What is known so well to those who hate you?
LORD CLAVERTON. I will tell you very briefly
And simply. As for Frederick Culverwell,
He re-enters my life to make himself a reminder
Of one occasion the memory of which
He knows very well, has always haunted me.
I was driving back to Oxford. We had two girls with us.
It was late at night. A secondary road.
I ran over an old man lying in the road
And I did not stop. Then another man ran over him.
A lorry driver. He stopped and was arrested,
But was later discharged. It was definitely shown
That the old man had died a natural death
And had been run over after he was dead.
It was only a corpse that we had run over
So neither of us killed him. But I didn’t stop.
And all my life I have heard, from time to time,
When I least expected, between waking and sleeping,
A voice that whispered, ‘you didn’t stop!’
I knew the voice: it was Fred Culverwell’s.
MONICA. Poor Father! All your life! And no one to share it with;
I never knew how lonely you were
Or why you were lonely.
CHARLES. And Mrs. Carghill:
What has she against you?
LORD CLAVERTON. I was her first lover.
I would have married her — but my father prevented that:
Made it worth while for her not to marry me —
That was his way of putting it — and of course
Made it worth while for me not to marry her.
In fact, we were wholly unsuited to each other.
Yet she had a peculiar physical attraction
Which no other woman has had. And she knows it.
And she knows that the ghost of the man I was
Still clings to the ghost of the woman who was Maisie.
We should have been poor, we should certainly have quarrelled,
We should have been unhappy, might have come to divorce;
But she hasn’t forgotten or forgiven me.
CHARLES. This man, and this woman, who are so vindictive:
Don’t you see that they were as much at fault as you
And that they know it? That’s why they are inspired
With revenge — it’s their means of self-justification.
Let them tell their versions of their miserable stories.
Confide them in whispers. They cannot harm you.
LORD CLAVERTON. Your reasoning’s sound enough. But it’s irrelevant.
Each of them remembers an occasion
On which I ran away. Very well.
I shan’t run away now — run away from them.
It is through this meeting that I shall at last escape them.
— I’ve made my confession to you, Monica:
That is the first step taken towards my freedom,
And perhaps the most important. I know what you think.
You think that I suffer from a morbid conscience,
From brooding over faults I might well have forgotten.
You think that I’m sickening, when I’m just recovering!
It’s hard to make other people realise
The magnitude of things that appear to them petty;
It’s harder to confess the sin that no one believes in
Than the crime that everyone can appreciate.
For the crime is in relation to the law
And the sin is in relation to the sinner.
What has made the difference in the last five minutes
Is not the heinousness of my misdeeds
But the fact of my confession. And to you, Monica,
To you, of all people.
CHARLES. I grant you all that.
But what do you propose? How long. Lord Claverton,
Will you stay here and endure this persecution?
LORD CLAVERTON. To the end. The place and time of liberation
Are, I think, determined. Let us say no more about it.
Meanwhile, I feel sure they are conspiring against me.
I see Mrs. Carghill coming.
MONICA. Let us go.
LORD CLAVERTON. We will stay here. Let her join us.
[Enter MRS. CARGHILL]
MRS. CARGHILL. I’ve been hunting high and low for you, Richard!
I’ve some very exciting news for you!
But I suspect … Dare I? Yes, I’m sure of it, Monica!
I can tell by the change in your expression to-day;
This must be your fiancé. Do introduce him.
MONICA. Mr. Charles Hemington. Mrs. Carghill.
CHARLES. How do you do.
MRS. CARGHILL. What a charming name!
CHARLES. I’m glad my name meets with your approval, Mrs. Carghill.
MRS. CARGHILL. And let me congratulate you‚ Mr. Hemington.
You’re a very lucky man, to get a girl like Monica.
I take a great interest in her future.
Fancy! I’ve only known her two days!
But I feel like a mother to her already.
You may say that I just missed being her mother!
I’ve known her father for a very long time,
And there was a moment when I almost married him,
Oh so long ago. So you see, Mr. Hemington,
I’ve come to regard her as my adopted daughter.
So much so, that it seems odd to call you Mr. Hemington:
I’m going to call you Charles!
CHARLES. As you please, Mrs. Carghill.
LORD CLAVERTON. You said you had some exciting news for us.
Would you care to impart it?
MRS. CARGHILL. It’s about dear Michael.
LORD CLAVERTON. Oh? What about Michael?
MRS. CARGHILL. He’s told me all his story.
You’ve cruelly misunderstood him, Richard.
How he must have suffered! So I put on my thinking cap.
I know you’ve always thought me utterly brainless,
But I have an idea or two, now and then.
And in the end I discovered what Michael really wanted
For making a new start. He wants to go abroad!
And find his own way in the world. That’s very natural.
So I thought, why not appeal to Señor Gomez?
He’s a wealthy man, and very important
In his own country. And a friend of Michael’s father!
And I found him only too ready to help.
LORD CLAVERTON. And what was Señor Gomez able to suggest?
MRS. CARGHILL. Ah! That’s the surprise for which I’ve come to prepare you.
Dear Michael is so happy — all his problems are solved;
And he was so perplexed, poor lamb. Let’s all rejoice together.
[Enter GOMEZ and MICHAEL]
LORD CLAVERTON. Well, Michael, you know I expected you this morning,
But you never came.
MICHAEL. No, Father. I’ll explain why.
LORD CLAVERTON. And I learn that you have discussed your problems
With Mrs. Carghill and then with Señor Gomez.
MICHAEL. When I spoke, Father, of my wish to get abroad.
You couldn’t see my point of view. What’s the use of chasing
Half round the world, for the same sort of job
You got me here in London? With another Sir Alfred
Who’d constitute himself custodian of my morals
And send you back reports. Some sort of place
Where everyone would sneer at the fellow from London,
The limey remittance man for whom a job was made.
No! I want to go where I can make my own way,
Not merely be your son. That’s what Señor Gomez sees.
He understands my point of view, if you don’t.
And he’s offered me a job which is just what I wan
ted.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, I see the advantage of a job created for you
By Señor Gomez …
MICHAEL. It’s not created for me.
Señor Gomez came to London to find a man to fill it,
And he thinks I’m just the man.
GOMEZ. Yes, wasn’t it extraordinary.
LORD CLAVERTON. Of course you’re just the man that Señor Gomez wants,
But in a different sense, and for different reasons
From what you think. Let me tell you about Gomez.
He’s unlikely to try to be custodian of your morals;
His real name is Culverwell …
GOMEZ. My dear Dick,
You’re wasting your time, rehearsing ancient history.
Michael knows it already. I’ve told him myself.
I thought he’d better learn the facts from me
Before he heard your distorted version.
But, Dick, I was nettled by that insinuation
About my not being custodian of Michael’s morals.
That is just what I should be! And most appropriate,
Isn’t it, Dick, when we recall
That you were once custodian of my morals:
Though of course you went a little faster than I did.
LORD CLAVERTON. On that point, Fred, you’re wasting your time:
My daughter and my future son-in-law
Understand that allusion. I have told them the story
In explanation of our … intimacy
Which they found puzzling.
MRS. CARGHILL. Oh,Richard!
Have you explained to them our intimacy too?
LORD CLAVERTON. I have indeed.
MRS. CARGHILL. The romance of my life.
Your father was simply irresistible
In those days. I melted the first time he looked at me!
Some day, Monica, I’ll tell you all about it.
MONICA. I am satisfied with what I know already, Mrs. Carghill,
About you.
MRS. CARGHILL. But I was very lovely then.
GOMEZ. We are sure of that! You’re so lovely now
That we can well imagine you at … what age were you?
MRS. CARGHILL. Just eighteen.
LORD CLAVERTON. Now, Michael,
Señior Gomez says he has told you his story.
Did he include the fact that he served a term in prison?
MICHAEL. He told me everything. It was his experience
With you, that made him so understanding
Of my predicament.
LORD CLAVERTON. And made him invent
The position which he’d come to find the man for.
MICHAEL. I don’t care about that. He’s offered me the job
With a jolly good screw, and some pickings in commissions.
He’s made a fortune there. San Marco for me!
LORD CLAVERTON. And what are your duties to be? Do you know?
MICHAEL. We didn’t go into details. There’s time for that later.
GOMEZ. Much better to wait until we get there.
The nature of business in San Marco
Is easier explained in San Marco than in England.
LORD CLAVERTON. Perhaps you intend to change your name to Gomez?
GOMEZ. Oh no, Dick, there are plenty of other good names.
MONICA. Michael, Michael, you can’t abandon your family
And your very self — it’s a kind of suicide.
CHARLES. Michael, you think Señor Gomez is inspired by benevolence —
MICHAEL. I told you he’d come to London looking for a man
For an important post on his staff —
CHARLES. A post the nature of which is left very vague
MICHAEL. It’s confidential, I tell you.
CHARLES. So I can imagine:
Highly confidential …
GOMEZ. Be careful, Mr. Barrister.
You ought to know something about the law of slander.
Here’s Mrs. Carghill, a reliable witness.
CHARLES. I know enough about the law of libel and slander
To know that you are hardly likely to invoke it.
And, Michael, here’s another point to think of:
Señor Gomez has offered you a post in San Marco,
Señor Gomez pays your passage …
MICHAEL. And an advance of salary.
CHARLES. Señor Gomez pays your passage …
GOMEZ. Just as many years ago
His father paid mine.
CHARLES. This return of past kindness
No doubt gives you pleasure?
GOMEZ. Yes, it’s always pleasant
To repay an old debt. And better late than never.
CHARLES. I see your point of view. Can you really feel confidence,
Michael, in a man who aims to gratify, through you,
His lifelong grievance against your father?
Remember, you put yourself completely in the power
Of a man you don’t know, of the nature of whose business
You know nothing. All you can be sure of
Is that he served a prison sentence for forgery.
GOMEZ. Well, Michael, what do you say to all this?
MICHAEL. I’ll say that Hemington has plenty of cheek.
Señor Gomez and I have talked things over, Hemington …
GOMEZ. As two men of the world, we discussed things very frankly;
And I can tell you, Michael’s head is well screwed on.
He’s got brains, he’s got flair. When he does come back
He’ll be able to buy you out many times over.
MRS. CARGHILL. Richard, I think it’s time I joined the conversation.
My late husband, Mr. Carghill, was a business man —
I wish you could have known him, Señor Gomez!
You’re very much alike in some ways —
So I understand business. Mr. Carghill told me so.
Now, Michael has great abilities for business.
I saw that, and so does Señor Gomez.
He’s simply been suffering, poor boy, from frustration.
He’s been waiting all this time for opportunity
To make use of his gifts; and now, opportunity —
Opportunity has come knocking at the door.
Richard, you must not bar his way. That would be shameful.
LORD CLAVERTON. I cannot bar his way, as you know very well.
Michael’s a free agent. So if he chooses
To place himself in your power, Fred Culverwell,
Of his own volition to contract his enslavement,
I cannot prevent him. I have something to say to you,
Michael, before you go. I shall never repudiate you
Though you repudiate me. I see now clearly
The many many mistakes I have made
My whole life through, mistake upon mistake,
The mistaken attempts to correct mistakes
By methods which proved to be equally mistaken.
I see that your mother and I, in our failure
To understand each other, both misunderstood you
In our divergent ways. When I think of your childhood,
When I think of the happy little boy who was Michael,
When I think of your boyhood and adolescence,
And see how all the efforts aimed at your good
Only succeeded in defeating each other,
How can I feel anything but sorrow and compunction?
MONICA. Oh Michael, remember, you’re my only brother
And I’m your only sister. You never took much notice of me.
When we were growing up we seldom had the same friends.
I took all that for granted. So I didn’t know till now
How much it means to me to have a brother.
MICHAEL. Why of course, Monica. You know I’m very fond of you
Though we never really seemed to have much in common.
I remember
, when I came home for the holidays
How it used to get on my nerves, when I saw you
Always sitting there with your nose in a book.
And once, Mother snatched a book away from you
And tossed it into the fire. How I laughed!
You never seemed even to want a flirtation,
And my friends used to chaff me about my highbrow sister.
But all the same, I was fond of you, and always shall be.
We don’t meet often, but if we’re fond of each other,
That needn’t interfere with your life or mine.
MONICA. Oh Michael, you haven’t understood a single word
Of what I said. You must make your own life
Of course, just as I must make mine.
It’s not a question of your going abroad
But a question of the spirit which inspired your decision:
If you wish to renounce your father and your family
What is left between you and me?
MICHAEL. That makes no difference.
You’ll be seeing me again.
MONICA. But who will you be
When I see you again? Whoever you are then
I shall always pretend that it is the same Michael.
CHARLES. And when do you leave England?
MICHAEL. When we can get a passage.
And I must buy my kit. We’re just going up to London.
Señor Gomez will attend to my needs for that climate.
And you see, he has friends in the shipping line
Who he thinks can be helpful in getting reservations.
MRS. CARGHILL. It’s wonderful, Señor Gomez, how you manage everything!
— No sooner had I put my proposal before him
Than he had it all planned out! It really was an inspiration —
On my part, I mean. Are you listening to me, Richard?
You look very distrait. You ought to be excited!
LORD CLAVERTON. Is this good-bye then, Michael?
MICHAEL. Well, that just depends.
I could look in again. If there’s any point in it.
Personally, I think that when one’s come to a decision,
It’s as well to say good-bye at once and be done with it.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, if you’re going, and I see no way to stop you,
Then I agree with you, the sooner the better.
We may never meet again, Michael.
MICHAEL. I don’t see why not.
GOMEZ. At the end of five years he will get his first leave.
MICHAEL. Well… there’s nothing more to say, is there?
LORD CLAVERTON. Nothing at all.
MICHAEL. Then we might as well be going.
GOMEZ. Yes, we might as well be going.
You’ll be grateful to me in the end, Dick.
MRS. CARGHILL. A parent isn’t always the right person, Richard,
The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot Page 53