Works of Edwin Arlington Robinson
Page 60
LUCAS
[Embarrassed]
If you insist, I — well, I suppose I do. It’s a fairly good head, in some respects. But why should we talk about it now?
[He looks about him uneasily]
VAN ZORN
[Standing up and gazing at Lucas]
Because you told me you were going away. Now I will be as frank as possible with you and tell you that I didn’t like your way of saying it, or your way of looking when you said it.
LUCAS
[Wetting his lips]
You are not very dear.
VAN ZORN
[Seriously]
I am as clear as I can be, without having more specific information.
[More seriously]
I knew another fellow once who — went away; and you made me think of him.
LUCAS
[Drily]
How far did he go?
VAN ZORN
[Firmly]
How far did you intend to go?
LUCAS
[Nervously]
You seem to have it settled that I am not going.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling again]
You are not going if I can keep you in New York.
LUCAS
[Throwing the broken paper cutter down on the table and putting his hands in his pockets]
I thought I was going.
VAN ZORN
[Frowning as he watches him]
You speak as if you had made some final preparations.
Sometimes they are very final indeed — preparations.
[Pause]
Will you give me an answer to my question if I ask you just what preparations you have made?
LUCAS
[Slowly]
Yes, and I will give you more than that.
VAN ZORN
[Relieved]
Good. But I’m not going to be satisfied even then.
I am going to ask you, in addition, to dine with me this evening at the Knickerbocker, and I am going
[He returns to the piano stool]
to ask you to take a small advance.
[Taking a check book and a pen from his pocket]
If you don’t happen to need this
[He writes as he speaks]
you needn’t use it, but I want you to take it, all the same.
[Handing him the check]
Will you?
LUCAS
[Slowly]
Yes, I will take it. And I will see you at — seven o’clock?
VAN ZORN
Thank you.
[He toys with his pen as if he were waiting]
LUCAS
And you may do whatever you like with this.
[He takes a small vial from his waistcoat and gives it to Van Zorn, who takes it slowly]
VAN ZORN
[Looking at the vial and scowling]
Cyanide of potassium?
[He smiles grimly and shakes his head as he looks up]
That isn’t what you need.
[He looks again at the vial]
K C N... do you know what that makes me think of?
[He looks up again and laughs drily]
LUCAS
[Uncomfortably]
Yes, I suppose I know.
VAN ZORN
[Putting the vial in his pocket]
No, I don’t believe you do.
[Smiling]
It makes me think of Sir Joseph Porter, K. C. B. — in Pinafore. The last letter is different, however. How does that thing go?
LUCAS
[With sardonic distinctness]
“When I was a lad, I served a term.” You may not believe it, but I did.
VAN ZORN
Yes, I believe it. But I was thinking of the tune.
[He turns on the stool and begins to drum with his right forefinger on the piano]
Is that the way it goes?
LUCAS
[With grateful impatience to get away]
Yes — and this is the way I go.
[Grasping VAN ZORN’S hand quickly]
You will say something.
[As if he had made a discovery]
and I will say something.
[Trying to hide his emotion in his voice]
I’ll make some sort of explanation.
[LUCAS disappears quickly into the hall and VAN ZORN begins to drum “When I was a lad” once more on the piano. VILLA
VANNEVAR appears in the doorway and watches him unseen.
Finally she laughs and begins to dap her hands]
VAN ZORN
[Getting up]
Mr. Lucas has gone.
[Distinctly]
But not so far as he thought he was going.
VILLA
[Looking about]
Did he go through the roof?
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
No, he went by the way of the stairs — and rather suddenly,
VILLA
[Puzzled]
Did he leave any word behind him?
VAN ZORN
Well, yes. He told me to say something.
VILLA
What did he tell you to say?
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
That was all — something.
VILLA
Please don’t laugh at me.
VAN ZORN
Should I be likely to do that? Especially on so slight an acquaintance?
[He laughs a little as he speaks, but Villa remains serious]
VILLA
[Slowly]
It doesn’t seem to be slight — somehow.
VAN ZORN
[With a touch of mystery]
Perhaps it isn’t, really. We mortals know very little of ourselves, and far less of each other. As a consequence, we make mistakes.
VILLA
[Still puzzled]
Do you make mistakes?
VAN ZORN
Frequently.
VILLA
[With a nervous laugh]
I’m so glad.
VAN ZORN
Do you know that many of us waste large fractions of our short lives in being sorry for our mistakes — and oftentimes when we should be glad for them?
VILLA
[Puzzled]
You said that as if you meant something.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
It is possible that I did mean something.
VILLA
Now you are laughing at me again.
VAN ZORN
[Easily]
Why should I laugh at you when I know that you are not happy?
VILLA
[Puzzled]
Do I look as if I were not happy?
VAN ZORN
Something has troubled you for a long time.
VILLA
Why do you say that?
VAN ZORN
If I had not known it, I should not have come to this house.
VILLA
[Trying to laugh again]
Did I look so utterly miserable this morning that you took pity on me? Was it the picture? Or did you think I took too much trouble to see that Weldon laughed at Mr. Lucas?
VAN ZORN
[Frowning strangely]
No, it was not that.
VILLA
You seem to know something about him.
VAN ZORN
About Lucas?
VILLA
Yes. You have kept him from going away. I am sure that he wished to go.
VAN ZORN
And I am sure that he intended to go. But I ventured to put the matter in a different light, and he has agreed to give New York another chance. New York, as I told him, is not in all respects the worst place in the world.
VILLA
[Laughing as before]
Weldon thinks it is. But I forgot to offer you a chair.
[Takes the chair at the left of the table]
I don’t wonder that Auntie calls me all sorts of things.
VAN ZORN
Thank you.
[He pulls his hands on the back of the chair at the left and looks at her as if wailing for her to say more]
VILLA
[Looking up at him]
Yes, he thinks New York is the very worst. And that,
I suppose, is one of the reasons why we are going to Damascus.
[She laughs again, nervously]
VAN ZORN
[Slowly]
Damascus?... Why Damascus?
VILLA
Heaven only knows. And I am stupid enough to like New York. I like even the ferry whistles.
VAN ZORN
Should you care to stay here forever?
VILLA
No, I don’t say that. I want to go to Egypt sometime and see the Sphynx. There are no sphynxes in New York.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
Are you sure of that?
[She laughs]
There are no ferry whistles in Damascus.
VILLA
Why do you object to my going?
VAN ZORN
Why should I?
VILLA
Why do you object to George Lucas’s going — west?
VAN ZORN
Because I have taken a particular interest in him.
VILLA
[Quickly]
I’m glad of that.
[With a slight constraint]
For I have known him all my life — and I like him.
[VAN ZORN, who has been looking from time to time at the portrait over the piano, is now gazing at it with apparently unconscious intentness]
VILLA
[Glancing over her shoulder]
Did you know him — my uncle?
VAN ZORN
[Looking at her and shaking his head]
I did not.
VILLA
My poor uncle Lovett was unfortunate, and I am glad for his sake that he is dead. Does that sound hard?
VAN ZORN
Far from it. I have known such cases.
VILLA
He died in this room.
VAN ZORN
I am not superstitious.
VILLA
He drank himself to death.
VAN ZORN
I am not uncharitable.
VILLA
He was a good man.
VAN ZORN
I have no doubt of it.
[Pause]
Lucas is a good man.
VILLA
[Earnestly]
He is good. And I hope his meeting with you may prove to be fortunate.
VAN ZORN
[Steadily]
Lucas may prove to be the most fortunate of us all.
Don’t you think it would be well for at least one of us to be fortunate, even if the others are not?
VILLA
[Half-frightened]
The others? You say such unexpected things.
VAN ZORN
[Still with his hands on the back of the chair]
Yes, the others. The others who are not going to be fortunate.
VILLA
[With a shrug]
You speak like a wizard. If you are trying to cast a spell over me, you might as well let me know beforehand.
[Laughing thinly]
All good wizards should do that, I think.
VAN ZORN
[Firmly but rather sadly]
I should say that the spell had already been cast.
VILLA
But what manner of spell do you mean?
[Nervously]
There are spells and spells, I suppose. Aren’t there?
VAN ZORN
I might say the spell that compels you to take so much apparent satisfaction in being insincere.
VILLA
[Looking at him]
Insincere?
VAN ZORN
[Nods slowly]
To yourself and to the others. To the others who are not going to be fortunate.
VILLA
[Biting her lip]
Did you come to tell me this?
VAN ZORN
I came because I was called. You may be surprised, but there is no reason why you should be offended.
VILLA
[With a cold but artificial laugh]
Amused, you mean.
VAN ZORN
[Calmly and distinctly]
No, that is not what I mean. For you cannot possibly find it amusing to know that you have the happiness of at least three lives at your disposal... Yes, in your power... Do you believe, really, that it would be amusing to make three new contributions to the worlds unhappiness — much of which, from any finite point of view, is already unnecessary?
VILLA
[Her lips tightening]
I don’t believe you realize what you are saying.
[She rises]
No, I don’t mean that you are to go.
VILLA
[She goes to the table and looks aimlessly at some objects that are on it]
Will you tell me something?
VAN ZORN
[Now at the right of the table, near the chair]
Willingly, if I can.
VILLA
[Toying with the broken paper cutter]
What did you say to Weldon Farnham about — about this? And what did he say to you?
VAN ZORN
I asked him for one interview.
VILLA
And where do you intend to go at the end of this — one interview?
VAN ZORN
My own way, wherever that may lie.
[Very distinctly]
You may never see me again, but you will kindly believe me when I assure you that the situation before you is not —
amusing.
VILLA
[With half-hearted authority]
Under ordinary conditions, you must see that I could not listen any longer to what you are saying.
VAN ZORN
I understand you perfectly.
[Slowly, with a strange confidence]
I understand at the same time that these are not ordinary conditions, and that you and I are not ordinary people.
VILLA
[With a shrug]
I am beginning to think that we are not.
[With a reluctant smile]
Do you think we are so very important?
VAN ZORN
[With his hands on the back of the chair]
Is anything important?
VILLA
[Slowly]
I wonder — sometimes. And I thought
[Rather feebly]
that you were a friend of Weldon Farnham’s.
VAN ZORN
His best friend, so far as I know.
VILLA
Does a man’s best friend try to...
[She stops as if frightened]
VAN ZORN
Yes... If it is written so, yes.
VILLA
[As if compelled]
Do you mean— “destiny?”
VAN ZORN
You may give it whatever name you choose. May I
ask you another question?
VILLA
I suppose so.
[With another shrug]
But you needn’t scare me.
VAN ZORN
[With a melancholy smile]
That is the last thing that I could possibly wish to do. What I have now to ask is this: Is it your unalterable will to deprive three people, including yourself, of the happiness that might as well be theirs?
VILLA
[Trying to laugh]
Why do you speak of my “will” and of your “destiny?”
Mayn’t I have a destiny as well as you?
VAN ZORN
[Looking at the portrait]
You have one undoubtedly. And I have one interview.
[He stands as before with his hands on the back of the chair and watches her while she examines various objects on the table]
Are you sure that you know
what it would mean if you were to make a mistake now?
[She gives him a bewildered look that is meant to be resentful, but he does not seem to notice it]
Are you sure that you are thinking of the years, and the darkness, and the long roads that lie in the darkness — and end there? Are such things important, or are they still — amusing?
[Villa stands looking vacantly at a picture post-card that is in her hand and finally turns the card towards Van Zorn, speaking with a trace of injured and half-frightened humor in her voice and eyes]
VILLA
[Irrelevantly]
Did you ever see the Lion of Lucerne?
VAN ZORN
[Suddenly inclined to laugh]
No.
VILLA
[Laughing]
I thought you had seen everything.
VAN ZORN
[Shaking his head slowly]
I haven’t. I have never seen you but once, until today.
VILLA
[Laughing nervously]
I don’t see what the Lion of Lucerne has to do with your seeing me.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
I don’t see what the Lion of Lucerne has to do with any of us.
[He looks at the card and then at her, with the same melancholy and inquiring smile]
I dare say that he has his good points.
VILLA
[Throwing down the card and putting her hands behind her]
I still think that I ought to be angry with you.