Heartbreak House · Act I (2/2) (3/5)

| Ellie | Triumphantly. No. On purpose. He liked talking to me. He knows lots of the most splendid people. Fashionable women who are all in love with him. But he ran away from them to see me at the National Gallery and persuade me to come with him for a drive round Richmond Park in a taxi. | | Mrs. Hushabye | My pettikins, you have been going it. It’s wonderful what you good girls can do without anyone saying a word. | | Ellie | I am not in society, Hesione. If I didn’t make acquaintances in that way I shouldn’t have any at all. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Well, no harm if you know how to take care of yourself. May I ask his name? | | Ellie | Slowly and musically. Marcus Darnley. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Echoing the music. Marcus Darnley! What a splendid name! | | Ellie | Oh, I’m so glad you think so. I think so too; but I was afraid it was only a silly fancy of my own. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Hm! Is he one of the Aberdeen Darnleys? | | Ellie | Nobody knows. Just fancy! He was found in an antique chest⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | A what? | | Ellie | An antique chest, one summer morning in a rose garden, after a night of the most terrible thunderstorm. | | Mrs. Hushabye | What on earth was he doing in the chest? Did he get into it because he was afraid of the lightning? | | Ellie | Oh, no, no: he was a baby. The name Marcus Darnley was embroidered on his baby clothes. And five hundred pounds in gold. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Looking hard at her. Ellie! | | Ellie | The garden of the Viscount⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | —de Rougemont? | | Ellie | Innocently. No: de Larochejaquelin. A French family. A vicomte. His life has been one long romance. A tiger⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | Slain by his own hand? | | Ellie | Oh, no: nothing vulgar like that. He saved the life of the tiger from a hunting party: one of King Edward’s hunting parties in India. The King was furious: that was why he never had his military services properly recognized. But he doesn’t care. He is a Socialist and despises rank, and has been in three revolutions fighting on the barricades. | | Mrs. Hushabye | How can you sit there telling me such lies? You, Ellie, of all people! And I thought you were a perfectly simple, straightforward, good girl. | | Ellie | Rising, dignified but very angry. Do you mean you don’t believe me? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Of course I don’t believe you. You’re inventing every word of it. Do you take me for a fool? | | | Ellie* stares at her. Her candor is so obvious that Mrs. Hushabye is puzzled. | | Ellie | Goodbye, Hesione. I’m very sorry. I see now that it sounds very improbable as I tell it. But I can’t stay if you think that way about me. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Catching her dress. You shan’t go. I couldn’t be so mistaken: I know too well what liars are like. Somebody has really told you all this. | | Ellie | Flushing. Hesione, don’t say that you don’t believe him. I couldn’t bear that. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Soothing her. Of course I believe him, dearest. But you should have broken it to me by degrees. Drawing her back to her seat. Now tell me all about him. Are you in love with him? | | Ellie | Oh, no. I’m not so foolish. I don’t fall in love with people. I’m not so silly as you think. | | Mrs. Hushabye | I see. Only something to think about⁠—to give some interest and pleasure to life. | | Ellie | Just so. That’s all, really. | | Mrs. Hushabye | It makes the hours go fast, doesn’t it? No tedious waiting to go to sleep at nights and wondering whether you will have a bad night. How delightful it makes waking up in the morning! How much better than the happiest dream! All life transfigured! No more wishing one had an interesting book to read, because life is so much happier than any book! No desire but to be alone and not to have to talk to anyone: to be alone and just think about it. | | Ellie | Embracing her. Hesione, you are a witch. How do you know? Oh, you are the most sympathetic woman in the world! | | Mrs. Hushabye | Caressing her. Pettikins, my pettikins, how I envy you! and how I pity you! | | Ellie | Pity me! Oh, why? | | | A very handsome man of fifty, with mousquetaire moustaches, wearing a rather dandified curly brimmed hat, and carrying an elaborate walking-stick, comes into the room from the hall, and stops short at sight of the women on the sofa. | | Ellie | Seeing him and rising in glad surprise. Oh! Hesione: this is Mr. Marcus Darnley. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Rising. What a lark! He is my husband. | | Ellie | But how⁠—she stops suddenly: then turns pale and sways. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Catching her and sitting down with her on the sofa. Steady, my pettikins. | | The Man | With a mixture of confusion and effrontery, depositing his hat and stick on the teak table. My real name, Miss Dunn, is Hector Hushabye. I leave you to judge whether that is a name any sensitive man would care to confess to. I never use it when I can possibly help it. I have been away for nearly a month; and I had no idea you knew my wife, or that you were coming here. I am none the less delighted to find you in our little house. | | Ellie | In great distress. I don’t know what to do. Please, may I speak to Papa? Do leave me. I can’t bear it. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Be off, Hector. | | Hector | I⁠— | | Mrs. Hushabye | Quick, quick. Get out. | | Hector | If you think it better⁠—he goes out, taking his hat with him but leaving the stick on the table. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Laying Ellie down at the end of the sofa. Now, pettikins, he is gone. There’s nobody but me. You can let yourself go. Don’t try to control yourself. Have a good cry. | | Ellie | Raising her head. Damn! | | Mrs. Hushabye | Splendid! Oh, what a relief! I thought you were going to be brokenhearted. Never mind me. Damn him again. | | Ellie | I am not damning him. I am damning myself for being such a fool. Rising. How could I let myself be taken in so? She begins prowling to and fro, her bloom gone, looking curiously older and harder. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Cheerfully. Why not, pettikins? Very few young women can resist Hector. I couldn’t when I was your age. He is really rather splendid, you know. | | Ellie | Turning on her. Splendid! Yes, splendid looking, of course. But how can you love a liar? | | Mrs. Hushabye | I don’t know. But you can, fortunately. Otherwise there wouldn’t be much love in the world. | | Ellie | But to lie like that! To be a boaster! a coward! | | Mrs. Hushabye | Rising in alarm. Pettikins, none of that, if you please. If you hint the slightest doubt of Hector’s courage, he will go straight off and do the most horribly dangerous things to convince himself that he isn’t a coward. He has a dreadful trick of getting out of one third-floor window and coming in at another, just to test his nerve. He has a whole drawerful of Albert Medals for saving people’s lives. | | Ellie | He never told me that. | | Mrs. Hushabye | He never boasts of anything he really did: he can’t bear it; and it makes him shy if anyone else does. All his stories are made-up stories. | | Ellie | Coming to her. Do you mean that he is really brave, and really has adventures, and yet tells lies about things that he never did and that never happened? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Yes, pettikins, I do. People don’t have their virtues and vices in sets: they have them anyhow: all mixed. | | Ellie | Staring at her thoughtfully. There’s something odd about this house, Hesione, and even about you. I don’t know why I’m talking to you so calmly. I have a horrible fear that my heart is broken, but that heartbreak is not like what I thought it must be. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Fondling her. It’s only life educating you, pettikins. How do you feel about Boss Mangan now? | | Ellie | Disengaging herself with an expression of distaste. Oh, how can you remind me of him, Hesione? | | Mrs. Hushabye | Sorry, dear. I think I hear Hector coming back. You don’t mind now, do you, dear? | | Ellie | Not in the least. I am quite cured. | | | Mazzini Dunn and Hector come in from the hall. | | Hector | As he opens the door and allows Mazzini to pass in. One second more, and she would have been a dead woman! | | Mazzini | Dear! dear! what an escape! Ellie, my love, Mr. Hushabye has just been telling me the most extraordinary⁠— | | Ellie | Yes, I’ve heard it. She crosses to the other side of the room. | | Hector | Following her. Not this one: I’ll tell it to you after dinner. I think you’ll like it. The truth is I made it up for you, and was looking forward to the pleasure of telling it to you. But in a moment of impatience at being turned out of the room, I threw it away on your father. | | Ellie | Turning at bay with her back to the carpenter’s bench, scornfully self-possessed. It was not thrown away. He believes it. I should not have believed it. | | Mazzini | Benevolently. Ellie is very naughty, Mr. Hushabye. Of course she does not really think that. He goes to the bookshelves, and inspects the titles of the volumes. | | | Boss Mangan comes in from the hall, followed by the Captain. Mangan, carefully frock-coated as for church or for a directors’ meeting, is about fifty-five, with a careworn, mistrustful expression, standing a little on an entirely imaginary dignity, with a dull complexion, straight, lustreless hair, and features so entirely commonplace that it is impossible to describe them. | | Captain Shotover | To Mrs. Hushabye, introducing the newcomer. Says his name is Mangan. Not able-bodied. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Graciously. How do you do, Mr. Mangan? | | Mangan | Shaking hands. Very pleased. | | Captain Shotover | Dunn’s lost his muscle, but recovered his nerve. Men seldom do after three attacks of delirium tremens. He goes into the pantry. | | Mrs. Hushabye | I congratulate you, Mr. Dunn. | | Mazzini | Dazed. I am a lifelong teetotaler. | | Mrs. Hushabye | You will find it far less trouble to let Papa have his own way than try to explain. | | Mazzini | But three attacks of delirium tremens, really! | | Mrs. Hushabye | To Mangan. Do you know my husband, Mr. Mangan. She indicates Hector. | | Mangan | Going to Hector, who meets him with outstretched hand. Very pleased. Turning to Ellie. I hope, Miss Ellie, you have not found the journey down too fatiguing. They shake hands. | | Mrs. Hushabye | Hector, show Mr. Dunn his room. | | Hector | Certainly. Come along, Mr. Dunn. He takes Mazzini out. | | Ellie | You haven’t shown me my room yet, Hesione. | | Mrs. Hushabye | How stupid of me! Come along. Make yourself quite at home, Mr. Mangan. Papa will entertain you. She calls to the Captain in the pantry. Papa, come and explain the house to Mr. Mangan. | | | She goes out with Ellie. The Captain comes from the pantry. | | Captain Shotover | You’re going to marry Dunn’s daughter. Don’t. You’re too old. | | Mangan | Staggered. Well! That’s fairly blunt, Captain. | | Captain Shotover | It’s true. | | Mangan | She doesn’t think so. | | Captain Shotover | She does. | | Mangan | Older men than I have⁠— | | Captain Shotover | Finishing the sentence for him.⁠—made fools of themselves. That, also, is true. | | Mangan | Asserting himself. I don’t see that this is any business of yours. | | Captain Shotover | It is everybody’s business. The stars in their courses are shaken when such things happen. | | Mangan | I’m going to marry her all the same. | | Captain Shotover | How do you know? | | Mangan | Playing the strong man. I intend to. I mean to. See? I never made up my mind to do a thing yet that I didn’t bring it off. That’s the sort of man I am; and there will be a better understanding between us when you make up your mind to that, Captain. | | Captain Shotover | You frequent picture palaces. | | Mangan | Perhaps I do. Who told you? | | Captain Shotover | Talk like a man, not like a movie. You mean that you make a hundred thousand a year. | | Mangan | I don’t boast. But when I meet a man that makes a hundred thousand a year, I take off my hat to that man, and stretch out my hand to him and call him brother. | | Captain Shotover | Then you also make a hundred thousand a year, hey? | | Mangan | No. I can’t say that. Fifty thousand, perhaps. | | Captain Shotover | His half brother only. He turns away from Mangan with his usual abruptness, and collects the empty teacups on the Chinese tray. | | Mangan | Irritated. See here, Captain Shotover. I don’t quite understand my position here. I came here on your daughter’s invitation. Am I in her house or in yours? | | Captain Shotover | You are beneath the dome of heaven, in the house of God. What is true within these walls is true outside them. Go out on the seas; climb the mountains; wander through the valleys. She is still too young. | | Mangan | Weakening. But I’m very little over fifty. | | Captain Shotover | You are still less under sixty. Boss Mangan, you will not marry the pirate’s child. He carries the tray away into the pantry. | | Mangan | Following him to the half door. What pirate’s child? What are you talking about? | | Captain Shotover | In the pantry. Ellie Dunn. You will not marry her. | | Mangan | Who will stop me? | | Captain Shotover | Emerging. My daughter. He makes for the door leading to the hall. | | Mangan | Following him. Mrs. Hushabye! Do you mean to say she brought me down here to break it off? | | Captain Shotover | Stopping and turning on him. I know nothing more than I have seen in her eye. She will break it off. Take my advice: marry a West Indian negress: they make excellent wives. I was married to one myself for two years. | | Mangan | Well, I am damned! | | Captain Shotover | I thought so. I was, too, for many years. The negress redeemed me. | | Mangan | Feebly. This is queer. I ought to walk out of this house. | | Captain Shotover | Why? | | Mangan | Well, many men would be offended by your style of talking. | | Captain Shotover | Nonsense! It’s the other sort of talking that makes quarrels. Nobody ever quarrels with me. | | | A Gentleman, whose first-rate tailoring and frictionless manners proclaim the wellbred West Ender, comes in from the hall. He has an engaging air of being young and unmarried, but on close inspection is found to be at least over forty. | | The Gentleman | Excuse my intruding in this fashion, but there is no knocker on the door and the bell does not seem to ring. | | Captain Shotover | Why should there be a knocker? Why should the bell ring? The door is open. | | The Gentleman | Precisely. So I ventured to come in. | | Captain Shotover | Quite right. I will see about a room for you. He makes for the door. | | The Gentleman | Stopping him. But I’m afraid you don’t know who I am. | | Captain Shotover | Do you suppose that at my age I make distinctions between one fellow creature and another? He goes out. Mangan and the newcomer stare at one another. | | Mangan | Strange character, Captain Shotover, sir. | | The Gentleman | Very. | | Captain Shotover | Shouting outside. Hesione, another person has arrived and wants a room. Man about town, well dressed, fifty. | | The Gentleman | Fancy Hesione’s feelings! May I ask are you a member of the family? | | Mangan | No. | | The Gentleman | I am. At least a connection. | | | Mrs. Hushabye comes back. | | Mrs. Hushabye | How do you do? How good of you to come! | | The Gentleman | I am very glad indeed to make your acquaintance, Hesione. Instead of taking her hand he kisses her. At the same moment the Captain* appears in the doorway. You will excuse my kissing your daughter, Captain, when I tell you that⁠— | | Captain Shotover | Stuff! Everyone kisses my daughter. Kiss her as much as you like. He makes for the pantry. |