experience whom to pay;

And a little money laid out in the right manner

In the right places, pays many times over.

I assure you it does.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
         In other words

You have been engaged in systematic corruption.

G
OMEZ.
No, Dick, there’s a fault in your logic.

How can one corrupt those who are already corrupted?

I can swear that I’ve never corrupted anybody.

In fact, I’ve never come across an official

Innocent enough to be corruptible.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
It would seem then that most of your business

Has been of such a nature that, if carried on in England,

It might land you in gaol again?

G
OMEZ
.
                                            That’s true enough,

Except for a false inference. I wouldn’t dream

Of carrying on such business if I lived in England.

I have the same standards of morality

As the society in which I find myself.

I do nothing in England that you would disapprove of.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
That’s something, at least, to be thankful for.

I trust you’ve no need to engage in forgery.

G
OMEZ
.
Forgery, Dick? An absurd suggestion!

Forgery, I can tell you, is a mug’s game.

I say that — with conviction.

No, forgery, or washing cheques, or anything of that nature,

Is certain to be found out sooner or later.

And then what happens? You have to move on.

That wouldn’t do for me. I’m too domestic.

And by the way, I’ve several children,

All grown up, doing well for themselves.

I wouldn’t allow either of my sons

To go into politics. In my country, Dick,

Politicians can’t afford mistakes. The prudent ones

Always have an aeroplane ready:

And keep an account in a bank in Switzerland.

The ones who don’t get out in time

Find themselves in gaol and not very comfortable,

Or before a firing squad.

You don’t know what serious politics is like!

I said to my boys: ‘Never touch politics.

Stay out of politics, and play both parties:

What you don’t get from one you may get from the other’.

Dick, don’t tell me that there isn’t any whisky in the house?

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I can provide whisky.
[
Presses
the
bell
]

But why have you come?

G
OMEZ.
You’ve asked me that already!

To see you, Dick. A natural desire!

For you’re the only old friend I can trust.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
You really trust me? I appreciate the compliment.

G
OMEZ
.
Which you’re sure you deserve. But when I say ‘trust’ …

[
Knock.
Enter
L
AMBERT
]

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Lambert, will you bring in the whisky. And soda.

L
AMBERT
.
Very good, my Lord.

G
OMEZ
.
                                          And some ice.

L
AMBERT
.
Ice? Yes, my Lord.

[
Exit
]

G
OMEZ
.
I began to say: when I say ‘trust’

I use the term as experience has taught me.

It’s nonsense to talk of trusting people

In general. What does that mean? One trusts a man

Or a woman — in this respect or that.

A
won’t let me down in this relationship,

B
won’t let me down in some other connection.

But, as I’ve always said to my boys:

‘When you come to the point where you need to trust someone

You must make it worth his while to be trustworthy’.

[
During
this
L
AMBERT
enters
silently,
deposits
tray
and
exit
]

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Won’t you help yourself?

[G
OMEZ
does
so,
liberally
]