Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2080 page)

Miss Clack.
Are you prepared, sir, to employ brute force with a woman?

Godfrey
(
calling
). Rachel!

Miss Clack
(
calling
). Don’t answer him, dear Rachel! (
to
GODFREY.) Tear me, by brute force, from the spot I stand on! You don’t approach Rachel in any other way.

Godfrey
(
yielding
). Take advantage, Miss Clack, of your privilege as a woman. Sooner or later Rachel must come out. (
He returns to his chair.
) If I wait all night, here I sit till she leaves her room.

Miss Clack
(
setting down her chair with a bang
). And here
I
sit, Mr. Godfrey, until I have sat you out! (
A momentary silence. A bell is heard to ring outside the hall door from
FRANKLIN’S
room.
RACHEL
suddenly opens her door and appears.
MISS CLACK
and
GODFREY
both start up together.
)

Miss Clack.
My dear! why do you leave your room?

Rachel
(
looking at the gallery
). Hush! the bell! (BETTEREDGE
enters to answer the bell.
MR. CANDY
appears in the gallery, closing
FRANKLIN’S
door behind him.
)

Godfrey.
Rachel! I must have a word in private with you immediately.

Rachel
(
impatiently
). Not now! Not now! (
She draws back from him. He follows, remonstrating with her.
BETTEREDGE
addresses
MR. CANDY
from the bottom of the gallery stairs.
)

Betteredge.
Am I wanted upstairs, sir?

Mr. Candy.
Stay where you are. You are wanted in the hall. Turn down the lamps.

Godfrey
(
hearing him
). Turn down the lamps?

Betteredge
(
aside
). Turn down the lamps? Here’s the doctor in the secret now! Everybody but me!

Rachel
(
to
BETTEREDGE). Betteredge, do as Mr. Candy tells you.

Betteredge
(
sulkily
). Very well, miss. If you prefer being in the dark, very well. (
He gets the steps, and puts out the lamps. The dialogue proceeds.
)

Miss Clack
(
startled
). What does this mean, Rachel?

Godfrey
(
surprised
). Why are they darkening the room?

Rachel
(
drawing back once more from
GODFREY). Wait, and you will see. (
Aside.
) The experiment has succeeded! He is darkening the room to make it the same as last night! (GODFREY
is about to follow
RACHEL,
when
MR. CANDY’S
voice, still speaking from the gallery, stops him.
)

Mr. Candy.
Mr. Betteredge, is there a moon tonight?

Betteredge
(
to himself, still putting out the lamps
). The moon is in it, too! (
to
MR. CANDY.) Yes, sir. (CUFF
shows himself at the hall door.
)

Mr. Candy.
Draw back the curtains from the garden window.

Betteredge
(
aside
).The curtains are in the conspiracy!

Cuff
(
advancing
). Don’t hurry yourself, Mr. Betteredge — I’ll open the curtains. (
He pulls the string that draws back the curtains. The moonlight streams in across the place occupied by the cabinet. The room is also partially lit, as in the First Act, by the firelight.
CUFF
locks the window, after opening the curtains, and puts the key in his pocket.
BETTEREDGE,
after putting back the steps, joins
CUFF
at the window.
MR. CANDY
watches
FRANKLIN’S
door.
RACHEL, MISS CLACK,
and
GODFREY
all observe
MR. CANDY,
with the varying emotions which agitate them. During this interval of by-play,
GODFREY
continues the dialogue.
)

Godfrey
(
calling from the hall
). Mr. Candy!

Mr. Candy
(
turning round
). Yes?

Godfrey.
Is there anything the matter with Franklin Blake?

Mr. Candy.
There is nothing the matter with Franklin Blake.

Godfrey.
What do these extraordinary proceedings mean?

Mr. Candy.
Hush! (
He descends the stairs and approaches
RACHEL,
to whom he speaks aside.
) Mr. Blake is asleep, and stirring in his bed. He is dreaming, if ever I saw a man dreaming yet. Wait a little, and (
speaking his next words emphatically
) don’t forget the case of the Irish porter!

Betteredge
(
whispering to
CUFF). I saw you lock the window. What for?

Cuff
(
whispering
). Use your eyes and ears, and do as I tell you. Stand before the hall door, and let nobody pass out until I give the word. (
A pause.
BETTEREDGE,
completely puzzled, places himself at the hall door.
CUFF,
after looping up the curtains, joins
MR. CANDY,
passing from right to left under the gallery.
FRANKLIN’S
door slowly opens. He appears in his dressing-gown, as in the First Act, pausing before he descends the stairs.
)

Rachel
(
softly to herself
). Dear! dear Franklin!

Mr. Candy
(
taking
RACHEL
aside
). Don’t speak to him! Have you got the Moonstone?

Rachel.
Yes.

Mr. Candy.
Put it back in the cabinet drawer. (RACHEL
obeys, passing under the gallery.
MISS CLACK
follows her, in alarm.
GODFREY’S
attention is riveted on
FRANKLIN. FRANKLIN
begins to descend the stairs slowly.
)

Miss Clack.
Rachel! I’m frightened.

Rachel
(
drawing back under the gallery
). Keep with me, and I’ll tell you what it means. (
She speaks in dumb show to
MISS CLACK. BETTEREDGE,
behind them, on guard at the hall door, listens eagerly.
ANDREW
and the other servants are just seen, assembled outside the hall door.
MR. CANDY
and
CUFF
are together, having withdrawn under the gallery.
GODFREY,
left by himself, standing with his back to the audience, opposite the staircase, suddenly turns as
FRANKLIN
descends the stairs step by step, and shows his face, disturbed by guilty terror. He makes first for the hall door.
RACHEL
and
MISS CLACK
draw aside from him.
)

Betteredge
(
to
GODFREY
in a whisper
). You can’t pass! (
The servants block up the doorway.
GODFREY
retreats to the window on the right, and tries it.
)

Godfrey
(
to himself in a whisper
). Locked! (
He draws back again, passing under the gallery.
FRANKLIN
has by this time advanced into the hall, and stops, looking straight before him, as in the First Act.
GODFREY,
passing behind him, tries to escape by the gallery stairs.
CUFF
has placed himself there on guard, at the moment when
FRANKLIN
advanced into the hall. He signs to
GODFREY
to stand back.
GODFREY
retreats, panic-stricken, to the front, between the fireplace and
RACHEL’S
door, and stands there, watching
FRANKLIN,
as he slowly moves towards the cabinet, turning his back on
GODFREY.
At the same time,
MR. CANDY
joins
RACHEL
and
MISS CLACK
under the gallery.
FRANKLIN
speaks to himself, as he spoke in the First Act.
)

Franklin
(
in his sleep
). It’s not safe in the cabinet. What’s to be done with the Moonstone? (
He hesitates, then opens the folding-doors of the cabinet.
)

Godfrey
(
to himself, in a whisper
). What is he doing? (
He advances a few steps on tip-toe towards the middle of the hall, as if impelled by some irresistible impulse to discover what
FRANKLIN
is about.
FRANKLIN
opens the cabinet drawer, takes the Moonstone out of it, turns and approaches
GODFREY,
holding out the diamond.
)

Godfrey
(
recognising the Moonstone with a start of horror
). The diamond! (
He slowly retreats towards the fireplace. Step by step
FRANKLIN
follows him, till
GODFREY
is brought to a stand-still by the fireplace. The other persons present —
CUFF
included — all eagerly advance on the right, watching the same.
FRANKLIN
speaks to
GODFREY
as he spoke to him towards the close of the First Act.
)

Franklin
(
in his sleep
). Godfrey! I’m uneasy about the safety of the diamond. Take the Moonstone to your father’s bank. (
He hands the diamond to
GODFREY.
A faint cry of indignation escapes
RACHEL —
suppressed so that it is just audible, and no more.
GODFREY’S
hands fall helplessly at his sides. The diamond drops on the carpet at his feet.
FRANKLIN
turns away, slowly and warily, towards the stairs. Instead of ascending them, as before, he stops, lays his arm on one of the carved pillars by which the balusters of the stairs are terminated on either side, and languidly rests his head on it. The persons present all watch him intently.
RACHEL
approaches him.
MR. CANDY
stops her.
)

Mr. Candy
(
whispering
). Don’t disturb him! His dream is passing away. He feels the approach of the deeper sleep. (MR. CANDY,
assisted by
RACHEL,
wheels an arm-chair towards the middle of the stage.
FRANKLIN
is placed in the chair, and reclines, sleeping peacefully.
MR. CANDY
and
RACHEL
stand on either side of the chair, watching him.
GODFREY
moves as if to leave the hall.
CUFF,
followed by
BETTEREDGE
and
MISS CLACK,
advances, so as to stand in the way of his departure, and speaks to him.
)

Cuff.
Stop a minute, sir! We may as well understand each other before you go. Mr. Blake offered you the Moonstone last night, walking in his sleep, just as he has offered it to you now. Last night, you were alone with him upstairs, and you took it. Down here, there are witnesses present, and you let it drop. (
He picks up the diamond, and shows it to
GODFREY.) Don’t you know it again?