Works of Edwin Arlington Robinson
Page 72
STUART
And there are some women who are too good for more than one man in ten thousand.
ALMA
[Laughing nervously]
And he seems always to escape.
STUART
Then you ought to be glad that Larry is your brother.
ALMA
That wasn’t the right thing for you to say.
STUART
I know it — but I said it all the same. Very likely I shall continue to say things like that for the rest of my life.
ALMA
I hope not.
STUART
And I can’t help knowing that you are never going to have the same opinion of me again that you had once.
ALMA
Possibly not — if you make me see too clearly why I shouldn’t.
STUART
[Studying her face]
You didn’t mean very much when you said that. You said it as if you were trying to make me laugh.
ALMA
Aren’t we always trying to make somebody laugh — in this house?
STUART
Do you think Larry will succeed in making Rachel laugh?
ALMA
[Putting her finger to her lips]
Be careful.
[LARRY comes out of the child’s room. His manner is grave, irritated and disappointed, but his face brightens at the sight of STUART and ALMA]
LARRY
[With subdued humor]
Well, Stuart, are you becoming reconciled to your desolation?
STUART
[Putting the letter into his pocket]
I’m not going to ask any questions, and I’m not going to answer any questions — this evening.
[He moves towards the vestibule]
Good night.
[Putting on his overcoat]
Good night.
LARRY AND ALMA
[As he goes out]
Good night.
LARRY
[Rubbing his hands thoughtfully]
And so there’s one more poor devil — going home to a flameless hearth and a hungry cat.
[Pause]
And here — is our good friend Rollo.
[ROLLO comes out of the study in a state of dejection]
Well, Rollo, have you thought it over?
ROLLO
[Sadly]
Yes, I have thought it over.
LARRY
You are not very enthusiastic.
ROLLO
[Putting his hand to his head]
Possibly not. I should like to know what others have to say.
LARRY
Do you mean Rachel?
ROLLO
Yes; and I mean you, as well as Rachel.
ALMA
[Still at the right of the table]
I don’t seem to be included. Perhaps I’d better go to bed, and count sheep.
ROLLO
You are included as much as any of us, Alma; but just at this time I would rather....
ALMA
[Moving to the right]
You needn’t say any more. Good night, Rollo. Good night, Larry.
[She smiles and goes out slowly]
ROLLO
[Watching ALMA as she disappears]
I am beginning to understand, Larry, hard as it is for me to say it now — that I shall have a great deal to thank you for in the future.
LARRY
[Laughing]
No more of that.
ROLLO
You know, of course, without my telling you, that I am going through fire. But I ask you to believe, with me, that I shall come out of it a stronger man for the work that lies before me.
LARRY
My dear fellow, you are going to be a regular Shadrach.
ROLLO
You may say that, if you like; but I don’t believe that I shall fail, unless it be in one direction.
[Glancing towards the child’s room]
And with your assistance, I may succeed, even there.
LARRY
[Rather drily]
I understand you, Rollo.
ROLLO
[Going towards the door]
I knew you would understand me.
[He knocks lightly]
Are you there, Rachel?
[RACHEL comes out and looks at the two men as if frightened]
RACHEL
Are you two alone?
ROLLO
[Giving her a chair]
We are. And now, my dear Rachel,
[His manner becomes more studied and oratorical as he continues]
I wish to tell you, before Larry, that I shall depend from now on upon your assistance, and upon your belief in my power to carry on the work that I have undertaken. There has been some talk in the town — some very idle talk — and there will be more; but people do not talk forever, even here in Tadmor.
[LARRY grins and applauds silently]
How much you are able to forget, I do not know. But you can tell me — you will tell me — you must tell me — how much you are willing to forgive. And you must understand my — my position, if we are to work together, — as you must understand my — my purpose, if we are to live together.
[He wipes his forehead]
RACHEL
[With difficulty]
You don’t know what you are saying, Rollo, when you ask me to forgive....
[She looks hopelessly at LARRY]
ROLLO
I might have known, I might have known.
RACHEL
No — no! I shouldn’t have said that. You don’t understand. You can’t understand. I only mean, Rollo, that I cannot help you very much. I would do anything for you — or everything, if I could — but I can’t do much now.... I am not very strong now....
ROLLO
And yet, you don’t say that you forgive me.
RACHEL
I forgive everybody.
[Bitterly]
Why shouldn’t I forgive everybody?
ROLLO
[Going slowly to the right]
Well, Rachel, I will not ask you to say more this evening.
[Coldly, with a sigh of weariness]
I will leave you alone with Larry. You may find it easier to talk with him, and you may come to view things through a clearer glass tomorrow.
[He goes to the lower door, which he holds open while he waits]
Larry.
LARRY
Well, Rollo?
ROLLO
Try to — try to make her laugh. Good night.
LARRY
[Drily]
Good night, Rollo.
[ROLLO goes out and LARRY stands looking down at RACHEL, who leans forward with her elbow on her knee]
LARRY
[With forced humor]
Rollo still wants you to laugh.
RACHEL
[Leaning back]
O, you children!... You poor children!
LARRY
[Seriously]
Yes, Rachel, — that’s just about what we are — children. The best and the worst, the wisest and the silliest of us — children. Tumbling, blundering, groping children, —
getting our heads bumped and our fingers burned,
[She gives him a quick, frightened look]
and making ourselves generally uncomfortable. But all this needn’t keep us from growing, or from looking now and then as if we had not committed the unpardonable sin in being born.
RACHEL
[Looking at him]
What else are you going to say to me?
LARRY
Didn’t Rollo say enough?
RACHEL
I listened while he spoke to me. What more could I do?
LARRY
You should know better than I. Aren’t you his wife?
RACHEL
[Despairingly]
I don’t know what I am.
[She leans forward and covers her face with her hands]
LARRY
&
nbsp; [Mechanically]
You married him, didn’t you?
RACHEL
[Crushing her handkerchief in her fingers]
Larry, I want you to promise me something.
LARRY
[As before]
Is it something easy?
RACHEL
[With difficulty]
I am going to ask you to promise me that you will always be good — always be good — to the child.
[She looks to the left]
LARRY
[Trying to laugh]
Of course I’ll be good to him. I’ve promised you that already.
RACHEL
[Looking up at him]
And remember that he cares for you — so much — oh, so much more — than he cares for me.
LARRY
Pardon me, Rachel, but now you are — why, you are talking nonsense.... Aren’t you his mother?
RACHEL
[Choking]
Yes.
LARRY
Isn’t — isn’t Rollo good to him?
RACHEL
You must know that he doesn’t care for Rollo as he does for you.
LARRY
[Beating his palm with his stick]
I have tried not to know it.
[He moves about restlessly]
RACHEL
[Getting up slowly and looking at him]
Larry.
[He nods]
Is there anything else that you have tried not to know?
[She speaks very distinctly]
LARRY
Rachel, a fellow would need an interpreter to understand you this evening.
RACHEL
Have you tried not to know —
[She stops, her voice broken with pain]
Have you tried not to know that there are flaws in the silver — the silver cord — that you have said so much about?
LARRY
[Frowning]
Is this your notion of trying to help me?
RACHEL
I would help you if I could, Larry.
LARRY
[Goes half way to the stove and stops, speaking slowly]
So you think, do you, that my “silver cord” may not bear the strain that will be put upon it? You said something like that yesterday and I was sorry to hear you say it. For if you refuse your assistance, I —
[With a shrug]
well, I don’t know....
RACHEL
How can I refuse what I do not have to offer?
LARRY
[With a sorry laugh]
Well, if you have determined that I shall fail....
RACHEL
[Very earnestly]
I have determined nothing, Larry. I am only unfortunate enough to see already what is not clear to you.
[Going nearer to him]
Dear Larry, don’t you know that men like you — men who would set the individual apart from the community — are always — almost always — disappointed?
LARRY
[Carelessly]
Do you call Tadmor a community?
RACHEL
[Simply]
I call Tadmor a part of the world in which you and I are living.
LARRY
[Rubbing his chin]
Hum! That was an easy one, wasn’t it?
RACHEL
Larry, whatever you have done since you came back, or whatever you may hope to do, I know you mean to do what you think is right.
[Wistfully]
But perhaps it doesn’t matter so very much what you mean... now. For life is not so simple as you would have it, or so easily changed. I may not know very much, but I know that life is not so simple as you would have it.
LARRY
Well, Rachel, you seem to be doing the best you can to keep your life as it is. Don’t you know, my dear child, that everything is going to be different after this?
[Glancing towards the window]
Don’t you know that a certain woman is out of the way, and that Alma is going to be happy at last, and....
RACHEL
[Unhappily]
What will become of Rollo?
LARRY
[Puzzled]
That was a strange question for you to ask.
[Pause]
Rachel, you don’t care for Rollo as you should.
[He speaks without conviction, and with effort]
RACHEL
[Crushing her handkerchief, and trembling]
I do not love him — no.... I do not even like him....
I never did — and I never can....
LARRY
[With an incredulous frown]
Then why in the name of Satan did you marry him?
RACHEL
[Struggling with her emotion]
I married him because I was — because I was afraid! I married him because I was mad! — and all alone! O Larry, that was the worst of it — I was all alone. I didn’t know! I was afraid! I thought of you all the time, and I wanted you — you — you! There was nothing else for me in all the world but you — and you were gone! And I didn’t know where you were for more than a year. There was no one left but you — and you were gone. I was mad! — I told Alma that — and you were in that room....
LARRY
[After a pause, during which he stands looking at the door of the child’s room]
Good God!... What have I been doing since I came ‘here! What have I been saying!... I knew nothing about it — and I ran away!
RACHEL
[As before]
Rollo wanted me — but I almost made him take me. I was afraid, Larry! I was mad — mad — mad!...
LARRY
[Taking her hands]
Are there others who know this?
RACHEL
Alma knows it.
LARRY
And Rollo?
RACHEL
I don’t know.... I have not made him happy.
LARRY
[Taking her hand]
Rachel, — won’t you look at me?
RACHEL
[Looking at him]
Yes.... If anything should happen to me, Larry — I am not very strong — you will tell Rollo some time — you will have to tell him some time — and your boy will go with you — wherever you take him.... He will be happy with you....
LARRY
[With new determination]
Of course he will — and so will you. Don’t we all belong together? Don’t you know that you are going with us?
RACHEL
[With better command of herself]
If you had stayed — ten years ago — I would have gone with you to the ends of the earth.... But you didn’t stay — and you didn’t know.
LARRY
[Slowly]
You are right, I did not know.
[He goes to the child’s room, looks in, and closes the door softly]
He is asleep now.
[They go towards each other, meeting between the table and the door]
RACHEL
Don’t wake him, — let him sleep. And some day let him know... some day when I am gone.
LARRY
[Putting, his hands to her cheeks]
You poor child, what do you think you are saying now?
[Smiling]
You and I are not going to be struck dead by thunderbolts.
[He lets her go]
RACHEL
Thank you, Larry — you mean to be good to me, — but I — I seem to have lost threads of everything.
LARRY
[Promptly]
But I have not. And there’s where my “silver cord,” comes in.
RACHEL
[With pathetic insistence]
I have lost my hold on everything now, Larry — or it seems as if I had — on everything except my life-long love for you.
[With reckless frankness]
Do you know what I mean? — my love — my life-long love for you!
LARRY
[Bitterl
y]
Was it like this when I ran away from you?
RACHEL
[More quietly]
You never did run away from me. You could never have gone away — if you had known.... But you did not know — and so you went away.
LARRY
[With energy]
I did — God help me! — and now I have come back for you again.
RACHEL
[Shaking her head slowly]
Oh, Larry, there is so much that you do not know.
LARRY
I know the laws of this State — or one of them. And fortunately there is one more important thing that I know; and that is that you and the boy are going to leave this ghost-ridden old landmark and come with me. If you are worrying about Rollo, you needn’t do it any longer. Rollo needs a — what does he call it? Oh yes, a change of air. You needn’t worry about Rollo.
RACHEL
[Hopelessly]
No — I shall not — any more.
[Pause]
Tell me something, Larry —
[Touching his sleeve]
Tell me if you knew — then — how much I loved you!
LARRY
[Frowning]
I don’t believe I knew much of anything — then.
RACHEL
[Her voice trembling]
Do you know how much I love you now?
LARRY
[Trying to smile]
What the devil do you expect a fellow to say when you ask him a question like that?