Plays: Lady Frederick, The Explorer, A Man of Honour

Alec

The brutes! Tell me what they did.

Lucy

Oh, they said horrible things about you.

Alec

No more than that?

Lucy

It's nothing to you. But to me… Oh, you don't know what agony I endure. I'm such a coward! I thought I was so much braver.

Alec

I don't understand you.

Lucy

I wanted to burn my ships behind me. I wanted to reassure myself. [Alec makes a slight movement away from her, but she holds him back anxiously.] Forgive me, dear. You don't know how terrible it is. I stand so dreadfully alone. Every one is convinced that you caused poor George's death – every one but me. [Alec looks at her gravely, without speaking.] I try to put the thoughts out of my head, but I can't – I can't. That letter in the Times looks so dreadfully true. Don't you see what I mean? The uncertainty is more than I can bear. At the first moment I felt so absolutely sure of you.

Alec

And now you don't?

Lucy

I trust you just as much as ever. I know it's impossible that you should have done a shameful thing. But there it stands in black and white, and you have nothing to say in answer.

Alec

I know it's very difficult. That is why I asked you to believe in me.

Lucy

I do, Alec – with all my soul. But have mercy on me. I'm not so strong as I thought. It's easy for you to stand alone. You're iron, but I'm a weak woman.

Alec

Oh, no, you're not like other women. I was proud of your unconquerable spirit.

Lucy

It was easy to be brave where my father was concerned, and George, but you're the man I love, and it's so different. I don't know any more how to stand alone.

[Alec looks at her, thinking, but does not reply for a moment.Alec

Do you remember that only an hour ago I told you that I'd done nothing which I wouldn't do again? I gave you my word of honour that I could reproach myself for nothing.

Lucy

Oh, I know. I'm so utterly ashamed of myself. But I can't bear the doubt.

Alec

Doubt! You've said the word at last.

Lucy

I tell every one that I don't believe a word of these horrible charges, and I repeat to myself: I'm certain, I'm certain that he's innocent. And yet at the bottom of my heart there's a doubt, and I can't crush it.

Alec

Is that why you told them we were engaged to be married?

Lucy

I wanted to kill that gnawing pain of suspicion. I thought if I stood up before them and cried out that my trust in you was so great, I was willing to marry you notwithstanding everything, I should at least have peace in my own heart.

[Alec walks up and down. Then he stops in front of Lucy.Alec

What is it precisely you want me to do?

Lucy

I want you to have mercy on me because I love you. Don't tell the world if you choose not to, but tell me the truth. I know you're incapable of lying. If I only have it from your own lips I shall believe, I want to be certain, certain!

Alec

Don't you realise that I would never have asked you to marry me if my conscience hadn't been quite clear? Don't you realise that the reasons I have for holding my tongue must be of overwhelming strength?

Lucy

But I am going to be your wife, and I love you, and you love me.

Alec

I implore you not to insist, Lucy. Let us remember only that the past is gone and we love one another. It's impossible for me to tell you anything.

Lucy

Oh, but you must now. If any part of the story is true, you must give me a chance of judging for myself.

Alec

I'm very sorry, I can't.

Lucy

But you'll kill my love for you. The doubt which lurked at the bottom of my soul now fills me. How can you let me suffer such maddening torture?

Alec

I thought you trusted me.

Lucy

I'll be satisfied if you'll only tell me one thing: only tell me that when you sent George on that expedition you didn't know that he'd be killed. [Alec looks at her steadily.] Only say that, Alec. Say that's not true, and I'll believe you.

Alec

[Very quietly.] But it is true.

[Lucy does not answer, but stares at him with terrified eyes.Lucy

Oh, I don't understand. Oh, my dearest, don't treat me as a child. Have mercy on me! You must be serious now. It's a matter of life and death to both of us.

Alec

I'm perfectly serious.

Lucy

You knew that you were sending George into a death-trap? You knew he couldn't escape alive?

Alec

Except by a miracle.

Lucy

And you don't believe in miracles?

Alec

No.

Lucy

Oh, it can't be true. Oh, Alec, Alec, Alec! Oh, what shall I do?

Alec

I tell you that whatever I did was inevitable.

Lucy

Then if that's true, the rest must be true also. Oh, it's awful. I can't realise it. Haven't you anything to say at all?

Alec

[In a low voice.] Only that I've loved you always with all my soul.

Lucy

You knew how much I loved my brother. You knew how much it meant to me that he should live to wipe out my father's dishonour. All the future was centred on him, and you sacrificed him.

Alec

[Hesitatingly.] I think I might tell you this. He had committed a grave error of judgment. We were entrapped by the Arabs, and our only chance of escape entailed the almost certain death of one of us.

[An inkling of the truth seizes Lucy, and her face is suddenly distorted with horror. She goes up to him impulsively. Her voice trembles with emotion.Lucy

Alec, Alec, he didn't do something – unworthy? You're not trying to shield him?

Alec

[Hoarsely.] No, no, no!

Lucy

[With a gasp of relief, almost to herself.] Thank God! I couldn't have borne that. [To Alec, hopelessly.] Then I don't understand.

Alec

It was not unjust that he should suffer for the catastrophe which he had brought about.

Lucy

At those times one doesn't think of justice. He was so young, so frank. Wouldn't it have been nobler to give your life for his?

Alec

Oh, my dear, you don't know how easy it is to give one's life. How little you know me! Do you think I should have hesitated if my death had been sufficient to solve the difficulty? I had my work to do. I was bound by solemn treaties to the surrounding tribes. It would have been cowardly for me to die. I tell you, my death would have meant the awful death of every man in my party.

Lucy

I can only see one thing, that you took George, George of all others.

Alec

I knew at the time that what I did might cost me your love, and though you won't believe this, I did it for your sake.

[At this moment Mrs. Crowley enters with Sir Robert Boulger. She has a cloak on.Mrs. Crowley

I was just coming to say good-night. Bobby is going to drive me home. [She suddenly notices Lucy's agitation.] What on earth's the matter?

[Lady Kelsey and Dick Lomas come in. Lady Kelsey looks at Lucy and then goes up to her impulsively.Lady Kelsey

Lucy, Lucy!

Lucy

[Brokenly.] I'm no longer engaged to Mr. Mackenzie. He can't deny that what is said about him is true.

[They look at him in astonishment, but he makes no movement.Mrs. Crowley

[To Alec.] Haven't you anything to say at all? You must have some explanation to offer?

Alec

No, I have none whatever.

Dick

Alec, old man, have you realised all that this means?

Alec

Quite. I see now that it was inevitable.

Lucy

[With a sudden burst of furious anger.] You killed him! You killed him as surely as if you'd strangled him with your own hands.

[Robert Boulger goes to the door and flings it open. Alec gives Lucy a look, then slightly shrugs his shoulders. He walks out without a word. The moment he has gone Lucy sinks down and bursts into passionate tears.END OF THE THIRD ACT

THE FOURTH ACT

Scene. —A library in the house of Dick Lomas in Portman Square.

Dick and his Valet. Dick is putting flowers into a vase.

Dick

Has Mr. Mackenzie come in?

Charles

Yes, sir. He's gone to his room.

Dick

I expect Mrs. Crowley and Miss Allerton to tea. If any one else comes I'm not at home.

Charles

Very well, sir.

Dick

And if a caller should ask at what time I'm expected back, you haven't the least idea.

Charles

Very well, sir.

Dick

We shall want breakfast at eight to-morrow. I'm going down to Southampton to see Mr. Mackenzie off. But I shall be home to dinner. How about those cases in the hall?

Charles

Mr. Mackenzie said they were to be sent for this afternoon. They're only labelled Zanzibar. Is that sufficient, sir?

Dick

Oh, I suppose so. Mr. Mackenzie will have given the shippers all directions. You'd better bring the tea at once. Mrs. Crowley is coming at four.

Charles

Very well, sir.

[He goes out. Dick continues to arrange the flowers, than goes to the window and looks out. He comes back. The door is opened by Charles, who announces Mrs. Crowley.Charles

Mrs. Crowley.

Dick

[Going towards her eagerly and taking both her hands.] Best of women!

Mrs. Crowley

You seem quite glad to see me?

Dick

I am. But where is Lucy?

Mrs. Crowley

She's coming later… I don't know why you should squeeze my hands in this pointed manner.

Dick

What an age it is since I saw you!

Mrs. Crowley

If you bury yourself in Scotland all the summer, you can't expect to see people who go to Homburg and the Italian lakes.

Dick

Heavens, how you cultivate respectability!

Mrs. Crowley

It's a sensitive plant whose vagaries one has to humour.

Dick

Aren't you delighted to be back in town?

Mrs. Crowley

London's the most charming place in the world to get away from and to come back to. Now tell me all you've been doing, if I can hear it without blushing too furiously.

Dick

My behaviour would have done credit to a clergyman's only daughter. I dragged Alec off to Scotland after that horrible scene at Lady Kelsey's, and we played golf.

Mrs. Crowley

Was he very wretched, poor thing?

Dick

He didn't say a word. I wanted to comfort him, but he never gave me a chance. He never mentioned Lucy's name.

Mrs. Crowley

Did he seem unhappy?

Dick

No. He was just the same as ever, impassive and collected.

Mrs. Crowley

Really he's inhuman.

Dick

He's an anomaly in this juvenile century. He's an ancient Roman who buys his clothes in Savile Row. An eagle caged with a colony of canaries.

Mrs. Crowley

Then he's very much in the way in England, and it's much better for him that he should go back to Africa.

Dick

This time to-morrow he'll be half-way down the channel.

Mrs. Crowley

I'm really beginning to think you're a perfect angel, Mr. Lomas.

Dick

Don't say that, it makes me feel so middle-aged. I'd much sooner be a young sinner than an elderly cherub.

Mrs. Crowley

It was sweet of you to look after him through the summer and then insist on his staying here till he went away. How long is he going for this time?

Dick

Heaven knows! Perhaps for ever.

Mrs. Crowley

Have you told him that Lucy is coming?

Dick

No. I thought that was a pleasing piece of information which I'd leave you to impart.

Mrs. Crowley

Thanks!

Dick

She's only coming to indulge a truly feminine passion for making scenes, and she's made Alec quite wretched enough already. Why doesn't she marry Robert Boulger?

Mrs. Crowley

Why should she?

Dick

Half the women I know merely married their husbands to spite somebody else. It appears to be one of the commonest causes of matrimony.

Mrs. Crowley

[With a quizzical look at him.] Talking of which, what are you going to do when Mr. Mackenzie is gone?

Dick

Talking of the weather and the crops, I propose to go to Spain.

Mrs. Crowley

[Opening her eyes wide.] How very extraordinary! I thought of going there, too.

Dick

Then, without a moment's hesitation, I shall go to Norway.

Mrs. Crowley

It'll be dreadfully cold.

Dick

Dreadfully. But I shall be supported by the consciousness of having done my duty.

Mrs. Crowley

You don't think there would be room for both of us in Spain?

Dick

I'm convinced there wouldn't. We should always be running against one another, and you'd insist on my looking out all your trains in Bradshaw.

Mrs. Crowley

I hope you remember that you asked me to tea to-day?

Dick

Pardon me, you asked yourself. I keep the letter next to my heart and put it under my pillow every night.

Mrs. Crowley

You fibber! Besides, if I did, it was only on Lucy's account.

Dick

That, I venture to think, is neither polite nor accurate.

Mrs. Crowley

I don't think I should so utterly detest you, if you hadn't such a good opinion of yourself.

Dick

You forget that I vowed on the head of my maternal grandmother never to speak to you again.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I'm always doing that. I tell my maid that time she does my hair badly.

Dick

You trifled with the tenderest affection of an innocent and unsophisticated old bachelor.

Mrs. Crowley

Is that you by any chance?

Dick

Of course, it's me. D'you think I was talking of the man in the moon?

Mrs. Crowley

[Looking at him critically.] With the light behind, you might still pass for thirty-five.

Dick

I've given up youth and its vanities. I no longer pluck out my white hairs.

Mrs. Crowley

Then how on earth do you occupy your leisure?

Dick

For the last three months I've been laboriously piecing together the fragments of a broken heart.

Mrs. Crowley

If you hadn't been so certain that I was going to accept you, I should never have refused. I couldn't resist the temptation of saying "No" just to see how you took it.

Dick

I flatter myself that I took it very well.

Mrs. Crowley

You didn't. You showed an entire lack of humour. You might have known that a nice woman doesn't marry a man the first time he asks her. It's making oneself too cheap. It was very silly of you to go off to Scotland as if you didn't care… How was I to know that you meant to wait three months before asking me again?

Dick

I haven't the least intention of asking you again.

Mrs. Crowley

Then why in heaven's name did you invite me to tea?

Dick

May I respectfully remind you, first, that you invited yourself …

Mrs. Crowley

[Interrupting.] You're so irrelevant.

Dick

And, secondly, that an invitation to tea is not necessarily accompanied by a proposal of marriage.

Mrs. Crowley

I'm afraid you're lamentably ignorant of the usages of good society.

Dick

I assure you it's not done in the best circles.

Mrs. Crowley

[With a little pout.] I shall be very cross with you in a minute.

Dick

Why?

Mrs. Crowley

Because you're not behaving at all prettily.

Dick

D'you know what I'd do if I were you? Propose to me.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I couldn't do anything so immodest.

Dick

I have registered a vow that I will never offer my hand and heart to any woman again.

Mrs. Crowley

On the head of your maternal grandmother?

Dick

Oh no, far more serious than that. On the grave of my maiden aunt, who left me all my money.

Mrs. Crowley

What will you say if I do?

Dick

That depends entirely on how you do it. I may remind you, however, that first you go down on your bended knees.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I waived that with you.

Dick

And then you confess you're unworthy of me.

Mrs. Crowley

Mr. Lomas, I am a widow. I am twenty-nine and extremely eligible. My maid is a treasure. My dressmaker is charming. I am clever enough to laugh at your jokes, and not so learned as to know where they come from.

Dick

Really you're very long-winded. I said it all in four words.

Mrs. Crowley

So could I if I might write it down.

Dick

You must say it.

Mrs. Crowley

But what I'm trying to make you understand is that I don't want to marry you a bit. You're just the sort of man who'll beat his wife regularly every Saturday night… You will say yes if I ask you, won't you?

Dick

I've never been able to refuse a woman anything.

Mrs. Crowley

I have no doubt you will after six months of holy matrimony.

Dick

I never saw any one make such a fuss about so insignificant a detail as a proposal of marriage.

Mrs. Crowley

Dick. [She stretches out her hands, smiling, and he takes her in his arms.] You really are a detestable person.

Dick

[With a smile, taking a ring from his pocket.] I bought an engagement ring yesterday on the off chance of its being useful.

Mrs. Crowley

Then you meant to ask me all the time?

Dick

Of course I did, you silly.

Mrs. Crowley

Oh, I wish I had known that before. I'd have refused you again.

Dick

You absurd creature.

[He kisses her.Mrs. Crowley

[Trying to release herself.] There's somebody coming.

Dick

It's only Alec.

[Alec comes in.Alec

Hulloa!

Dick

Alec, we've made friends, Mrs. Crowley and I.

Alec

It certainly looks very much like it.

Dick

The fact is, I've asked her to marry me, and she…

Mrs. Crowley

[Interrupting, with a smile.] After much pressure —

Dick

Has consented.

Alec

I'm so glad. I heartily congratulate you both. I was rather unhappy at leaving Dick, Mrs. Crowley. But now I leave him in your hands, I'm perfectly content. He's the dearest, kindest old chap I've ever known.

Dick

Shut up, Alec! Don't play the heavy father, or we shall burst into tears.

Alec

He'll be an admirable husband because he's an admirable friend.

Mrs. Crowley

I know he will. And I'm only prevented from saying all I think of him and how much I love him, by the fear that he'll become perfectly unmanageable.

Dick

Spare me these chaste blushes which mantle my youthful brow. Will you pour out the tea … Nellie?

Mrs. Crowley

Yes … Dick.

[She sits down at the tea-table and Dick makes himself comfortable in an arm-chair by her side.Alec

Well, I'm thankful to say that everything's packed and ready.

Mrs. Crowley

I wish you'd stay for our wedding.

Dick

Do. You can go just as well by the next boat.

Alec

I'm afraid that everything is settled now. I've given instructions at Zanzibar to collect bearers, and I must arrive as quickly as I can.

Dick

I wish to goodness you'd give up these horrible explorations.

Alec

But they're the very breath of my life. You don't know the exhilaration of the daily dangers – the joy of treading where only the wild beasts have trodden before. Oh, already I can hardly bear my impatience when I think of the boundless country and the enchanting freedom. Here one grows so small, so despicable, but in Africa everything is built to a nobler standard. There a man is really a man; there one knows what are will and strength and courage. Oh, you don't know what it is to stand on the edge of some great plain and breathe the pure keen air after the terrors of the forest. Then at last you know what freedom is.

Dick

The boundless plain of Hyde Park is enough for me, and the aspect of Piccadilly on a fine day in June gives me quite as many emotions as I want.

Mrs. Crowley

But what will you gain by it all, now that your work in East Africa is over, by all the dangers and the hardships?

Alec

Nothing. I want to gain nothing. Perhaps I shall discover some new species of antelope or some unknown plant. Perhaps I shall find some new waterway. That is all the reward I want. I love the sense of power and mastery. What do you think I care for the tinsel rewards of kings and peoples?

Dick

I always said you were melodramatic. I never heard anything so transpontine.

Mrs. Crowley

And the end of it, what will be the end?

Alec

The end is death in some fever-stricken swamp, obscurely, worn out by exposure and ague and starvation. And the bearers will seize my gun and my clothes and leave me to the jackals.

Mrs. Crowley

Don't. It's too horrible.

Alec

Why, what does it matter? I shall die standing up. I shall go the last journey as I have gone every other.

Mrs. Crowley

Without fear?

Dick

For all the world like the wicked baronet: Once aboard the lugger and the girl is mine!

Mrs. Crowley

Don't you want men to remember you?

Alec

Perhaps they will. Perhaps in a hundred years or so, in some flourishing town where I discovered nothing but wilderness, they will commission a second-rate sculptor to make a fancy statue of me. And I shall stand in front of the Stock Exchange, a convenient perch for birds, to look eternally upon the various shabby deeds of human kind.

[During this speech Mrs. Crowley makes a sign to Dick, who walks slowly away and goes out.Mrs. Crowley

And is that really everything? I can't help thinking that at the bottom of your heart is something that you've never told to a living soul.

[He gives her a long look, and then after a moment's thought breaks into a little smile.Alec

Why do you want to know so much?

Mrs. Crowley

Tell me.

Alec

I daresay I shall never see you again. Perhaps it doesn't much matter what I say to you. You'll think me very silly, but I'm afraid I'm rather – patriotic. It's only we who live away from England who really love it. I'm so proud of my country, and I wanted so much to do something for it. Often in Africa I've thought of this dear England, and longed not to die till I had done my work. Behind all the soldiers and the statesmen whose fame is imperishable, there is a long line of men who've built up the Empire piece by piece. Their names are forgotten, and only students know their history, but each one of them gave a province to his country. And I, too, have my place among them. For five years I toiled night and day, and at the end of it was able to hand over to the Commissioners a broad tract of land, rich and fertile. After my death England will forget my faults and my mistakes. I care nothing for the flouts and gibes with which she has repaid all my pain, for I have added another fair jewel to her crown. I don't want rewards. I only want the honour of serving this dear land of ours.

Mrs. Crowley

Why is it, when you're so nice really, that you do all you can to make people think you utterly horrid?

Alec

Don't laugh at me because you've found out that at heart I'm nothing more than a sentimental old woman.

Mrs. Crowley

[Putting her hand on his arm.] What would you do if Lucy came here to-day?

[Alec starts, looks at her sharply, then answers with deliberation.Alec

I have always lived in polite society. I should never dream of outraging its conventions. If Miss Allerton happened to come, you may be sure I should be scrupulously polite.

Mrs. Crowley

Is that all? Lucy has suffered very much.

Alec

And do you suppose I've not suffered? Because I don't whine my misery to all and sundry, d'you think I don't care? I'm not the man to fall in and out of love with every pretty face I meet. All my life I've kept an ideal before my eyes. Oh, you don't know what it meant to me to fall in love. I felt that I had lived all my life in a prison, and at last Lucy came and took me by the hand and led me out. And for the first time I breathed the free air of heaven. Oh God! how I've suffered for it! Why should it have come to me? Oh, if you knew my agony and the torture!

[He hides his face, trying to master his emotion. Mrs. Crowley goes to him and puts her hand on his shoulder.Mrs. Crowley

Mr. Mackenzie.

Alec

[Springing up.] Go away. Don't look at me. How can you stand there and watch my weakness? Oh God, give me strength… My love was the last human weakness I had. It was right that I should drink that bitter cup. And I've drunk its very dregs. I should have known that I wasn't meant for happiness and a life of ease. I have other work to do in the world. And now that I have overcome this last temptation, I am ready to do it.

Mrs. Crowley

But haven't you any pity for yourself, haven't you any thought for Lucy?

Alec

Must I tell you, too, that everything I did was for Lucy's sake? And still I love her with all my heart and soul…

Dick comes inDick

Here is Lucy!

[Charles comes in and announces Lucy.Charles

Miss Allerton!

[She enters, and Dick, anxious that the meeting shall not be more awkward than need be, goes up to her very cordially.Dick

Ah, my dear Lucy. So glad you were able to come.

Lucy

[Giving her hand to Dick, but looking at Alec.] How d'you do?

Alec

How d'you do? [He forces himself to talk.] How is Lady Kelsey?

Lucy

She's much better, thanks. We've been to Spa, you know, for her health.