Complete Poems and Plays
Page 53
And I came to see that what I had interpreted
In this way, was something else to him —
An idea, an inspiration. What he wanted to transmit to me
Was that idea, that inspiration,
Which to him was life. To me, it was a burden.
You can’t communicate an inspiration,
Like that, by force of will. He was a great financier —
And I am merely a successful one.
I might have been truer to my father’s inspiration
If I had done what I wanted to do.
LADY ELIZABETH. You’ve never talked like this to me before!
Why haven’t you? I don’t suppose I understand
And I know you don’t think I understand anything,
And perhaps I don’t. But I wish you would talk
Sometimes to me as if I did understand,
And perhaps I might come to understand better.
What did you want to do?
SIR CLAUDE. To be a potter.
Don’t laugh.
LADY ELIZABETH. I’m not laughing. I was only thinking
How strange to have lived with you, all these years,
And now you tell me, you’d have liked to be a potter!
You really mean, to make jugs and jars
Like those in your collection?
SIR CLAUDE. That’s what I mean.
LADY ELIZABETH. But I should have loved you to be a potter!
Why have you never told me?
SIR CLAUDE. I didn’t think
That you would be interested. More than that.
I took it for granted that what you wanted
Was a husband of importance. I thought you would despise me
If you knew what I’d really wanted to be.
LADY ELIZABETH. And I took it for granted that you were not interested
In anything but financial affairs;
And that you needed me chiefly as a hostess.
It’s a great mistake, I do believe,
For married people to take anything for granted.
SIR CLAUDE. That was a very intelligent remark.
Perhaps I have taken too much for granted
About you, Elizabeth. What did you want?
LADY ELIZABETH. To inspire an artist. Don’t laugh.
SIR CLAUDE. I’m not laughing.
So what you wanted was to inspire an artist!
LADY ELIZABETH. Or to inspire a poet. I thought Tony was a poet.
Because he wrote me poems. And he was so beautiful.
I know now that poets don’t look like poets:
And financiers, it seems, don’t look like potters —
Is that what I mean? I’m getting confused.
I thought I was escaping from a world that I loathed
In Tony — and then, too late, I discovered
He belonged to the world I wanted to escape from.
He was so commonplace! I wanted to forget him,
And so, I suppose, I wanted to forget
Colby. But Colby is an artist.
SIR CLAUDE. A musician.
I am a disappointed craftsman,
And Colby is a disappointed composer.
I should have been a second-rate potter,
And he would have been a second-rate organist.
We have both chosen … obedience to the facts.
LADY ELIZABETH. I believe that was what I was trying to do.
It’s very strange, Claude, but this is the first time
I have talked to you, without feeling very stupid.
You always made me feel that I wasn’t worth talking to.
SIR CLAUDE. And you always made me feel that your interests
Were much too deep for discussion with me:
Health cures. And modern art — so long as it was modern —
And dervish dancing.
LADY ELIZABETH. Dervish dancing!
Really, Claude, how absurd you are!
Not that there isn’t a lot to be learnt,
I don’t doubt, from the dervish rituals.
But it doesn’t matter what Mrs. Guzzard tells us,
If it satisfies Colby. Whatever happens
He shall be our son.
[A knock on the door. Enter EGGERSON]
SIR CLAUDE. Good morning, Eggerson.
EGGERSON. Good morning, Sir Claude. And Lady Elizabeth!
SIR CLAUDE. I’m sorry, Eggerson, to bring you up to London
At such short notice.
EGGERSON. Don’t say that, Sir Claude.
It’s true, I haven’t much nowadays to bring me;
But Mrs. E. wishes I’d come up oftener!
Isn’t that like the ladies! She used to complain
At my being up in London five or six days a week:
But now she says: ‘You’re becoming such a countryman!
You’re losing touch with public affairs.’
The fact is, she misses the contact with London,
Though she doesn’t admit it. She misses my news
When I came home in the evening. And the late editions
Of the papers that I picked up at Liverpool Street.
But I’ve so much to do, in Joshua Park —
Apart from the garden — that I’ve not an idle moment.
And really, now, I’m quite lost in London.
Every time I come, I notice the traffic
Has got so much worse.
SIR CLAUDE. Yes, it’s always getting worse.
LADY ELIZABETH. — I hope Mrs. Eggerson is well?
EGGERSON. Pretty well.
She’s always low-spirited, around this season,
When we’re getting near the anniversary.
SIR CLAUDE. The anniversary? Of your son’s death?
EGGERSON. Of the day we got the news. We don’t often speak of it;
Yet I know what’s on her mind, for days beforehand.
But here I am, talking about ourselves!
And we’ve more important business, I imagine.
SIR CLAUDE. Eggerson, I’m expecting Mrs. Guzzard.
EGGERSON. Indeed! Mrs. Guzzard! And why are we expecting her?
SIR CLAUDE. I have asked her to come. Lady Elizabeth
Is sure that she knows the name of Mrs. Guzzard.
LADY ELIZABETH. Mrs. Guzzard, of Teddington.
EGGERSON. Ah, indeed!
I shouldn’t have expected her name to be known to you.
SIR CLAUDE. She’d been questioning Colby about himself,
And he mentioned the name of his aunt, Mrs. Guzzard.
Now she’s convinced that Mrs. Guzzard
Of Teddington is the name of the person
To whom her own child was entrusted.
EGGERSON. What an amazing coincidence!
SIR CLAUDE. That’s what it is,
Unless she is mistaken …
LADY ELIZABETH. Now,Claude!
SIR CLAUDE. And she came to the conclusion that her child must be Colby,
So I told her the truth. But she cannot believe it.
LADY ELIZABETH. Claude, that’s not quite right. Let me explain.
I am convinced that Sir Claude is mistaken,
Or has been deceived, and that Colby is my son.
I feel sure he is. But I don’t want to know:
I am perfectly content to leave things as they are,
So that we may regard him as our son.
SIR CLAUDE. That is perfectly correct. It is Colby
Who is not satisfied with that solution.
He insists upon the facts. And that is why
I have asked Mrs. Guzzard here. She doesn’t know that.
EGGERSON. A natural line for Mr. Simpkins to take,
If I may say so. Of course, we might discover
Another Mrs. Guzzard …
LADY ELIZABETH. Two Mrs. Guzzards?
EGGERSON. I agree, it is a most uncommon name,
But stranger things have happened.
LA
DY ELIZABETH. And both in Teddington?
EGGERSON. I agree, that would be most surprising.
And at the same address?
LADY ELIZABETH. I don’t know the address.
Mrs. Guzzard of Teddington, that’s all I know,
And that I could swear to.
EGGERSON. It does seem unlikely
That there should be two Mrs. Guzzards in Teddington.
But assuming, for the moment, only one Mrs. Guzzard,
Could there not have been two babies?
LADY ELIZABETH. Two babies, Eggerson?
EGGERSON. I was only suggesting
That perhaps Mrs. Guzzard made a profession
Of … looking after other people’s children?
In a manner of speaking, it’s perfectly respectable.
SIR CLAUDE. You’re suggesting that she ran a baby farm.
That’s most unlikely, nowadays.
Besides, I should have noticed it. I visited her house
Often. I never saw more than one baby.
EGGERSON. She might have taken in another one
As a temporary accommodation —
On suitable terms. But if she did that,
We must enquire what became of the other one.
SIR CLAUDE. But this baby was Colby.
LADY ELIZABETH. Of course it was Colby.
SIR CLAUDE. But Eggerson, you really can’t ask me to believe
That she took two babies, and got them mixed.
LADY ELIZABETH. That seems to be what happened. And now we must find out
What became of your child, Claude.
SIR CLAUDE. What became of my child!
The mother of my child was Mrs. Guzzard’s sister.
She wouldn’t dispose of him. It’s your child, Elizabeth,
Whom we must try to trace.
EGGERSON. If there was another child
Then we must try to trace it. Certainly, Sir Claude:
Our first step must be to question Mrs. Guzzard.
SIR CLAUDE. And that’s what we are here for. She will be here shortly.
And when she arrives I will summon Colby.
I wanted you here first, to explain the situation:
And I thought I would like you to conduct the proceedings.
Will you sit at the desk?
EGGERSON. If you wish, Sir Claude.
I do feel more at ease when I’m behind a desk:
It’s second nature.
SIR CLAUDE. And put the case to her.
Don’t let her think that I have any doubts:
You are putting the questions on behalf of my wife.
EGGERSON. I understand, Sir Claude: I understand completely.
[A knock on the door]
SIR CLAUDE. Good Lord, she’s here already! Well … Come in!
[Enter LUCASTA]
LUCASTA. Is this a meeting? I came to speak to Colby.
I’m sorry.
SIR CLAUDE. Colby will be here.
But you’re not involved in this meeting, Lucasta.
Won’t it do another time?
LUCASTA. I came to apologise
To Colby. No matter. It’ll do another time.
Oh, I’m glad you’re here, Eggy! You’re such a support.
In any case, I’ve an announcement to make,
And I might as well make it now. If you’ll listen.
SIR CLAUDE. Of course I’ll listen. But we haven’t much time.
LUCASTA. It won’t take much time. I’m going to marry B.
SIR CLAUDE. To marry B.! But I thought that was all settled.
LUCASTA. Yes, of course, Claude. You thought everything settled.
That was just the trouble. You made it so obvious
That this would be the ideal solution
From your point of view. To get me off your hands.
Oh, I know what a nuisance you’ve always found me!
And I haven’t made it easier. I didn’t try to.
And knowing that you wanted me to marry B.
Made me determined that I wouldn’t. Just to spite you,
I dare say. That was why I took an interest
In Colby. Because you thought he was too good for me.
SIR CLAUDE. In Colby!
LUCASTA. Why not? That’s perfectly natural.
But I’m grateful to Colby. But for Colby
I’d never have come to appreciate B.
SIR CLAUDE. But Colby! Lucasta, if I’d suspected this
I would have explained. Colby is your brother.
EGGERSON. Half-brother, Miss Angel.
SIR CLAUDE. Yes, half-brother.
LUCASTA. What do you mean?
SIR CLAUDE. Colby is my son.
LADY ELIZABETH. That is what Sir Claude believes. Claude, let me explain.
SIR CLAUDE. No, I’ll explain. There’s been some misunderstanding.
My wife believes that Colby is her son.
That is the reason for this meeting today.
We’re awaiting Mrs. Guzzard — Colby’s aunt.
LUCASTA. Colby’s aunt? You make my brain reel.
SIR CLAUDE. I ought to have made things clear to you
At the time when he came here. But I didn’t trust you
To keep a secret. There were reasons for that
Which no longer exist. But I ought to have told you.
LUCASTA. Well, I don’t understand. What I do understand
Is Colby’s behaviour. If he knew it.
SIR CLAUDE. He knew it.
LUCASTA. Why didn’t he tell me? Perhaps he was about to.
Anyway, I knew there had been some mistake.
You don’t know at all what I’m talking about!
But if he knew that he was your son
He must have been staggered when I said I was your daughter!
I came to thank him for the shock he’d given me.
He made me see what I really wanted.
B. makes me feel safe. And that’s what I want.
And somehow or other, I’ve something to give him —
Something that he needs. Colby doesn’t need me,
He doesn’t need anyone. He’s fascinating,
But he’s undependable. He has his own world,
And he might vanish into it at any moment —
At just the moment when you needed him most!
And he doesn’t depend upon other people, either.
B. needs me. He’s been hurt by life, just as I have,
And we can help each other. Oh, I know you think of him
Simply as a business man. As you thought of me
Simply as a nuisance. We’re suited to each other:
You thought so too, Claude, but for the wrong reasons,
And that put me off. So I’m grateful to Colby.
SIR CLAUDE. I don’t know what’s happened, but nevertheless
I’m sure that you have made the right decision.
LUCASTA. But the reasons why you think so are the wrong ones.
LADY ELIZABETH. And I’m sure too, Lucasta, you have made a wise decision.
LUCASTA. And I know very well why you think so:
You think we’re suited because we’re both common.
B. knows you think him common. And so he pretends
To be very common, because he knows you think so.
You gave us our parts. And we’ve shown that we can play them.
LADY ELIZABETH. I don’t think you ought to say that, Lucasta;
I have always been a person of liberal views —
That’s why I never got on with my family.
LUCASTA. Well, I’m not a person of liberal views.
I’m very conventional. And I’m not ashamed of it.
SIR CLAUDE. Perhaps you are right. I’m not sure of anything.
Perhaps, as you say, I’ve misunderstood B.,
And I’ve never thought that I understood you;
And I certainly fail to understand Colby.
LADY ELIZABETH. Bu
t you and I, Claude, can understand each other,
No matter how late. And perhaps that will help us