Delphi Collected Works of W. Somerset Maugham (Illustrated)

by William Somerset Maugham

  Knox. Straight from the shoulder. Take the count, old man.

  Harry. [Frigidly.] Oughtn’t you to be going?

  Knox. [Smiling.] No, but I will.

  Harry. I’m sorry if I was rude to you just now, old man.

  Knox. Silly ass, you’ve broken no bones; my self-esteem, thank God, is unimpaired. [He goes out.

  Harry. I say, I’m awfully glad you’re back, George. You can’t think how I miss you when you’re away.

  George. As soon as the shooting starts we’ll try and get two or three days together in the country.

  Harry. Yes, that would be jolly. [Calling.] Wu.

  Wu. [Outside.] Ye’.

  Harry. Bring tea for three.

  George. Who is the third?

  Harry. When you said you could come round I asked somebody I want you very much to meet.

  George. Who is that?

  Harry. Mrs. Rathbone ... I’m going to be married to her and we want you to be our best man.

  George. Harry.

  Harry. [Boyishly.] I thought you’d be surprised.

  George. My dear old boy, I am so glad. I hope you’ll be awfully happy.

  Harry. I’m awfully happy now.

  George. Why have you kept it so dark?

  Harry. I didn’t want to say anything till it was all settled. Besides, I’ve only known her six weeks. I met her when I was down in Shanghai....

  George. Is she a widow?

  Harry. Yes, she was married to an American in the F. M. S.

  George. Is she American?

  Harry. Only by marriage. I’m afraid she didn’t have a very happy married life.

  George. Poor thing. I think I’d take a small bet that you won’t beat her.

  Harry. I mean to try my best to make her happy.

  George. You old fool, I’ve never known a man who was likely to make a better husband.

  Harry. I’m most awfully in love with her, George.

  George. Isn’t that ripping? How old is she?

  Harry. Only twenty-two. She’s the loveliest thing you ever saw.

  George. And is she in love with you?

  Harry. She says so.

  George. She damned well ought to be.

  Harry. I do hope you’ll like her, George.

  George. Of course I shall. You’re not the sort of chap to fall in love with a woman who isn’t nice.

  [Harry walks up and down for a moment restlessly.

  Harry. Will you have a whisky and soda?

  George. No, thanks ... I’ll wait for tea.

  Harry. She ought to be here in a moment. [Suddenly making up his mind.] It’s no good beating about the bush. I may as well tell you at once. Her — her mother was Chinese.

  George. [Unable to conceal his dismay.] Oh, Harry. [A pause.] I wish I hadn’t said all that I did just now.

  Harry. Of course you didn’t know.

  George. [Gravely.] I should have had to say something very like it, Harry. But I shouldn’t have put it so bluntly.

  Harry. You said yourself there were exceptions.

  George. I know. [Distressed.] Won’t your people be rather upset?

  Harry. I don’t see how it can matter to them. They’re nine thousand miles away.

  George. Who was her father?

  Harry. Oh, he was a merchant. He’s dead. And her mother is too.

  George. That’s something. I don’t think you’d much like having a Chinese mother-in-law about the place.

  Harry. George, you won’t let it make any difference, will you? We’ve known one another all our lives.

  George. My dear old chap, as far as I’m concerned I shouldn’t care if you married the first cousin of the Ace of Spades. I don’t want you to make a hash of things.

  Harry. Wait till you see her. She’s the most fascinating thing you ever met.

  George. Yes, they can be charming. I was awfully in love with a half — with a Eurasian girl myself years ago. It was before you came out to the country. I wanted to marry her.

  Harry. Why didn’t you?

  George. It was up in Chung-king. I’d just been appointed vice-consul. I was only twenty-three. The Minister wired from Peking that I’d have to resign if I did. I hadn’t a bob except my salary and they transferred me to Canton to get me away.

  Harry. It’s different for you. You’re in the service and you may be Minister one of these days. I’m only a merchant.

  George. Even for you there’ll be difficulties, you know. Has it occurred to you that the white ladies won’t be very nice?

  Harry. I can do without their society.

  George. You must know some people. It means you’ll have to hobnob with Eurasian clerks and their wives. I’m afraid you’ll find it pretty rotten.

  Harry. If you’ll stick to me I don’t care.

  George. I suppose you’ve absolutely made up your mind?

  Harry. Absolutely.

  George. In that case I’ve got nothing more to say. You can’t expect me not to be a little disappointed, but after all the chief thing is your happiness, and whatever I can do I will. You can put your shirt on that.

  Harry. You’re a brick, George.

  George. The little lady ought to be here, oughtn’t she?

  Harry. I think I hear her on the stairs.

  [He goes to the entrance and then out. Wu brings in the tea and sets it on the table. George walks over to the parapet and looks thoughtfully before him. There is a sound of voices in the adjoining room.

  Harry. [Outside.] Come in; he’s on the verandah.

  Daisy. [Outside.] One brief look in the glass and then I’m ready.

  [Harry enters.

  Harry. She’s just coming.

  George. I bet she’s powdering her nose.

  Daisy. Here I am.

  [Daisy enters. She is an extremely pretty woman, beautifully, perhaps a little showily, dressed. She has a pale, very clear, slightly sallow skin, and beautiful dark eyes. There is only the very faintest suspicion in them of the Chinese slant. Her hair is abundant and black.

  Harry. This is George Conway, Daisy.

  [George stares at her. At first he is not quite sure that he recognizes her, then suddenly he does, but only the slightest movement of the eyes betrays him.

  Daisy. How do you do. I told Harry I had an idea I must have met you somewhere. I don’t think I have after all.

  Harry. George flatters himself he’s not easily forgotten.

  Daisy. But I’ve heard so much about you from Harry that I feel as though we were old friends.

  George. It’s very kind of you to say so.

  Harry. Supposing you poured out the tea, Daisy.

  George. I’m dying for a cup.

  [She sits down and proceeds to do so.

  Daisy. Harry is very anxious that you should like me.

  Harry. George and I have known one another since we were kids. His people and mine live quite close to one another at home.

  Daisy. But I’m not blaming you. I’m only wondering how I shall ingratiate myself with him.

  Harry. He looks rather severe, but he isn’t really. I think you’ve only got to be your natural charming self.

  Daisy. Have you told him about the house?

  Harry. No. [To George.] You know the temple the Harrisons used to have. We’ve taken that.

  George. Oh, it’s a ripping place. But won’t you find it rather a nuisance to have those old monks on the top of you all the time?

  Harry. Oh, I don’t think so. Our part is quite separate, you know, and the Harrisons made it very comfortable.

  [Harold Knox comes in. He has changed into tennis things.

  Knox. I say, Harry ... [He sees Daisy.] Oh, I beg your pardon.

  Harry. Mr. Knox — Mrs. Rathbone.

  [Knox gives her a curt nod, but she holds out her hand affably. He takes it.

  Daisy. How do you do.

  Knox. I’m sorry to disturb you, Harry, but old Ku Faung Min is downstairs and wants to see you.

  Harry. Tell
him to go to blazes. The office is closed.

  Knox. He’s going to Hankow to-night and he says he must see you before he goes. He’s got some big order to give.

  Harry. Oh, curse him. I know what he is. He’ll keep me talking for half an hour. D’you mind if I leave you?

  Daisy. Of course not. It’ll give me a chance of making Mr. Conway’s acquaintance.

  Harry. I’ll get rid of him as quickly as I can.

  [He goes out accompanied by Knox.

  Knox. [As he goes.] Good-bye.

  [George looks at Daisy for a moment. She smiles at him. There is a silence.

  George. Why didn’t you warn me that it was you I was going to meet?

  Daisy. I didn’t know what you’d say about me to Harry if you knew.

  George. It was rather a risk, wasn’t it? Supposing I’d blurted out the truth.

  Daisy. I trusted to your diplomatic training. Besides, I’d prepared for it. I told him I thought I’d met you.

  George. Harry and I have been pals all our lives. I brought him out to China and I got him his job. When he had cholera he would have died if I hadn’t pulled him through.

  Daisy. I know. And in return he worships the ground you tread on. I’ve never known one man think so much of another as he does of you.

  George. All that’s rot, of course. Sometimes I don’t know how I’m going to live up to the good opinion Harry has of me. But when you’ve done so much for a pal as I have for him it gives you an awful sense of responsibility towards him.

  Daisy. What do you mean by that?

  [A short pause.

  George. I’m not going to let you marry him.

  Daisy. He’s so much in love with me that he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

  George. I know he is. But if you were in love with him you wouldn’t be so sure of it.

  Daisy. [With a sudden change of tone.] Why not? I was sure of your love. And God knows I was in love with you.

  [George makes a gesture of dismay. He is taken aback for a moment, but he quickly recovers.

  George. You don’t know what sort of a man Harry is. He’s not like the fellows you’ve been used to. He’s never knocked around as most of us do. He’s always been as straight as a die.

  Daisy. I know.

  George. Have mercy on him. Even if there were nothing else against you he’s not the sort of chap for you to marry. He’s awfully English.

  Daisy. If he doesn’t mind marrying a Eurasian I really don’t see what business it is of yours.

  George. But you know very well that that isn’t the only thing against you.

  Daisy. I haven’t an idea what you mean.

  George. Haven’t you? You forget the war. When we heard there was a very pretty young woman, apparently with plenty of money, living at the Hong Kong Hotel on very familiar terms with a lot of naval fellows, it became our business to make enquiries. I think I know everything there is against you.

  Daisy. Have you any right to make use of information you’ve acquired officially?

  George. Don’t be a fool, Daisy.

  Daisy. [Passionately.] Tell him then. You’ll break his heart. You’ll make him utterly wretched. But he’ll marry me all the same. When a man’s as much in love as he is he’ll forgive everything.

  George. I think it’s horrible. If you loved him you couldn’t marry him. It’s heartless.

  Daisy. [Violently.] How dare you say that? You. You. You know what I am. Yes, it’s all true. I don’t know what you know but it can’t be worse than the truth. And whose fault is it? Yours. If I’m rotten it’s you who made me rotten.

  George. I? No. You’ve got no right to say that. It’s cruel. It’s infamous.

  Daisy. I’ve touched you at last, have I? Because you know it’s true. Don’t you remember when I first came to Chung-king? I was seventeen. My father had sent me to England to school when I was seven. I never saw him for ten years. And at last he wrote and said I was to come back to China. You came and met me on the boat and told me my father had had a stroke and was dead. You took me to the Presbyterian mission.

  George. That was my job. I was awfully sorry for you.

  Daisy. And then in a day or two you came and told me that my father hadn’t left anything and what there was went to his relations in England.

  George. Naturally he didn’t expect to die.

  Daisy. [Passionately.] If he was going to leave me like that why didn’t he let me stay with my Chinese mother? Why did he bring me up like a lady? Oh, it was cruel.

  George. Yes. It was unpardonable.

  Daisy. I was so lonely and so frightened. You seemed to be sorry for me. You were the only person who was really kind to me. You were practically the first man I’d known. I loved you. I thought you loved me. Oh, say that you loved me then, George.

  George. You know I did.

  Daisy. I was very innocent in those days. I thought that when two people loved one another they married. I wasn’t a Eurasian then, George. I was like any other English girl. If you’d married me I shouldn’t be what I am now. But they took you away from me. You never even said good-bye to me. You wrote and told me you’d been transferred to Canton.

  George. I couldn’t say good-bye to you, Daisy. They said that if I married you I’d have to leave the service. I was absolutely penniless. They dinned it into my ears that if a white man marries a Eurasian he’s done for. I wouldn’t listen to them, but in my heart I knew it was true.

  Daisy. I don’t blame you. You wanted to get on, and you have, haven’t you? You’re Assistant Chinese Secretary already and Harry says you’ll be Minister before you’ve done. It seems rather hard that I should have had to pay the price.

  George. Daisy, you’ll never know what anguish I suffered. I can’t expect you to care. It’s very natural if you hate me. I was ambitious. I didn’t want to be a failure. I knew that it was madness to marry you. I had to kill my love. I couldn’t. It was stronger than I was. At last I couldn’t help myself. I made up my mind to chuck everything and take the consequences. I was just starting for Chung-king when I heard you were living in Shanghai with a rich Chinaman.

  [Daisy gives a little moan. There is a silence.

  Daisy. They hated me at the mission. They found fault with me from morning till night. They blamed me because you wanted to marry me and they treated me as if I was a designing cat. When you went away they heaved a sigh of relief. Then they started to convert me. They thought I’d better become a school teacher. They hated me because I was seventeen. They hated me because I was pretty. Oh, the brutes. They killed all the religion I’d got. There was only one person who seemed to care if I was alive or dead. That was my mother. Oh, I was so ashamed the first time I saw her. At school in England I’d told them so often that she was a Chinese princess that I almost believed it myself. My mother was a dirty little ugly Chinawoman. I’d forgotten all my Chinese and I had to talk to her in English. She asked me if I’d like to go to Shanghai with her. I was ready to do anything in the world to get away from the mission and I thought in Shanghai I shouldn’t be so far away from you. They didn’t want me to go, but they couldn’t keep me against my will. When we got to Shanghai she sold me to Lee Tai Cheng for two thousand dollars.

  George. How terrible.

  Daisy. I’ve never had a chance. Oh, George, isn’t it possible for a woman to turn over a new leaf? You say that Harry’s good and kind. Don’t you see what that means to me? Because he’ll think me good I shall be good. After all, he couldn’t have fallen in love with me if I’d been entirely worthless. I hate the life I’ve led. I want to go straight. I swear I’ll make him a good wife. Oh, George, if you ever loved me have pity on me. If Harry doesn’t marry me I’m done.

  George. How can a marriage be happy that’s founded on a tissue of lies?

  Daisy. I’ve never told Harry a single lie.

  George. You told him you hadn’t been happily married.

  Daisy. That wasn’t a lie.

  George. You haven�
��t been married at all.

  Daisy. [With a roguish look.] Well then, I haven’t been happily married, have I?

  George. Who was this fellow Rathbone?

  Daisy. He was an American in business at Singapore. I met him in Shanghai. I hated Lee. Rathbone asked me to go to Singapore with him and I went. I lived with him for four years.

  George. Then you went back to Lee Tai Cheng.

  Daisy. Rathbone died. There was nothing else to do. My mother was always nagging me to go back to him. He’s rich and she makes a good thing out of it.

  George. I thought she was dead.

  Daisy. No. I told Harry she was because I thought it would make it easier for him.

  George. She isn’t with you now, is she?

  Daisy. No, she lives at Ichang. She doesn’t bother me as long as I send her something every month.

  George. Why did you tell Harry that you were twenty-two? It’s ten years since you came to China and you were seventeen then.

  Daisy. [With a twinkle in her eye.] Any woman of my age will tell you that seventeen and ten are twenty-two.

  [George does not smile. With frowning brow he walks up and down.

  George. Oh, I wish to God I knew nothing about you. I can’t bring myself to tell him and yet how can I let him marry you in absolute ignorance? Oh, Daisy, for your sake as well as for his I beseech you to tell him the whole truth and let him decide for himself.

  Daisy. And break his heart? There’s not a missionary who believes in God as he believes in me. If he loses his trust in me he loses everything. Tell him if you think you must, if you have no pity, if you have no regret for all the shame and misery you brought on me, you, you, you — but if you do, I swear, I swear to God that I shall kill myself. I won’t go back to that hateful life.

  [He looks at her earnestly for a moment.

  George. I don’t know if I’m doing right or wrong. I shall tell him nothing.

  [Daisy gives a deep sigh of relief, Harry comes in.

  Harry. I say, I’m awfully sorry to have been so long. I couldn’t get the old blighter to go.

  Daisy. [With complete self-control.] If I say you’ve been an age it’ll look as though Mr. Conway had been boring me.

  Harry. I hope you’ve made friends.