Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2007 page)

Mrs. W.
(
repeating vacantly
). You are the modern Orpheus.

Wragge.
Put your cap straight! More to the right — that will do. You came in with a message. What is it?

Mrs. W.
It’s a gentleman down-stairs. He sent me up here —
 
—

Wragge.
(
pointing to her shoe
). Down at heel again! Pull it up! Stand straight! I decline to receive messages from a crooked woman. More to the left — more still. That will do. (GEORGE BARTRAM
enters on the right.
WRAGGE
continues to
MRS. W.) What does the gentleman want?

Geo.
(
advancing
). I want to speak to you.

Wragge.
Mr. George Bartram! (
To his wife.
) You may go to bed. Don’t let me find you sleeping crooked! (MRS. W.
goes out on the right.
WRAGGE
continues to
GEORGE.) At your service, sir. What is it?

Geo.
This, in few words. Magdalen Vanstone has left her friends for the second time. On the day when she went away you were seen crossing the street in which she lived. You know where she is.

Wragge.
Do I?

Geo.
She has left her home, ignorant of something which has happened in her absence. Give me the opportunity of enlightening her — and she will go back instantly to her sister and Miss Garth. Will you tell me where she is?

Wragge.
Will
you
tell
me
what has happened in her absence?

Geo.
(
aside
). I won’t trust the fellow. (
To
WRAGGE.) It doesn’t concern you, as a stranger.

Wragge
(
turning away
). It doesn’t concern me, as a stranger, to tell you where she is.

Geo.
I don’t appeal to your interest — I appeal to your better nature! Would you do Magdalen a good turn if you could?

Wragge
(
sincerely
). With the greatest pleasure, Mr. Bartram.

Geo.
Does what little you have heard of me incline you to think that I am a man whose word is so be relied on?

Wragge.
Certainly!

Geo.
I pledge you my word of honour that I can quiet all Magdalen’s anxieties, if you give me an opportunity of speaking to her. Will you give it?

Wragge.
I’ll take a moment to consider. (
He walks aside and continues to himself.
) Why not kill two birds with one stone? I’ll have my try for the Trust first. And I’ll make a clean breast of it to Mr. Bartram afterwards. (
To
GEORGE.) You shall have the opportunity if you will give me time.

Geo.
How long?

Wragge.
Till eleven, to-night.

Geo.
Where can I see you?

Wragge.
Where are you likely to be?

Geo.
At St. Crux.

Wragge.
I will meet you in the garden.

Geo.
(
going out on the right
). At eleven, without fail?

Wragge
(
going out on the left
). At eleven, without fail.

(
The scene changes, and reveals:

THIRD SCENE. — THE BANQUETING HALL. —
The hall extends diagonally across the stage. The wall, in the Flat, is pierced by a row of four high windows. In the centre of the row, dividing the second window from the third, is a glass door, supposed to lead into the garden. The windows and the door are screened by curtains. A fire is burning in an old-fashioned stove. Besides the entrance by way of the glass door, there is a second entrance on the right, at the further extremity of the hall, closed by a sliding door, which works backwards and forwards with a grating sound, just loud enough to be heard by the audience and no more. There is also a third (side) entrance on the left, behind an old-fashioned bureau, which stands close in front of the stage, at its left-hand extremity. On the top of it are placed some china ornaments and a box of matches. The hall is lit by candles.
ADMIRAL BARTRAM
and
GEORGE
are discovered at the supper-table.

Geo.
(
passing the bottle
). You don’t drink, admiral. Here we are, supping in the ancient Refectory of the monks of St. Crux. The monks didn’t turn their backs on good wine. (
He offers to fill the Admiral’s glass. The Admiral declines.
) No? Forgive me the question, sir. You are strangely out of spirits. Have you got something on your mind?

Adm. B.
(
irritably
). It’s what I have always got on my mind. Poor dead Noel — and that unlucky letter of his which the lawyers call a Trust.

Geo.
You don’t mean to say that you have kept the letter?

Adm. B.
I do!

Geo.
There’s the fire. Burn it — and forget it. It’s waste paper, now you have restored the property to Norah. (
The Admiral sighs.
) Do you regret your own good action, sir?

Adm. B.
(
irritably
). I don’t regret my own good action. I am not forbidden by my instructions to do what I have done. Still, if Noel knew the use I have put his money to —
 
— Damn it! the Trust pursues me like a curse! I think of it by day; I dream of it by night —
 
—

Geo.
(
taking a letter from his pocket
). Here is something better for you to think of and dream of! The story of a good action, uncle, recorded by a good girl. Read that.

Adm. B.
(
looking at the letter
). Addressed to you — and signed “Norah Vanstone.” (
He reads.
) “I have just heard that Admiral Bartram restores to us, at your intercession, all that our dear father once wished and meant us to have. Say to your uncle, George, that I think of him and pray for him, as the second father whom God has sent to us in our affliction.” (
He looks up from the letter.
) Poor thing! I’m glad I did it, George — I’m glad I did it. (
He goes on reading.
) “But one thing is wanting, now, to clear our future prospect of its last cloud. Find Magdalen, dearest George; and bring her back to us as your promised wife. Then, and then only, the future will have made amends for the past — and our gratitude and our happiness will be complete.” (
He hands the letter back to
GEORGE.) Very nicely written. A very pretty letter.

Geo.
(
rising
). Where is the Trust, sir?

Adm. B.
(
pointing to the bureau
). There.

Geo.
Don’t let it worry you any more. Burn it, before you go to bed to-night.

Adm. B.
I’m an old fool, George — I can’t make up my mind to burn it.

Geo.
Then let me burn it for you. Do you think Noel had any right — after publicly leaving you the legacy — to pledge you privately to any other than a just and merciful use of it?

Adm. B.
Certainly not!

Geo.
Give me the key. (
The Admiral unwillingly gives the key.
GEORGE
opens the bureau.
) Which drawer, uncle?

Adm. B.
The third drawer. (GEORGE
opens the drawer, and takes out the Trust. The Admiral vacillates again.
) No! Let it be. I’ll take the night to think of it.

Geo.
Second thoughts are not always best, admiral!

Adm. B.
I insist on your putting it back! I won’t have it burnt. At any rate, not to-night.

Geo.
As you please, sir. (
Standing with his back to the Admiral, and seen by the audience only, he rapidly compares
NORAH’S
letter with the Trust, and continues aside.
) The same size, and the same coloured paper! I’ll deliver him from his own incubus. The next time he looks at the Trust, he shall find Norah’s letter in its place!

Adm. B.
What are you about there?

Geo.
(
putting
NORAH’S
letter into the drawer, and taking out the letter containing the Trust
). I am locking the bureau.

Adm. B.
(
rising
). I’ll lock it myself. (
He approaches the bureau.
) I want to look in, and see the Trust safe with my own eyes.

(
He peers into the open drawer.
GEORGE
crosses to the open stove on the other side of the stage. Whilst he speaks his next words, the Admiral, satisfied with seeing the Trust apparently left in its usual place, locks the bureau.
)

Geo.
(
aside, at the stove
). Perish, wretched record of malice and cunning, injustice and ill-will!

(
He throws the Trust into the fire.
)

Adm. B.
(
putting the key in his pocket
). I am not unreasonable, George. I promise to think it over to-night; and, if I’m in the mind, I’ll burn it to-morrow. In the mean time,
I
am going to bed. What are
you
going to do?

Geo.
I shall smoke a cigar in the garden.

Adm. B.
Good night, George.

Geo.
Good night, sir.

(
The Admiral goes out on the right, opening the sliding door, and closing it again behind him. The audience hear the grating sound of the door before
GEORGE
speaks.

Geo.
(
looking at his watch
). Ten o’clock! An hour to wait before Captain Wragge gives me the meeting. (
He takes out his cigar-case.
) If my uncle dreams of the Trust to-night, it will be for the last time. When he next opens it, to-morrow,
that
worry will be off his mind. (
He goes to one of the windows, looks through the curtain, and comes back again.
) A lovely moon! Not a cloud in the sky. Where is Magdalen at this moment? Near? or far? Something — I don’t know what — tells me she is near. (
He goes to one of the candles to light his cigar. A man-servant enters on the left with a night-lamp in his hand.
) Hallo! who is this?

The Servant.
I beg your pardon, sir! I only came to clear the table, and put out the lights.