by Unknown
JENNY. And if baby cries, will you call me? (LOOKS IN AT BEDROOM DOOR.) Well, I never, if she hasna woke up again. Oh, the wonder!
MARGARET. You little mother! Jenny, the best I can wish you is that when you are married you may have as many children as the little old woman who lived in a shoe.
JENNY (IN A TRANSPORT OF DELIGHT). Oh, ma’am!
(Exit JENNY, MARGARET, left alone, is very conscious of her wedding ring. She kisses it gleefully. Then stretches out arm and gazes at ring, then tries to avert her head; then peeps at ring over her shoulder, then determinedly covers left hand with right, then can’t resist another peep, then kisses ring again and runs to bedroom door.)
MARGARET (peeping in at bedroom). be! baby! I am coming in to see you. Mrs. Paul Digby presents her compliments to Miss Ommaney and may she come in and hug her?
(She enters bedroom, leaving door partly open, jenny reappears wearing necklace of glass of which she is very proud, and listens.)
Poor little spinster. There, I was a spinster once myself, baby; but it is so long, long ago, that I have quite forgotten what it was like.
JENNY. And it was only yesterday!
MARGARET (CALLING). Jenny, you are listening! Go away!
(EXIT jenny HURRIEDLY.)
(TO BABY) She was listening, the naughty Jenny! My watch? Oh, yes, you can eat my watch. No, let me put it to your ear. Now listen. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
(Enter MRS. ommaney in cloak and bonnet; she looks sullen and disappointed; lets cloak drop on table, hangs bonnet up in cupboard; coming back to table, sees her cloak on it and flings it to back of stage, sits down by fire wearily.) I hear Jennie again. I shall shut the door, baby, and then she can’t hear.
(MARGARET SHUTS DOOR WITHOUT LOOKING OUT; mrs ommaney HAS STARTED TO HER FEET. ENTER jenny.)
MRS OMMANEY. Oh, Jenny, who is in there?
JENNY (GLEEFULLY). Oh, ma’am, it’s Miss Margaret — Mrs. Digby, I mean.
MRS OMMANEY (FIERCELY). She — with my child! (STRIDES TOWARDS DOOR, STOPS — LAUGHS GRIMLY.) How did she know I was lodging here?
JENNY. A woman told her.
MRS OMMANEY. It is fate! Has she been talking of — (WITH QUIET SARCASM) — her dear husband?
JENNY (SHARPLY). You dinna ken her. Mr. Digby doesna ken she has come to see you.
MRS OMMANEY (GRIMLY). No, I’ll swear he doesn’t. (SUDDENLY) But I thought they had gone out together.
JENNY. Who telled ye?
MRS. OMMANEY. Never mind. (Laughs — kisses her hand to bedroom door.)
JENNY. Did you see your friend, ma’am?
MRS OMMANEY (LISTLESS). No, he was out.
JENNY (INQUISITIVELY). I suppose you winna tell me what your business with him was?
MRS OMMANEY. Yes, Jenny, I will tell you. He has broken his promise to me and my business is to expose him. Unless —
JENNY. Unless what, ma’am?
MRS OMMANEY. Unless he is willing to buy my silence.
(jenny LOOKS PUZZLED.)
Oh, he knows the value of it, Jenny. (DOGGEDLY) But it is not to be bought with money. He shan’t buy it with money.
JENNY. With what, then?
MRS OMMANEY. Jenny, do you think me pretty?
JENNY. Oh, ma’am, what can that have to do with it?
MRS OMMANEY (PASSIONATELY). It has everything to do with it. It is life or death to me now. Quick, I was pretty once.
(JENNY makes no answer and MRS. OMMANEY sinks back in distress into chair.)
All gone, all gone! (PITIFULLY) Never mind, pity may do as well.
JENNY. I dinna understand, ma’am.
MRS OMMANEY. You will understand soon — unless he agrees. Everyone will understand. It will be the talk of the place, I promise you. (POINTING TOWARDS BEDROOM) Get rid of her.
JENNY. But she is waiting for Mr. Digby.
MRS OMMANEY (STARTING UP). What! You said he did not know she was coming here. He can’t have known.
JENNY. She didna ken hersel’. But she telled him to come for her to the door where her carriage was standing. She meant it would be Goody Lindsay’s door.
MRS OMMANEY. He will come here — here! (QUICKLY) I want to see him alone. Get rid of her and —
(MARGARET opens door and addresses JENNY. MRS.
OMMANEY being up stage is invisible to MARGARET.)
MARGARET. Jenny!
(JENNY goes to door.)
Don’t you see Mr. Digby coming yet?
JENNY. No, ma’am, but —
(MRS. OMMANEY signs to silence JENNY, MARGARET goes back to child, leaving door partly open.)
MARGARET (in fun). Baby, I am a grass widow!
(MRS. OMMANEY signs imperiously to JENNY to go. Exit JENNY.)
Are you laughing, baby? When your mother’s tears fall on your face do you laugh on only? Oh, I see now why God gives the merriest babies to mothers who are the most sorrowful. It is because, when baby laughs, mother forgets to weep.
(The hardness goes out of MRS. OMMANEY’S face — she is moved.)
This is my wedding ring, baby, kiss it!
(MRS. OMMANEY starts up, forming the word ‘ No’ with her Ups.)
Did you ever kiss your mother’s wedding ring, baby?
(MRS. OMMANEY looks bitterly at her left hand on which there is no ring.)
If she doesn’t come soon, dear, I won’t be able to see her, for my Paul has taken a sudden dislike to this place, and we are going away tomorrow to a beautiful country called Switzerland.
MRS. OMMANEY (excitedly). What!
MARGARET. Jenny, you ‘re horrid. (RISES AND SHUTS DOOR.)
MRS. ommaney (IN A WHITE HEAT, HER VOICE INTENT BUT LOW). Running away from me, are you, Paul Digby? No, no. And from your child that you don’t know of yet. You shall know of her now. (CALLING) Jenny!
(ENTER jenny, mrs ommaney CONCEALS HER FURY.)
Jenny, you thought I disliked your Miss Margaret. Listen to this. As soon as her husband comes in I mean to give them a marriage present.
JENNY (delighted). Oh!
MRS OMMANEY (WITH CRUEL GLEE AND SO INTENSE THAT HER VOICE DROPS ALMOST TO A WHISPER). Such an UNCOMMON marriage present, Jenny, and in a way it belongs to Mr. Digby already, as much as to me. But he has never seen it; he does not even know of its existence. Is not that a curious present?
JENNY. Terrible curious. And you will give it TO THEM as soon as he comes in?
MRS. OMMANEY. AS SOON AS he comes IN. See if he is coming.
JENNY. Oh, what fun! (EXIT jenny.)
MRS OMMANEY. What fun, what fun! Run away from me. No, no! (WAVES HAND AS IF BECKONING PAUL FORWARDS.)
Looking for your wife, are you? Ha, ha! In here, Mr. Digby — (POINTING TO THE BEDROOM DOOR) — with your child. Where else should she be? Wife and child, wife and child. (HER VOICE IS LOW, SO THAT MARGARET SHAN’T HEAR HER, BUT VEHEMENT.)
(jenny RUNS IN. mrs ommaney’s FACE IS FROM HER.)
JENNY (EXCITEDLY). I see him coming.
MRS OMMANEY. Ah!
JENNY (opening bedroom door and entering). He’s coming, Miss Margaret.
(She goes out of sight, MRS. OMMANEY stares at entrance, waving to him to come quickly. She is gloating. The door has been left open and MARGARET can be heard again.)
MARGARET. He is coming, baby! Paul is coming; I am so happy, I could dance. Look, look!
(She is heard and seen dancing and humming a nursery song. MRS. OMMANEY gloats over this, rubbing her hands together with glee, stopping now and again to wave to PAUL to come in, and then pointing at bedroom. Presently MARGARET ceases. MRS. OMMANEY is now staring at bedroom door. A vacant look comes into her face; she looks about her as if uncertain where she is; her eyes identify nothing as they roam about the room. She is frightened. She sees door of bedroom, and a gleam of intelligence comes back. She moves arms again as if conducting dancing and hums MARGARET’S song, then sinks into chair and now stares straight before her, muttering, as if in fear, to herself. She begins to shake; the shakin
g becomes more violent, until her arms are striking the sides of the chair and her feet are rattling on the floor. When it lessens and stops, her face is now foolish but sweet; she simpers to herself amiably. Enter JENNY, MRS. OMMANEY looks at her sweetly but without recognition.)
JENNY. Oh, ma’am! (Shrinks.)
MRS. OMMANEY (puzzled). Who are YOU?
JENNY (CALLING). Miss Margaret.
(Enter MARGARET. She sees mrs ommaney’s condition and shrinks.)
Oh, Miss Margaret, she IS — the same as that other time.
MRS OMMANEY (TO MARGARET). Miss Margaret! Is that your name?
MARGARET. Poor woman!
MRS OMMANEY (SWEETLY). Poor woman? I remember.
(LOOKS SOFTLY AT MARGARET.) It was my wedding day and you were there; I was so happy, but you, poor woman.
MARGARET. Jenny, she is confusing me with herself.
JENNY (TO mrs ommaney). Come and lie down.
MRS OMMANEY. I was in my wedding gown but you —
(PROUDLY) He preferred me, you know.
(MARGARET sits tearfully.)
Don’t cry, pretty dear. (GOING PITYINGLY TO HER) Shall I let you see my love’s portrait? It is on this locket — (ON HER NECK) — I can’t open it.
JENNY. Come and see baby.
MRS OMANNEY (VACANTLY). Baby? (LOOKING AT BEDROOM)
So that’s your baby! And you look such a good one!
(GIGGLING) Miss Margaret! (BECOMING SWEET AGAIN AS SHE SEES MARGARET IS DISTRESSED) I won’t tell. But you mustn’t call yourself Miss Margaret. Call yourself Mrs. Margaret — then no one will know. (NODS AS IF THIS WERE A CLEVER IDEA.)
(A knock at door.)
MARGARET (starting). Paul!
MRS OMMANEY. We are to be married and I am not dressed yet.
(Exit into bedroom hurriedly with JENNY, MARGARET meets PAUL as he enters.)
PAUL (in high spirits). Margaret, it is all arranged.
MARGARET (clinging to him). I thought you were never coming.
PAUL. Lady Janet detained me. She stayed last night at Old Keep but is on her way home now.
MARGARET. You have seen auntie?
PAUL. I left her in the postoffice but I had to tell her you were visiting your old nurse. (DOLEFULLY) And, of course, she said she must see you.
MARGARET. But, Paul, this is not nurse’s house. Mrs. Ommaney is here —
PAUL. What! (He is like one turned to stone!)
MARGARET. And, poor lady, she —
JENNY (calling excitedly). Miss Margaret!
MARGARET. Oh!
(Enter mrs ommaney; she has flung a gay shawl over her shoulders and enters simpering over her appearance. She takes Paul’s presence as a matter of course, jenny stands at bedroom door.)
MRS OMMANEY. Naughty man, where are the flowers?
(Displaying herself in shawl) How do you like it? It is my wedding gown. Is the cab at the door? (Trips to window.)
PAUL. My God!
MARGARET. It is heartrending.
PAUL. What does it mean?
MARGARET. She has been like this, it seems, more than once before. She has been ill, Paul, and that and the great sorrow that has come into her life have affected her brain at times.
JENNY. Oh, sir, she was quite sensible just a minute since.
PAUL. But I can’t —
MARGARET. Humour her, Paul — I will explain afterwards.
JENNY. Come and rest, ma’am — come. (TRYING TO TAKE MRS. OMMANEY TO SOFA.)
MRS. OMMANEY. Rest — when I am going to be married?
MARGARET (GOING TO HER). You ARE married now. The cab has brought you back.
MRS. OMMANEY (to PAUL). Am I?
(MARGARET signs to him to agree.)
PAUL. Yes.
MRS. ommaney (gleefully as a child). I am married! (With grand dignity to jenny) DO YOU KNOW WHO I am? I am Mrs. Margaret.
(JENNY TRIES TO TAKE HER TO SOFA.)
MARGARET (TO PAUL). Don’t you see, Paul, she has confused me with herself.
MRS. OMMANEY (holding out her arms to PAUL). You — I want you.
MARGARET (TO PAUL). Yes, humour her. She thinks you are her husband.
PAUL. You will lie down, won’t you?
(paul HELPS MRS. ommaney TO SOFA, WHERE SHE SITS. EXIT jenny INTO BEDROOM.)
MRS OMMANEY (WITH CHILDISH WONDER). Those skinny arms, are they mine? How tiny the wrist has grown, how thin the fingers. (TO PAUL, PLAINTIVELY) You will never weary of me again? When I bore you, you won’t say it, will you? You will say instead, ‘Poor little thin fingers, poor little pretty ways, all gone, all gone!’ MARGARET (PUTTING HAND ON Paul’s SHOULDER). Paul, I begin to think he is not dead. I believe he deserted her!
PAUL. No — not that!
MRS. OMMANEY (striking MARGARET’S arm off PAUL). Hands off!
MARGARET. Did he desert you?
MRS OMMANEY (LOOKING UP). Where is it — the letter? I left it on the mantelpiece — long, long ago.
PAUL (EAGERLY). Yes, tell her what was in the letter!
MRS OMMANEY (CONFIDENTIALLY). I said in it that I was leaving him because I had ceased to care for him. (GIGGLES.)
MARGARET. You left him!
(mrs ommaney NODS AS IF SHE HAD DONE A CLEVER THING.)
PAUL (EAGERLY). You see, Margaret, he was not so bad as you thought.
MARGARET. But why did you leave him?
MRS OMMANEY (WAILING). Because I loved him so!
(PAUL at back of sofa is much startled.)
He! he! he! He hated the life, I bored him, he hungered to be free —
MARGARET. Did he say that?
(paul IS MORE AND MORE STARTLED.)
MRS OMMANEY. No, he kept it to himself — honour, you know — he! he! he! but she knew — who was she — she was Miss Margaret — so she pitied him and pretended she was glad to go away. What a joke!
MARGARET. You DID THIS for HIS SAKE? Paul, DO you SEE?
PAUL (huskily).! SEE!
MRS OMMANEY. I want to look at my face. (SIMPERING) So much admired.
(MARGARET gives her hand mirror.)
MRS. ommaney (LOOKING AT HERSELF IN IT). What a fright! Who is she? (ADDRESSING HERSELF TO REFLECTION) Oh, my dear, you are on your last legs — it is all UP with you.
(Pulls PAUL’S arm lovingly beneath her head and lies down.) I am so tired, I want to sleep.
(PAUL kneels by the side of her and presently signs to MARGARET that she is falling asleep, MARGARET goes on tiptoe to window and looks out.)
MRS. OMMANEY (muttering). That is Miss Margaret — and she looks such a good one. (Sitting up excitedly) Marriage present — what was it?
(PAUL induces her to lie down again, MARGARET comes softly to sofa.)
Pretty ways, all gone, all gone; he hated the life; he didn’t let on but she knew — so sad — (HUMS Margaret’s SONG) — you are on your last legs, it is all UP with you; poor lady, poor soul!
MARGARET (after a pause). She is asleep.
(PAUL gently disengages his arm and rises.)
Paul, do you think he is alive and was cruel to her?
PAUL (HUSKILY). I don’t think he meant to be cruel.
(A knock is heard.)
LADY JANET (calling, unseen). Are you here, Margaret?
(MARGARET cries ‘ H’sh!’ and runs towards door, meeting LADY JANET.)
LADY JANET (embracing her). I went to Goody Lindsay’s and she told me you were here. I fear —
PAUL. H’sh! (Looking only at MRS. OMMANEY.)
LADY JANET (seeing sleeping figure). Mrs. Ommaney!
(GROWING HARD.) Which reminds me —
MARGARET. You will waken her.
LADY JANET. That won’t distress me. Margaret —
(PAUL raises his arm to enforce silence, MARGARET whispers to LADY JANET.)
LADY JANET (surprised). Really!
(MARGARET whispers again.)