Heartbreak House · Act I (2/2) (2/5)

| Mrs. Hushabye | What a lark! Sit down. She pushes her back into the chair instead of kissing her, and posts herself behind it. You do look a swell. You’re much handsomer than you used to be. You’ve made the acquaintance of Ellie, of course. She is going to marry a perfect hog of a millionaire for the sake of her father, who is as poor as a church mouse; and you must help me to stop her. | | Ellie | Oh please, Hesione! | | Mrs. Hushabye | My pettikins, the man’s coming here today with your father to begin persecuting you; and everybody will see the state of the case in ten minutes; so what’s the use of making a secret of it? | | Ellie | He is not a hog, Hesione. You don’t know how wonderfully good he was to my father, and how deeply grateful I am to him. | | Mrs. Hushabye | To Lady Utterword. Her father is a very remarkable man, Addy. His name is Mazzini Dunn. Mazzini was a celebrity of some kind who knew Ellie’s grandparents. They were both poets, like the Brownings; and when her father came into the world Mazzini said, “Another soldier born for freedom!” So they christened him Mazzini; and he has been fighting for freedom in his quiet way ever since. That’s why he is so poor. | | Ellie | I am proud of his poverty. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Of course you are, pettikins. Why not leave him in it, and marry someone you love? | | Lady Utterword | Rising suddenly and explosively. Hesione, are you going to kiss me or are you not? | | Mrs. Hushabye | What do you want to be kissed for? | | Lady Utterword | I don’t want to be kissed; but I do want you to behave properly and decently. We are sisters. We have been separated for twenty-three years. You ought to kiss me. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Tomorrow morning, dear, before you make up. I hate the smell of powder. | | Lady Utterword | Oh! you unfeeling⁠—She is interrupted by the return of the Captain. | | The Captain | To Ellie. Your room is ready. Ellie rises. The sheets were damp; but I have changed them. He makes for the garden door on the port side. | | Lady Utterword | Oh! What about my sheets? | | The Captain | Halting at the door. Take my advice: air them: or take them off and sleep in blankets. You shall sleep in Ariadne’s old room. | | Lady Utterword | Indeed I shall do nothing of the sort. That little hole! I am entitled to the best spare room. | | The Captain | Continuing unmoved. She married a numskull. She told me she would marry anyone to get away from home. | | Ladt Utterword | You are pretending not to know me on purpose. I will leave the house. | | | Mazzini Dunn enters from the hall. He is a little elderly man with bulging credulous eyes and earnest manners. He is dressed in a blue serge jacket suit with an unbuttoned mackintosh over it, and carries a soft black hat of clerical cut. | | Ellie | At last! Captain Shotover, here is my father. | | The Captain | This! Nonsense! not a bit like him. He goes away through the garden, shutting the door sharply behind him. | | Lady Utterword | I will not be ignored and pretended to be somebody else. I will have it out with Papa now, this instant. To Mazzini. Excuse me. She follows the Captain out, making a hasty bow to Mazzini, who returns it. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Hospitably shaking hands. How good of you to come, Mr. Dunn! You don’t mind Papa, do you? He is as mad as a hatter, you know, but quite harmless and extremely clever. You will have some delightful talks with him. | | Mazzini | I hope so. To Ellie. So here you are, Ellie, dear. He draws her arm affectionately through his. I must thank you, Mrs. Hushabye, for your kindness to my daughter. I’m afraid she would have had no holiday if you had not invited her. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Not at all. Very nice of her to come and attract young people to the house for us. | | Mazzini | Smiling. I’m afraid Ellie is not interested in young men, Mrs. Hushabye. Her taste is on the graver, solider side. | | Mrs. Hushabye | With a sudden rather hard brightness in her manner. Won’t you take off your overcoat, Mr. Dunn? You will find a cupboard for coats and hats and things in the corner of the hall. | | Mazzini | Hastily releasing Ellie. Yes⁠—thank you⁠—I had better⁠—he goes out. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Emphatically. The old brute! | | Ellie | Who? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Who! Him. He. It. Pointing after Mazzini. “Graver, solider tastes,” indeed! | | Ellie | Aghast. You don’t mean that you were speaking like that of my father! | | Mrs. Hushabye | I was. You know I was. | | Ellie | With dignity. I will leave your house at once. She turns to the door. | | Mrs. Hushabye | If you attempt it, I’ll tell your father why. | | Ellie | Turning again. Oh! How can you treat a visitor like this, Mrs. Hushabye? | | Mrs. Hushabye | I thought you were going to call me Hesione. | | Ellie | Certainly not now? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Very well: I’ll tell your father. | | Ellie | Distressed. Oh! | | Mrs. Hushabye | If you turn a hair⁠—if you take his part against me and against your own heart for a moment, I’ll give that born soldier of freedom a piece of my mind that will stand him on his selfish old head for a week. | | Ellie | Hesione! My father selfish! How little you know⁠— | | | She is interrupted by Mazzini, who returns, excited and perspiring. | | Mazzini | Ellie, Mangan has come: I thought you’d like to know. Excuse me, Mrs. Hushabye, the strange old gentleman⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | Papa. Quite so. | | Mazzini | Oh, I beg your pardon, of course: I was a little confused by his manner. He is making Mangan help him with something in the garden; and he wants me too⁠— | | | A powerful whistle is heard. | | The Captain’s Voice | Bosun ahoy! The whistle is repeated. | | Mazzini | Flustered. Oh dear! I believe he is whistling for me. He hurries out. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Now my father is a wonderful man if you like. | | Ellie | Hesione: listen to me. You don’t understand. My father and Mr. Mangan were boys together. Mr. Ma⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | I don’t care what they were: we must sit down if you are going to begin as far back as that. She snatches at Ellie’s waist, and makes her sit down on the sofa beside her. Now, pettikins, tell me all about Mr. Mangan. They call him Boss Mangan, don’t they? He is a Napoleon of industry and disgustingly rich, isn’t he? Why isn’t your father rich? | | Ellie | My poor father should never have been in business. His parents were poets; and they gave him the noblest ideas; but they could not afford to give him a profession. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Fancy your grandparents, with their eyes in fine frenzy rolling! And so your poor father had to go into business. Hasn’t he succeeded in it? | | Ellie | He always used to say he could succeed if he only had some capital. He fought his way along, to keep a roof over our heads and bring us up well; but it was always a struggle: always the same difficulty of not having capital enough. I don’t know how to describe it to you. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Poor Ellie! I know. Pulling the devil by the tail. | | Ellie | Hurt. Oh, no. Not like that. It was at least dignified. | | Mrs. Hushabye | That made it all the harder, didn’t it? I shouldn’t have pulled the devil by the tail with dignity. I should have pulled hard⁠—between her teeth hard. Well? Go on. | | Ellie | At last it seemed that all our troubles were at an end. Mr. Mangan did an extraordinarily noble thing out of pure friendship for my father and respect for his character. He asked him how much capital he wanted, and gave it to him. I don’t mean that he lent it to him, or that he invested it in his business. He just simply made him a present of it. Wasn’t that splendid of him? | | Mrs. Hushabye | On condition that you married him? | | Ellie | Oh, no, no, no! This was when I was a child. He had never even seen me: he never came to our house. It was absolutely disinterested. Pure generosity. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Oh! I beg the gentleman’s pardon. Well, what became of the money? | | Ellie | We all got new clothes and moved into another house. And I went to another school for two years. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Only two years? | | Ellie | That was all: for at the end of two years my father was utterly ruined. | | Mrs. Hushabye | How? | | Ellie | I don’t know. I never could understand. But it was dreadful. When we were poor my father had never been in debt. But when he launched out into business on a large scale, he had to incur liabilities. When the business went into liquidation he owed more money than Mr. Mangan had given him. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Bit off more than he could chew, I suppose. | | Ellie | I think you are a little unfeeling about it. | | Mrs. Hushabye | My pettikins, you mustn’t mind my way of talking. I was quite as sensitive and particular as you once; but I have picked up so much slang from the children that I am really hardly presentable. I suppose your father had no head for business, and made a mess of it. | | Ellie | Oh, that just shows how entirely you are mistaken about him. The business turned out a great success. It now pays forty-four percent after deducting the excess profits tax. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Then why aren’t you rolling in money? | | Ellie | I don’t know. It seems very unfair to me. You see, my father was made bankrupt. It nearly broke his heart, because he had persuaded several of his friends to put money into the business. He was sure it would succeed; and events proved that he was quite right. But they all lost their money. It was dreadful. I don’t know what we should have done but for Mr. Mangan. | | Mrs. Hushabye | What! Did the Boss come to the rescue again, after all his money being thrown away? | | Ellie | He did indeed, and never uttered a reproach to my father. He bought what was left of the business⁠—the buildings and the machinery and things⁠—from the official trustee for enough money to enable my father to pay six-and-eightpence in the pound and get his discharge. Everyone pitied Papa so much, and saw so plainly that he was an honorable man, that they let him off at six-and-eightpence instead of ten shillings. Then Mr. Mangan started a company to take up the business, and made my father a manager in it to save us from starvation; for I wasn’t earning anything then. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Quite a romance. And when did the Boss develop the tender passion? | | Ellie | Oh, that was years after, quite lately. He took the chair one night at a sort of people’s concert. I was singing there. As an amateur, you know: half a guinea for expenses and three songs with three encores. He was so pleased with my singing that he asked might he walk home with me. I never saw anyone so taken aback as he was when I took him home and introduced him to my father, his own manager. It was then that my father told me how nobly he had behaved. Of course it was considered a great chance for me, as he is so rich. And⁠—and⁠—we drifted into a sort of understanding⁠—I suppose I should call it an engagement⁠—she is distressed and cannot go on. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Rising and marching about. You may have drifted into it; but you will bounce out of it, my pettikins, if I am to have anything to do with it. | | Ellie | Hopelessly. No: it’s no use. I am bound in honor and gratitude. I will go through with it. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Behind the sofa, scolding down at her. You know, of course, that it’s not honorable or grateful to marry a man you don’t love. Do you love this Mangan man? | | Ellie | Yes. At least⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | I don’t want to know about “at least”: I want to know the worst. Girls of your age fall in love with all sorts of impossible people, especially old people. | | Ellie | I like Mr. Mangan very much; and I shall always be⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | Impatiently completing the sentence and prancing away intolerantly to starboard.⁠—grateful to him for his kindness to dear father. I know. Anybody else? | | Ellie | What do you mean? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Anybody else? Are you in love with anybody else? | | Ellie | Of course not. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Humph! The book on the drawing table catches her eye. She picks it up, and evidently finds the title very unexpected. She looks at Ellie, and asks, quaintly. Quite sure you’re not in love with an actor? | | Ellie | No, no. Why? What put such a thing into your head? | | Mrs. Hushabye | This is yours, isn’t it? Why else should you be reading Othello? | | Ellie | My father taught me to love Shakespeare. | | Mrs. Hushaye | Flinging the book down on the table. Really! your father does seem to be about the limit. | | Ellie | Naively. Do you never read Shakespeare, Hesione? That seems to me so extraordinary. I like Othello. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Do you, indeed? He was jealous, wasn’t he? | | Ellie | Oh, not that. I think all the part about jealousy is horrible. But don’t you think it must have been a wonderful experience for Desdemona, brought up so quietly at home, to meet a man who had been out in the world doing all sorts of brave things and having terrible adventures, and yet finding something in her that made him love to sit and talk with her and tell her about them? | | Mrs. Hushabye | That’s your idea of romance, is it? | | Ellie | Not romance, exactly. It might really happen. | | | Ellie’s* eyes show that she is not arguing, but in a daydream. Mrs. Hushabye*, watching her inquisitively, goes deliberately back to the sofa and resumes her seat beside her. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Ellie darling, have you noticed that some of those stories that Othello told Desdemona couldn’t have happened⁠—? | | Ellie | Oh, no. Shakespeare thought they could have happened. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Hm! Desdemona thought they could have happened. But they didn’t. | | Ellie | Why do you look so enigmatic about it? You are such a sphinx: I never know what you mean. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Desdemona would have found him out if she had lived, you know. I wonder was that why he strangled her! | | Ellie | Othello was not telling lies. | | Mrs. Hushabye | How do you know? | | Ellie | Shakespeare would have said if he was. Hesione, there are men who have done wonderful things: men like Othello, only, of course, white, and very handsome, and⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | Ah! Now we’re coming to it. Tell me all about him. I knew there must be somebody, or you’d never have been so miserable about Mangan: you’d have thought it quite a lark to marry him. | | Ellie | Blushing vividly. Hesione, you are dreadful. But I don’t want to make a secret of it, though of course I don’t tell everybody. Besides, I don’t know him. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Don’t know him! What does that mean? | | Ellie | Well, of course I know him to speak to. | | Mrs. Hushabye | But you want to know him ever so much more intimately, eh? | | Ellie | No, no: I know him quite⁠—almost intimately. | | Mrs. Hushabye | You don’t know him; and you know him almost intimately. How lucid! | | Ellie | I mean that he does not call on us. I⁠—I got into conversation with him by chance at a concert. | | Mrs. Hushabye | You seem to have rather a gay time at your concerts, Ellie. | | Ellie | Not at all: we talk to everyone in the greenroom waiting for our turns. I thought he was one of the artists: he looked so splendid. But he was only one of the committee. I happened to tell him that I was copying a picture at the National Gallery. I make a little money that way. I can’t paint much; but as it’s always the same picture I can do it pretty quickly and get two or three pounds for it. It happened that he came to the National Gallery one day. | | Mrs. Hushabye | One students’ day. Paid sixpence to stumble about through a crowd of easels, when he might have come in next day for nothing and found the floor clear! Quite by accident? |