He exits.
ROSE. I don’t believe he had a sister, ever.
She takes the plate and cup to the sink. BERT pushes his chair back and rises.
All right. Wait a minute. Where’s your jersey?
She brings the jersey from the bed.
Here you are. Take your coat off. Get into it.
She helps him into his jersey.
Right. Where’s your muffler?
She brings a muffler from the bed.
Here you are. Wrap it round. That’s it. Don’t go too fest, Bert, will you? I’ll have some cocoa on when you get back. You won’t be long. Wait a minute. Where’s your overcoat? You’d better put on your overcoat.
He fixes his muffler, goes to the door and exits. She stands, watching the door, then turns slowly to the table, picks up the magazine, and puts it down. She stands and listens, goes to the fire, bends, lights the fire and warms her hands. She stands and looks about the room. She looks at the window and listens, goes quickly to the window, stops and straightens the curtain. She comes to the centre of the room, and looks towards the door. She goes to the bed, puts on a shawl, goes to the sink, takes a bin from under the sink, goes to the door and opens it.
ROSE. Oh!
MR and MRS SANDS are disclosed on the landing.
MRS SANDS. So sorry. We didn’t mean to be standing here, like. Didn’t mean to give you a fright. We’ve just come up the stairs.
ROSE. That’s all right.
MRS SANDS. This is Mr Sands. I’m Mrs Sands.
ROSE. How do you do?
MR SANDS grunts acknowledgement.
MRS SANDS. We were just going up the stairs. But you can’t see a thing in this place. Can you, Toddy?
MR SANDS. Not a thing.
ROSE. What were you looking for?
MRS SANDS. The man who runs the house.
MR SANDS. The landlord. We’re trying to get hold of the landlord.
MRS SANDS. What’s his name, Toddy?
ROSE. His name’s Mr Kidd.
MRS SANDS. Kidd, Was that the name, Toddy?
MR SANDS. Kidd? No, that’s not it.
ROSE. Mr Kidd. That’s his name.
MR SANDS. Well, that’s not the bloke we’re looking for.
ROSE. Well, you must be looking for someone else.
Pause.
MR SANDS. I suppose we must be.
ROSE. You look cold.
MRS SANDS. It’s murder out. Have you been out?
ROSE. No.
MRS SANDS. We’ve not long come in.
ROSE. Well, come inside, if you like, and have a warm.
They come into the centre of the room.
(Bringing the chair from the table to the fire). Sit down here. You can get a good warm.
MRS SANDS. Thanks. (She sits.)
ROSE. Come over by the fire, Mr. Sands.
MR SANDS. No, it’s all right. I’ll just stretch my legs.
MRS SANDS. Why? You haven’t been sitting down.
MR SANDS. What about it?
MRS SANDS. Well, why don’t you sit down?
MR SANDS. Why should I?
MRS SANDS. You must be cold.
MR SANDS. I’m not.
MRS SANDS. You must be. Bring over a chair and sit down.
MR SANDS. I’m all right standing up, thanks.
MRS SANDS. You don’t look one thing or the other standing up.
MR SANDS. I’m quite all right, Clarissa.
ROSE. Clarissa? What a pretty name.
MRS SANDS. Yes, it is nice, isn’t it? My father and mother gave it to me.
Pause.
You know, this is a room you can sit down and feel cosy in.
MR SANDS (looking at the room). It’s a fair size, all right.
MRS SANDS. Why don’t you sit down, Mrs –
ROSE. Hudd. No thanks.
MR SANDS. What did you say?
ROSE. When?
MR SANDS. What did you say the name was?
ROSE. Hudd.
MR SANDS. That’s it. You’re the wife of the bloke you mentioned then?
MRS SANDS. No, she isn’t. That was Mr Kidd.
MR SANDS. Was it? I thought it was Hudd.
MRS SANDS. No, it was Kidd. Wasn’t it, Mrs Hudd?
ROSE. That’s right. The landlord.
MRS SANDS. No, not the landlord. The other man.
ROSE. Well, that’s his name. He’s the landlord.
MR SANDS. Who?
ROSE. Mr Kidd.
Pause.
MR SANDS. Is he?
MRS SANDS. Maybe there are two landlords.
Pause.
MR SANDS. That’ll be the day.
MRS SANDS. What did you say?
MR SANDS. I said that’ll be the day.
Pause.
ROSE. What’s it like out?
MRS SANDS. It’s very dark out.
MR SANDS. No darker than in.
MRS SANDS. He’s right there.
MR SANDS. It’s darker in than out, for my money.
MRS SANDS. There’s not much light in this place, is there, Mrs Hudd? Do you know, this is the first bit of light we’ve seen since we came in?
MR SANDS. The first crack.
ROSE. I never go out at night. We stay in.
MRS SANDS. Now I come to think of it, I saw a star.
MR SANDS. You saw what?
MRS SANDS. Well, I think I did.
MR SANDS. You think you saw what?
MRS SANDS. A star.
MR SANDS. Where?
MRS SANDS. In the sky.
MR SANDS. When?
MRS SANDS. As we were coming along.
MR SANDS. Go home.
MRS SANDS. What do you mean?
MR SANDS. You didn’t see a star.
MRS SANDS. Why not?
MR SANDS. Because I’m telling you. I’m telling you you didn’t see a star.
Pause.
ROSE. I hope it’s not too dark out. I hope it’s not too icy. My husband’s in his van. He doesn’t drive slow either. He never drives slow.
MR SANDS (guffawing). Well, he’s taking a big chance tonight then.
ROSE. What?
MR SANDS. No – I mean, it’d be a bit dodgy driving tonight.
ROSE. He’s a very good driver.
Pause.
How long have you been here?
MRS SANDS. I don’t know. How long have we been here, Toddy?
MR SANDS. About half an hour.
MRS SANDS. Longer than that, much longer.
MRS SANDS. About thirty-five minutes.
ROSE. Well, I think you’ll find Mr Kidd about somewhere. He’s not long gone to make his tea.
MR SANDS. He lives here, does he?
ROSE. Of course he lives here.
MR SANDS. And you say he’s the landlord, is he?
ROSE. Of course he is.
MR SANDS. Well, say I wanted to get hold of him, where would I find him?
ROSE. Well – I’m not sure.
MR SANDS. He lives here, does he?
ROSE. Yes, but I don’t know –
MR SANDS. You don’t know exactly where he hangs out?
ROSE. No, not exactly.
MR SANDS. But he does live here, doesn’t he?
Pause.
MRS SANDS. This is a very big house, Toddy.
MR SANDS. Yes, I know it is. But Mrs Hudd seems to know Mr Kidd very well.
ROSE. No, I wouldn’t say that. As a matter of fact, I don’t know him at all. We’re very quiet. We keep ourselves to ourselves. I never interfere. I mean, why should I? We’ve got our room. We don’t bother anyone else. That’s the way it should be.
MRS SANDS. It’s a nice house, isn’t it? Roomy.
ROSE. I don’t know about the house. We’re all right, but I wouldn’t mind betting there’s a lot wrong with this house. (She sits in the rocking-chair.) I think there’s a lot of damp.
MRS SANDS. Yes, I felt a bit of damp when we were in the basement just now.
ROSE. You were in the basement?
MRS SANDS. Yes, we went down there when we came in.
ROSE. Why?
MRS SANDS. We were looking for the landlord.
ROSE. What was it like down there?
MR SANDS. Couldn’t see a thing.
ROSE. Why not?
MR SANDS. There wasn’t any light.
ROSE. But what was – you said it was damp?
MRS SANDS. I felt a bit, didn’t you, Tod?
MR SANDS. Why? Haven’t you ever been down there, Mrs Hudd?
ROSE. Oh yes, once, a long time ago.
MR SANDS. Well, you know what it’s like then, don’t you?
ROSE. It was a long time ago
MR SANDS. You haven’t been here all that long, have you?
ROSE. I was just wondering whether anyone was living down there now.
MRS SANDS. Yes. A man.
ROSE. A man?
MRS SANDS. Yes.
ROSE. One man?
MR SANDS. Yes, there was a bloke down there, all right.
He perches on the table.
MRS SANDS. You’re sitting down!
MR SANDS (jumping up). Who is?
MRS SANDS. You were.
MR SANDS. Don’t be silly. I perched.
MRS SANDS. I saw you sit down.
MR SANDS. You did not see me sit down because I did not sit bloody well down. I perched!
MRS SANDS. Do you think I can’t perceive when someone’s sitting down?
MR SANDS. Perceive! That’s all you do. Perceive.
MRS SANDS. You could do with a bit more of that instead of all that tripe you get up to.
MR SANDS. You don’t mind some of that tripe!
MRS SANDS. You take after your uncle, that’s who you take after!
MR SANDS. And who do you take after?
MRS SANDS (rising). I didn’t bring you into the world.
MR SANDS. You didn’t what?
MRS SANDS. I said, I didn’t bring you into the world.
MR SANDS. Well, who did then? That’s what I want to know. Who did? Who did bring me into the world?
She sits, muttering. He stands, muttering.
ROSE. You say you saw a man downstairs, in the basement?
MRS SANDS. Yes, Mrs Hudd, you see, the thing is, Mrs Hudd, we’d heard they’d got a room to let here, so we thought we’d come along and have a look. Because we’re looking for a place, you see, somewhere quiet, and we knew this district was quiet, and we passed the house a few months ago and we thought it looked very nice, but we thought we’d call of an evening, to catch the landlord, so we came along this evening. Well, when we got here we walked in the front door and it was very dark in the hall and there wasn’t anyone about. So we went down to the basement. Well, we got down there only due to Toddy having such good eyesight really. Between you and me, I didn’t like the look of it much, I mean the feel, we couldn’t make much out, it smelt damp to me. Anyway, we went through a kind of partition, then there was another partition, and we couldn’t see where we were going, well, it seemed to me it got darker the more we went, the further we went in, I thought we must have come to the wrong house. So I stopped. And Toddy stopped. And then this voice said, this voice came – it said – well, it gave me a bit of a fright, I don’t know about Tod, but someone asked if he could do anything for us. So Tod said we were looking for the landlord and this man said the landlord would be upstairs. Then Tod asked was there a room vacant. And this man, this voice really, I think he was behind the partition, said yes there was a room vacant. He was very polite, I thought, but we never saw him, I don’t know why they never put a light on. Anyway, we got out then and we came up and we went to the top of the house. I don’t know whether it was the top. There was a door locked on the stairs, so there might have been another floor, but we didn’t see anyone, and it was dark, and we were just coming down again when you opened your door.
ROSE. You said you were going up.
MRS SANDS. What?
ROSE. You said you were going up before.
MRS SANDS. No, we were coming down.
ROSE. You didn’t say that before.
MRS SANDS. We’d been up.
MR SANDS. We’d been up. We were coming down.
Pause.
ROSE. This man, what was he like, was he old?
MRS SANDS. We didn’t see him.
ROSE. Was he old?
Pause.
MR SANDS. Well, we’d better try to get hold of this landlord, if he’s about.
ROSE. You won’t find any rooms vacant in this house.
MR SANDS. Why not?
ROSE. Mr Kidd told me. He told me.
MR SANDS. Mr Kidd?
ROSE. He told me he was full up.
MR SANDS. The man in the basement said there was one. One room. Number seven he said.
Pause.
ROSE. That’s this room.
MR SANDS. We’d better go and get hold of the landlord.
MRS SANDS (rising). Well, thank you for the warm-up, Mrs Hudd. I feel better now.
ROSE. This room is occupied.
MR SANDS. Come on.
MRS SANDS. Goodnight, Mrs Hudd. I hope your husband won’t be too long. Must be lonely for you, being all alone here.
MR SANDS. Come on.
They go out. ROSE watches the door close, starts towards it, and stops. She takes the chair back to the table, picks up the magazine, looks at it, and puts it down. She goes to the rocking-chair, sits, rocks, stops, and sits still. There is a sharp knock at the door, which opens. Enter MR KIDD.
MR KIDD. I came straight in.
ROSE (rising). Mr Kidd! I was just going to find you. I’ve got to speak to you.
MR KIDD. Look here, Mrs Hudd, I’ve got to speak to you. I came up specially.
ROSE. There were two people in here just now. They said this room was going vacant. What were they talking about?
MR KIDD. As soon as I heard the van go I got ready to come and see you. I’m knocked out.
ROSE. What was it all about? Did you see those people? How can this room be going? It’s occupied. Did they get hold of you, Mr Kidd?
MR KIDD. Get hold of me? Who?
ROSE. I told you. Two people. They were looking for the landlord.
MR KIDD. I’m just telling you. I’ve been getting ready to come and see you, as soon as I heard the van go.
ROSE. Well then, who were they?
MR KIDD. That’s why I came up before. But he hadn’t gone yet. I’ve been waiting for him to go the whole week-end.
ROSE. Mr Kidd, what did they mean about this room?
MR KIDD. What room?
ROSE. Is this room vacant?
MR KIDD. Vacant?
ROSE. They were looking for the landlord.
MR KIDD. Who were?
ROSE. Listen, Mr Kidd, you are the landlord, aren’t you? There isn’t any other landlord?
MR KIDD. What? What’s that got to do with it? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve got to tell you, that’s all. I’ve got to tell you. I’ve had a terrible week-end. You’ll have to see him. I can’t take it any more. You’ve got to see him.
Pause.
ROSE. Who?
MR KIDD. The man. He’s been waiting to see you. He wants to see you. I can’t get rid of him. I’m not a young man, Mrs Hudd, that’s apparent. It’s apparent. You’ve got to see him.
ROSE. See who?
MR KIDD. The man. He’s downstairs now. He’s been there the whole week-end. He said that when Mr Hudd went out I was to tell him. That’s why I came up before. But he hadn’t gone yet. So I told him. I said he hasn’t gone yet. I said, well when he goes, I said, you can go up, go up, have done with it. No, he says, you must ask her if she’ll see me. So I came up again, to ask you if you’ll see him.
ROSE. Who is he?
MR KIDD. How do I know who he is? All I know is he won’t say a word, he won’t indulge in any conversation, just – has he gone? that and nothing else. He wouldn’t eve
n play a game of chess. All right, I said, the other night, while we’re waiting I’ll play you a game of chess. You play chess, don’t you? I tell you, Mrs Hudd, I don’t know if he even heard what I was saying. He just lies there. It’s not good for me. He just lies there, that’s all, waiting.
ROSE. He lies there, in the basement?
MR KIDD. Shall I tell him it’s all right, Mrs Hudd?
ROSE. But it’s damp down there.
MR KIDD. Shall I tell him it’s all right?
ROSE. That what’s all right?
MR KIDD. That you’ll see him.
ROSE. See him? I beg your pardon, Mr Kidd. I don’t know him. Why should I see him?
MR KIDD. You won’t see him?
ROSE. Do you expect me to see someone I don’t know? With my husband not here too?
MR KIDD. But he knows you, Mrs Hudd, he knows you.
ROSE. How could he, Mr Kidd, when I don’t know him?
MR KIDD. You must know him.
ROSE. But I don’t know anybody. We’re quiet here. We’ve just moved into this district.
MR KIDD. But he doesn’t come from this district. Perhaps you knew him in another district.
ROSE. Mr Kidd, do you think I go around knowing men in one district after another? What do you think I am?
MR KIDD. I don’t know what I think.
He sits.
I think I’m going off my squiff.
ROSE. You need rest. An old man like you. What you need is rest.
MR KIDD. He hasn’t given me any rest. Just lying there. In the black dark. Hour after hour. Why don’t you leave me be, both of you? Mrs Hudd, have a bit of pity. Please see him. Why don’t you see him?
ROSE. I don’t know him.
MR KIDD. You can never tell. You might know him.
ROSE. I don’t know him.
MR KIDD (rising). I don’t know what’ll happen if you don’t see him.
ROSE. I’ve told you I don’t know this man!
MR KIDD. I know what he’ll do. I know what he’ll do. If you don’t see him now, there’ll be nothing else for it, he’ll come up on his own bat, when your husband’s here, that’s what he’ll do. He’ll come up when Mr Hudd’s here, when your husband’s here.
ROSE. He’d never do that.
MR KIDD. He would do that. That’s exactly what he’ll do. You don’t think he’s going to go away without seeing you, after he’s come all this way, do you? You don’t think that, do you?
ROSE. All this way?
MR KIDD. You don’t think he’s going to do that, do you?
Pause.
Harold Pinter Plays 1 Page 9