SUSY: I hanna been able to get thee no dinner.
HARRY: Why?
SUSY: She on’y died at two o’clock — an’ we’ve been busy ever sin’, haven’t we, Nurse?
NURSE: We have, Mrs Smalley.
SUSY: Shall ter ha’e tea wi’ me an’ Nurse?
HARRY: No.
SUSY: What then?
HARRY: Nowt.
SUSY: Shall ter wesh thysen?
HARRY: Ha.
SUSY: Pump wor frozen this mornin’ —
HARRY: I know.
SUSY fetches a large red pancheon from outside, puts in cold water, brings towel and soap, setting all on a stool on hearth-rug. HARRY sets tin bottle and knotted snap-bag on table, takes off his cap, red wool scarf, coat, and waistcoat. He pours hot water from boiler into pancheon, strips off his singlet or vest — he wears no shirt — and kneels down to wash. NURSE and SUSY sit down to tea.
NURSE (to HARRY): You must be tired to-day. (No answer.)
SUSY: I bet his hands is sore — are they? (No answer.) Best leave him alone — they always grumble about their hands, first day.
HARRY: Wheer’s my Dad?
SUSY: Gone to registrar’s.
NURSE: Yes, they must take some time to harden.
SUSY: Shall you sit there, Nurse? I’d better light the lamp, you can’t see.
HARRY: Tha nedna.
SUSY: What’s thaigh to stop me for?
NURSE: No — I like the twilight — really.
SUSY: There’s a lot o’ dirt wi’ a collier — an’ mess.
NURSE: Yes.
SUSY: I allers said I’d not marry one. I’d had enough wi’ my father an’ th’ lads.
NURSE: They say it’s clean dirt.
SUSY: Is it? Muck an’ mess, to my thinkin’.
NURSE: Yes, I suppose so. I used to think it would be dreadful.
SUSY: But you’ve altered.
NURSE: Well, I’ve thought about it — I’m afraid I should never fit in.
SUSY: No — you’re too much of a lady — you like a lady’s ways.
NURSE: I don’t know. Perhaps one does get a bit finicky after a certain time.
SUSY (to HARRY): Dost want thy back doin’?
He grunts assent. She washes his back with a flannel, and wipes it as she talks.
NURSE: It’s the thought of it day after day, day after day — it is rather appalling.
SUSY: The thought of any man, like that, is.
NURSE (smiling): It was not the man — it was the life — the company one would have to keep.
SUSY: Yes. So you wouldn’t marry a collier, Nurse?
NURSE: Yes, I would — for all that. If I cared for him.
SUSY: That makes the difference.
NURSE: It does.
SUSY: I can’t imagine you married to a collier.
NURSE: Sometimes it seems mad, to me; sometimes it doesn’t.
SUSY: I shouldn’t ha’ thought, though, Nurse, you’d ha’ had one —
NURSE: No? I might.
SUSY: Not an old one?
NURSE: Certainly not an old one. Not Mr Wilcox.
SUSY: Ha. Have another cup? I wish Patty would keep still. She fair worrits me. I’m sure I’d like to drop your cup, she made me jump that much.
NURSE: I am surprised you are nervous.
SUSY: We all are. I wonder, Nurse, where my mother’s will is?
NURSE: Oh — I meant to have told you. In the socket of the bedpost nearest the drawers, at the top.
SUSY: Would you believe it!
NURSE: She was very quaint sometimes. Poor Mrs Hemstock.
SUSY: Do you think she was in her right mind?
NURSE: Oh, yes — and Doctor does, too.
SUSY: Well — I used to have my doubts.
NURSE: Poor Mrs Hemstock.
A knock.
SUSY: Oh!
RACHEL (entering): I thought there was nobody in, seeing no light. Is Nurse here?
NURSE: Yes.
RACHEL: The Baroness wants you to go up, she’s got a pain. I’ve been to your place for you.
NURSE: Poor Baroness! What is the matter?
RACHEL: She’s got a pain in her shoulder.
NURSE: Rheumatism?
RACHEL: She says she believes it’s pleurisy.
NURSE (smiling): Poor old Baroness; she does fancy.
RACHEL: But she won’t pay for a doctor, fancy or no fancy, not if she can help it. Her fancy mustn’t cost her anything.
NURSE: She knows I can treat her. I can go straight there.
RACHEL: Oh, an’ will you go an’ see what’s up with my father? He’s not been to work — been in bed all day — can’t eat — won’t have the doctor — fading away —
NURSE: That is sad! What ails him?
RACHEL: I don’t know — Minnie’s been up for me. Says he feels hot inside, an’ believes he’s got an inflammation.
NURSE: I’ll call if I have time. I must go.
RACHEL: He’s done nothing but ask were his eyes bloodshot, and would Minnie be frightened if he turned delirious. She’s frit — an’ I can’t go down —
NURSE: I will call. Good night, everybody.
Exit NURSE.
SUSY: I must light the lamp.
RACHEL: I didn’t hear till four o’clock as she’d gone. Was she unconscious?
SUSY: Yes, all day.
RACHEL (to HARRY — who is struggling into his shirt): And was you at work? Fancy, you been at home all this time, then it to happen the first day you was away. Things do happen cruel.
SUSY: Shall you give him his tea, while I go an’ see to my lad?
RACHEL: I mustn’t be long.
SUSY goes out.
What shall you have?
HARRY: Nowt.
RACHEL: Oh, you must ‘ave somethink. Just a cup of tea, if nothing else. Come on — come an’ sit here. See, it’s waiting. You must be fair sinkin’ after bein’ at work all day. I’ve thought of you every minute, I’m sure. I’ve heard the driving engines shuddering every time, an’ I’ve thought of you. (She cuts bread and toasts it.) They say you’re hard, but they don’t know. (Suspicion of tears.) I used to think myself as you was a kid, a frightened bit of a rabbit — but I know different now. (She cries.) I know what you’ve had to go through — an’ I’ve been a cat to you, I have. I know what you’ve felt — as if you was pushed up against a wall, an’ all the breath squeezed out of you — her dyin’ by inches — an’ I’ve been a cat to you. (She butters the toast.)
HARRY: Tha needna do that for me.
RACHEL: Yes, do eat a bit — you’ll be sinkin’. I’ve had no tea — I’ll eat a bit with you, if you will. (She sits down, drinks tea, and eats a little.) You know I’ve fair hated myself — I’ve wished I was dead. But I needn’t talk about myself. Are your hands sore?
HARRY: A bit.
RACHEL: I knew they must be — because you’ve worked like a horse, I know you have, to stop thinking. I can see you’re dog-tired. Let me look. (She takes his hand.) Fair raw! (Melting into tears.) You don’t care a bit about yourself, you don’t, an’ it’s not fair.
HARRY: Tha hasna bothered thysen above thy boot-tops.
RACHEL: I know I haven’t. Oh, I was jealous of your mother, ‘cause I knowed you was fonder of her —
HARRY: Tha nedna — (She weeps — he hides his face.)
RACHEL: I s’ll never forgive myself —
HARRY: Dunna —
RACHEL, sobbing, goes to him, takes his head on her bosom, and rocks it.
RACHEL: An’ I’ve been such a cat to thee, Harry.
HARRY (putting his arms round her waist): I’ve not seen her for two days.
RACHEL: Never mind, never mind. She’s been wandering — never mind.
HARRY: Now ‘er’s gone.
RACHEL: Never mind, we s’ll die ourselves someday, we shall. I know tha loved her, better than me — tha allers would — I know. But let me be wi’ thee. (She sits down on his knee.) Let me stop wi’ thee, tha wants
somebody. An’ I care for nowt but thee — tha knows I do.
HARRY: Should we go an’ look at her?
RACHEL (kissing him): We will. (She kisses him again.) Tha’s been like a bird on a frozen pond, tha has. Tha’s been frozen out —
HARRY: Rachel?
RACHEL: What?
HARRY: Dunna kiss me yet —
RACHEL: No — I won’t — I won’t.
HARRY: Afterwards —
RACHEL: Yes, I know — I know. (Silence a moment.) Come then, we’ll go an’ look at her.
She lights a candle, takes his hand. They go into the front room.
Enter SUSY.
SUSY: Where are they? I’d think they’ve carted off an’ left th’ house empty. (Calls.) Rachel! Oh my goodness! Harry!
Enter RACHEL and HARRY, both with red eyes, from the sickroom.
Oh, here you are.
RACHEL: Yes. Did you think I’d gone?
HARRY pulls on his coat and goes out.
SUSY: Yes — you said you was in a hurry.
RACHEL: I shall have to be goin’.
SUSY: I wish my father would come. Is he grumpy yet?
RACHEL: Harry? No, he’s not grumpy, no.
SUSY: What? Have you made it up?
RACHEL: There was nothing to make.
SUSY: I’m glad to hear it. What about Job Arthur?
RACHEL: I never did care a bit about him or anybody else —
SUSY: No, but —
RACHEL: Well, but what?
SUSY: Has he asked you? Has he promised you? Our Harry?
RACHEL: Yes, not in words — but I know.
SUSY: You don’t. Nurse wants him, an’ Nurse’ll get him.
RACHEL: She won’t.
SUSY: You see.
RACHEL: Don’t you fret your fat. He’s not that easy to grab.
SUSY: But he’s got a fancy for Nurse. He’s as proud as they make ‘em, an’ it would just suit him to crow over us, marryin’ a lady.
RACHEL: A lady!
SUSY: Well, you know what I mean. An’ I believe there’s summat in the will for her. My mother harped on her an’ our Harry —
RACHEL: An’ does she know?
SUSY: She’s not far off o’ guessin’, I’ll be bound. She is a deep one, Nurse is.
RACHEL: She is. Oh, she’d soon know everything if she got a sniff. An’ has your father got the will?
SUSY: No, it’s in the front room.
RACHEL: Well — you should get it, an’ see what it says. You should come in for something, and then —
SUSY: Durst you come with me?
RACHEL: Yes, I durst come.
SUSY: Should us then?
RACHEL: Yes, let us. You could burn it if there was owt you didn’t like.
SUSY: Durst you get it? (She lights a candle.)
RACHEL: Yes, if you’ll show me.
They go into the next room.
SUSY’S VOICE: Doesn’t it smell cold a’ready. Oh!
RACHEL’S VOICE: It does.
SUSY’S VOICE: Look, you want to get on this table. This blessed candle does jump.
RACHEL’S VOICE: I could ha’ sworn tha sheet moved.
A shriek from SUSY — shrieks from RACHEL — a bump — more shrieks. SUSY rushes across the kitchen out of doors. In a moment HARRY appears in the outer doorway. RACHEL flies blindly into him.
HARRY: Whatever’s up?
RACHEL: Oh Harry! Oh Harry!
HARRY: Well — what’s up? What’s ter got in thy hand?
RACHEL: Oh, whatever was it? Let’s go.
HARRY: What wor that? What!
He starts as Patty walks mildly from the front room.
It wor nowt but our Patty.
RACHEL: I thought I should have died.
HARRY: What wor ther doin’?
RACHEL: I fell off that table. Oh, and I have bruised my arm.
HARRY: What wor you doin’? What’s this?
SUSY (entering): Oh Rachel!
RACHEL: It was only Patty.
SUSY: Did you get it? Oh, look at our Harry opening it!
HARRY: Why, it’s th’ will. I sh’d ha’ thought you’d have more about you — (He reads.)
SUSY: What’s it say?
HARRY: Look for thysen, if tha’rt in such a mighty hurry.
SUSY (reading): Five hundred and fifty pounds for him and Nurse Broadbanks if they marry — an’ if not, to be divided between me an’ him. What did I say! Would you credit, now? But there’s one thing, Nurse won’t have him.
RACHEL: He doesn’t want her.
HARRY: She’s worth a million such as you, cats as wants nowt but to lap at a full saucer. You couldna let her lie quiet for five minutes, but must be after her bit of money.
RACHEL: Indeed, I didn’t want the money.
SUSY: He wants it himself, an’ that’s what he’s been contrivin’ for all along — him an’ that slivin’ Nurse. There’s a pair of ‘em.
HARRY: There’s a pair of you, more like it — a couple of slitherin’ cats, nowt else. No more you think of her, than if she wor a dead fish wi’ the money in her mouth. But you shan’t have it, you shan’t, if I can scotch you.
RACHEL: Oh, Mr Sharp-shins, you think you know everything, do you? You’re mistaken. It’s not fair, it isn’t. I only —
HARRY: Tha needs to tell me nowt.
NURSE (entering): Oh, you are here! The Baroness asked me to call and see where you were, Rachel.
RACHEL: And now you’ve seen, you can go back an’ tell her you’ve been.
HARRY: They’ve been after th’ will, couldna let her rest still in her own room, but what must they do, go ferretin’ for her money —
SUSY: Shut thy mouth, tha’s said enough.
HARRY: That I hanna. They’d claw the stuff out of her hand, if it wor there —
SUSY: Hadn’t we a right to see the will?
HARRY: There’s a lot of right about you. Here, come here. Give us hold of it.
SUSY: I shan’t.
HARRY: What! Now, Nurse, thee read it. We’n all read. Now thee read it. (NURSE reads.) Hast got it all? Tha sees?
NURSE: Yes, I understand it.
HARRY: An’ what dost say?
NURSE: I say nothing.
SUSY: This is what she’s been working for.
HARRY: Then let them as has worked be paid. What? I say “snip”, Nurse, will tha say “snap”? Come on — ”snap” me, Nurse. Say “snap”. Snip?
NURSE: This is hardly the occasion.
RACHEL: He doesn’t love you, Nurse. This is only his temper.
NURSE: I think, out of respect to the dead, we ought not to go on like this.
SUSY: You’ll be precise and proper — all lardy-da. Oh yes — but you’ve got what you’ve been aiming at, haven’t you? You’ve worked it round very clever. You see what carneyin’ ‘ll do for you, Rachel. If you’d ha’ buttered your words, you might ha’ been alright.
RACHEL: I couldn’t creep.
HARRY: No; you could slither, though.
NURSE: I’m afraid I must be going.
SUSY: Yes, you can smile to yourself, and hug yourself under your cloak in the dark. It’s worth marryin’ him for, five hundred and fifty pounds.
NURSE goes out.
HARRY: She’s a lady, she is, an’ she makes you two look small.
RACHEL: Well, Harry, you can think what you like about me: and you always have thought me as bad as you could imagine. But I only did it to help Susy — and all I’ve done I’ve done with you sleering at me. An’ I shan’t marry Job Arthur; I s’ll go in service in Derby. An’ you needn’t sleer at me no more — because it’s your fault, even more than mine.
Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence Page 746