Plays Unpleasant (38 page)

VIVIE
. I believe it is I who will not be able to sleep now. [
She goes to the dresser and lights the candle. Then she extinguishes the lamp, darkening the room a good deal
]. Better let in some fresh air before locking up. [
She opens the cottage door, and finds that it is broad moonlight
]. What a beautiful night! Look! [
She draws aside the curtains of the window. The landscape is seen bathed in the radiance of the harvest moon rising over Blackdown
].

MRS WARREN
[
with a perfunctory glance at the scene
] Yes, dear; but take care you dont catch your death of cold from the night air.

VIVIE
[
contemptuously
] Nonsense.

MRS WARREN
[
querulously
] Oh yes: everything I say is nonsense, according to you.

VIVIE
[
turning to her quickly
] No: really that is not so, mother. You have got completely the better of me tonight, though I intended it to be the other way. Let us be good friends now.

MRS WARREN
[
shaking her head a little ruefully
] So it has been the other way. But I suppose I must give in to it. I always got the worst of it from Liz; and now I suppose it'll be the same with you.

VIVIE
. Well, never mind. Come: goodnight, dear old mother. [
She takes her mother in her arms
].

MRS WARREN
[
fondly
] I brought you up well, didnt I, dearie?

VIVIE
. You did.

MRS WARREN
. And youll be good to your poor old mother for it, wont you?

VIVIE
. I will, dear. [
Kissing her
] Goodnight.

MRS WARREN
[
with unction
] Blessings on my own dearie darling! a mother's blessing!

She embraces her daughter protectingly, instinctively looking upward for divine sanction
.

In the Rectory garden next morning, with the sun shining from a cloudless sky. The garden wall has a five-barred wooden gate, wide enough to admit a carriage, in the middle. Beside the gate hangs a bell on a coiled spring, communicating with a pull outside. The carriage drive comes down the middle of the garden and then swerves to its left, where it ends in a little gravelled circus opposite the Rectory porch. Beyond the gate is seen the dusty high road, parallel with the wall, bounded on the farther side by a strip of turf and an unfenced pine wood. On the lawn, between the house and the drive, is a clipped yew tree, with a garden bench in its shade. On the opposite side the garden is shut in by a box hedge; and there is a sundial on the turf, with an iron chair near it. A little path leads off through the box hedge, behind the sundial
.

Frank, seated on the chair near the sundial, on which he has placed the morning papers, is reading The Standard. His father comes from the house, red-eyed and shivery, and meets Frank's eye with misgiving
.

FRANK
[
looking at his watch
] Half-past eleven. Nice hour for a rector to come down to breakfast!

REV. S
. Dont mock, Frank: dont mock. I am a little – er – [
Shivering] –

FRANK
. Off color?

REV. S
. [
repudiating the expression
] No, sir: unwell this morning. Wheres your mother?

FRANK
. Dont be alarmed: she's not here. Gone to town by the 11.13 with Bessie. She left several messages for you. Do you feel equal to receiving them now, or shall I wait til youve breakfasted?

REV. S
. I have breakfasted, sir. I am surprised at your mother going to town when we have people staying with us. Theyll think it very strange.

FRANK
. Possibly she has considered that. At all events, if Crofts is going to stay here, and you are going to sit up
every night with him until four, recalling the incidents of your fiery youth, it is clearly my mother's duty, as a prudent housekeeper, to go up to the stores and order a barrel of whisky and a few hundred siphons.

REV. S
. I did not observe that Sir George drank excessively.

FRANK
. You were not in a condition to, gov'nor.

REV. S
. Do you mean to say that
I
–?

FRANK
[
calmly
] I never saw a beneficed clergyman less sober. The anecdotes you told about your past career were so awful that I really dont think Praed would have passed the night under your roof if it hadnt been for the way my mother and he took to one another.

REV. S
. Nonsense, sir. I am Sir George Crofts' host. I must talk to him about something; and he has only one subject. Where is Mr Praed now?

FRANK
. He is driving my mother and Bessie to the station.

REV. S
. Is Crofts up yet?

FRANK
. Oh, long ago. He hasnt turned a hair: he's in much better practice than you. He has kept it up ever since, probably. He's taken himself off somewhere to smoke.

Frank resumes his paper. The parson turns disconsolately towards the gate; then comes back irresolutely
.

REV. S
. Er – Frank.

FRANK
. Yes.

REV. S
. Do you think the Warrens will expect to be asked here after yesterday afternoon?

FRANK
. Theyve been asked already.

REV. S
. [
appalled
] What! ! !

FRANK
. Crofts informed us at breakfast that you told him to bring Mrs Warren and Vivie over here today, and to invite them to make this house their home. My mother then found she must go to town by the 11.13 train.

REV. S
. [
with despairing vehemence
] I never gave any such invitation. I never thought of such a thing.

FRANK
[
compassionately
] How do you know, gov'nor, what you said and thought last night?

PRAED
[
coming in through the hedge
] Good morning.

REV. S
. Good morning. I must apologise for not having met you at breakfast. I have a touch of – of –

FRANK
. Clergyman's sore throat, Praed. Fortunately not chronic.

PRAED
[
changing the subject
] Well, I must say your house is in a charming spot here. Really most charming.

REV. S
. Yes: it is indeed. Frank will take you for a walk, Mr Praed, if you like. I'll ask you to excuse me: I must take the opportunity to write my sermon while Mrs Gardner is away and you are all amusing yourselves. You wont mind, will you?

PRAED
. Certainly not. Dont stand on the slightest ceremony with me.

REV. S
. Thank you. I'll – er – er – [
He stammers his way to the porch and vanishes into the house
].

PRAED
. Curious thing it must be writing a sermon every week.

FRANK
. Ever so curious, if he did it. He buys em. He's gone for some soda water.

PRAED
. My dear boy: I wish you would be more respectful to your father. You know you can be so nice when you like.

FRANK
. My dear Praddy: you forget that I have to live with the governor. When two people live together – it dont matter whether theyre father and son or husband and wife or brother and sister – they cant keep up the polite humbug thats so easy for ten minutes on an afternoon call. Now the governor, who unites to many admirable domestic qualities the irresoluteness of a sheep and the pompousness and aggressiveness of a jackass –

PRAED
. No, pray, pray, my dear Frank, remember! He is your father.

FRANK
. I give him due credit for that. [
Rising and flinging down his paper
] But just imagine his telling Crofts to bring the Warrens over here! He must have been ever so drunk. You know, my dear Praddy, my mother wouldnt stand
Mrs Warren for a moment. Vivie mustnt come here until she's gone back to town.

PRAED
. But your mother doesnt know anything about Mrs Warren, does she? [
He picks up the paper and sits down to read it
].

FRANK
. I dont know. Her journey to town looks as if she did. Not that my mother would mind in the ordinary way: she has stuck like a brick to lots of women who had got into trouble. But they were all nice women. Thats what makes the real difference. Mrs Warren, no doubt, has her merits; but she's ever so rowdy; and my mother simply wouldnt put up with her. So – hallo! [
This exclamation is provoked by the reappearance of the clergyman, who comes out of the house in haste and dismay
].

REV. S
. Frank: Mrs Warren and her daughter are coming across the heath with Crofts: I saw them from the study windows. What am I to say about your mother?

FRANK
. Stick on your hat and go out and say how delighted you are to see them; and that Frank's in the garden; and that mother and Bessie have been called to the bedside of a sick relative, and were ever so sorry they couldnt stop; and that you hope Mrs Warren slept well; and – and – say any blessed thing except the truth, and leave the rest to Providence.

REV. S
. But how are we to get rid of them afterwards?

FRANK
. Theres no time to think of that now. Here! [
He bounds into the house
].

REV. S
. He's so impetuous. I dont know what to do with him, Mr Praed.

FRANK
[
returning with a clerical felt hat, which he claps on his father's head
] Now: off with you. [
Rushing him through the gate
]. Praed and I'll wait here, to give the thing an unpremeditated air. [
The clergyman, dazed but obedient, hurries off
].

FRANK
. We must get the old girl back to town somehow, Praed. Come! Honestly, dear Praddy, do you like seeing them together?

PRAED
. Oh, why not?

FRANK
[
his teeth on edge
] Dont it make your flesh creep ever so little? that wicked old devil, up to every villainy under the sun, I'll swear, and Vivie – ugh!

PRAED
. Hush, pray. Theyre coming.

The clergyman and Crofts are seen coming along the road, followed by Mrs Warren and Vivie walking affectionately together
.

FRANK
. Look: she actually has her arm round the old woman's waist. It's her right arm: she began it. She's gone sentimental, by God! Ugh! ugh! Now do you feel the creeps? [
The clergyman opens the gate; and Mrs Warren and Vivie pass him and stand in the middle of the garden looking at the house. Frank, in an ecstasy of dissimulation, turns gaily to Mrs Warren, exclaiming
] Ever so delighted to see you, Mrs Warren. This quiet old rectory garden becomes you perfectly.

MRS WARREN
. Well, I never! Did you hear that, George? He says I look well in a quiet old rectory garden.

REV. S
. [
still holding the gate for Crofts, who loafs through it, heavily bored
] You look well everywhere, Mrs Warren.

FRANK
. Bravo, gov'nor! Now look here: lets have a treat before lunch. First lets see the church. Everyone has to do that. It's a regular old thirteenth century church, you know: the gov'nor's ever so fond of it, because he got up a restoration fund and had it completely rebuilt six years ago. Praed will be able to shew its points.

PRAED
[
rising
] Certainly, if the restoration has left any to shew.

REV. S
. [
mooning hospitably at them
] I shall be pleased, I'm sure, if Sir George and Mrs Warren really care about it.

MRS WARREN
. Oh, come along and get it over.

CROFTS
[
turning back towards the gate
] Ive no objection.

REV. S
. Not that way. We go through the fields, if you dont mind. Round here. [
He leads the way by the little path through the box hedge
].

CROFTS
. Oh, all right. [
He goes with the parson
].

Praed follows with Mrs Warren. Vivie does not stir: she watches them until they have gone, with all the lines of purpose in her face marking it strongly
.

FRANK
. Aint you coming?

VIVIE
. No. I want to give you a warning, Frank. You were making fun of my mother just now when you said that about the rectory garden. That is barred in future. Please treat my mother with as much respect as you treat your own.

FRANK
. My dear Viv: she wouldnt appreciate it: the two cases require different treatment. But what on earth has happened to you? Last night we were perfectly agreed as to your mother and her set. This morning I find you attitudinizing sentimentally with your arm round your parent's waist.

VIVIE
[
flushing
] Attitudinizing!

FRANK
. That was how it struck me. First time I ever saw you do a second-rate thing.

VIVIE
[
controlling herself
] Yes, Frank: there has been a change; but I dont think it a change for the worse. Yesterday I was a little prig.

FRANK
. And today?

VIVIE
[
wincing; then looking at him steadily
] Today I know my mother better than you do.

FRANK
. Heaven forbid!

VIVIE
. What do you mean?

FRANK
. Viv: theres a freemasonry among thoroughly immoral people that you know nothing of. Youve too much character. Thats the bond between your mother and me: thats why I know her better than youll ever know her.