The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950

  No matter how late. And perhaps that will help us

  To understand other people. I hope so.

  Lucasta, I regard you as a … step-daughter;

  And shall be happy to accept Mr. Kaghan as a son-in-law.

  LUCASTA. Thank you. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.

  But that reminds me. He’s waiting downstairs.

  I don’t suppose you want us at your meeting.

  EGGERSON. Allow me. May I make a suggestion?

  Though first of all I must take the occasion

  To wish Miss Angel every happiness.

  And I’m sure she will be happy. Mr. Kaghan

  Is one of the most promising young men in the City,

  And he has a heart of gold. So have you, Miss Angel.

  We have this very important interview,

  But I’m sure that we want to greet the happy pair.

  It’s all in the family. Why not let them wait downstairs

  And come back after Mrs. Guzzard has left?

  SIR CLAUDE. That’s not a bad idea. If Colby agrees.

  LUCASTA. I trust you, Eggy. And I want to make my peace with him.

  SIR CLAUDE. We’ll get him now.

  [Reaches for the telephone]

  [A knock. Enter COLBY]

  COLBY. Have I come too soon?

  I’m afraid I got impatient of waiting.

  LUCASTA. Colby! I’ve not come to interrupt your meeting.

  I’ve been told what it’s about. But I did come to see you.

  I came to apologise for my behaviour

  The other afternoon.

  COLBY. Apologise?

  SIR CLAUDE. I’ve told her.

  COLBY. But why should you apologise?

  LUCASTA. Oh, because I knew

  That I must have misunderstood your reaction.

  It wouldn’t have been like you — the way I thought it was.

  You’re much too … detached, ever to be shocked

  In the way I thought you were. I was ashamed

  Of what I was telling you, and so I was expecting

  What I thought I got. But I couldn’t believe it!

  It isn’t like you, to despise people:

  You don’t care enough.

  COLBY. I don’t care enough?

  LUCASTA. No. You’re either above caring,

  Or else you’re insensible — I don’t mean insensitive!

  But you’re terribly cold. Or else you’ve some fire

  To warm you, that isn’t the same kind of fire

  That warms other people. You’re either an egotist

  Or something so different from the rest of us

  That we can’t judge you. That’s you, Colby.

  COLBY. That’s me, is it? I simply don’t know.

  Perhaps you know me better than I know myself.

  But now that you know what I am …

  LUCASTA. Who you are,

  In the sense I’ve been told that you’re my brother;

  Which makes it more difficult to know what you are.

  It may be there’s no one so hard to understand

  As one’s brother …

  COLBY. Or sister …

  LUCASTA. What’s so difficult

  Is to recognise the limits of one’s understanding.

  It may be that understanding, as a brother and a sister,

  Will come, in time. Perhaps, one day

  We may understand each other. And accept the fact

  That we’re not necessary to each other

  In the way we might have been. But a different way

  That reveals itself in time. And perhaps — who knows? —

  We might become more necessary to each other,

  As a brother and a sister, than we could have been

  In any other form of relationship.

  COLBY. I want you to be happy.

  LUCASTA. I shall be happy,

  If you will accept me as a sister

  For the happiness that relationship may bring us

  In twenty or thirty or forty years’ time.

  I shall be happy. I’m going to marry B.

  I know you like B.

  COLBY. I’m very fond of him;

  And I’m glad to think he’ll be my brother-in-law.

  I shall need you, both of you, Lucasta!

  LUCASTA. We’ll mean something to you. But you don’t need anybody.

  EGGERSON. And now may I interrupt, Miss Angel?

  Why shouldn’t you and Mr. Kaghan wait downstairs

  And rejoin us when this interview is over?

  I’m sure Mr. Simpkins will concur in this proposal.

  COLBY. Of course I’d like them … Can’t B. come up now?

  EGGERSON. Better wait till afterwards.

  SIR CLAUDE. Quite right, Eggerson.

  LUCASTA. Good-bye, Colby.

  COLBY. Why do you say good-bye?

  LUCASTA. Good-bye to Colby as Lucasta knew him,

  And good-bye to the Lucasta whom Colby knew.

  We’ve changed since then: as you said, we’re always changing.

  When I come back, we’ll be brother and sister —

  Or so I hope. Yes, in any event,

  Good-bye, Colby.

  [Exit LUCASTA]

  COLBY. Good-bye then, Lucasta.

  EGGERSON. And now, how soon are we expecting Mrs. Guzzard?

  SIR CLAUDE [looking at his watch]. She ought to be here now! It’s surprising,

  I hadn’t been aware how the time was passing,

  What with Lucasta’s unexpected visit.

  She ought to be here. It wouldn’t be like her

  To be late for an appointment. She always mentioned it

  If I was late when I went to see her.

  [Enter LUCASTA]

  LUCASTA. I’m sorry to come back. It’s an anti-climax.

  But there seems to be nobody to answer the door.

  I’ve just let someone in. It’s the Mrs. Guzzard

  Whom you are expecting. She looks rather formidable.

  SIR CLAUDE. It’s Parkman’s day off. But where’s the parlourmaid?

  LUCASTA. I thought I heard someone singing in the pantry.

  LADY ELIZABETH. Oh, I forgot. It’s Gertrude’s quiet hour.

  I’ve been giving her lessons in recollection.

  But she shouldn’t be singing.

  LUCASTA. Well, what shall I do?

  EGGERSON. Let me go down and explain to Mrs. Guzzard

  And then bring her up.

  SIR CLAUDE. No, I want you here, Eggerson.

  Will you show her up, Lucasta?

  LUCASTA. I’ll make B. do it.

  [Exit LUCASTA]

  SIR CLAUDE. I wish you could arrange the servants’ time-table better.

  This is a most unfortunate beginning.

  LADY ELIZABETH. She’s been making progress, under my direction;

  But she shouldn’t have been singing.

  SIR CLAUDE. Well, are we ready?

  [A quiet knock. Enter KAGHAN, escorting MRS. GUZZARD. Exit KAGHAN]

  Good morning, Mrs. Guzzard. I must apologise:

  I’m afraid there has been some domestic incompetence.

  You should have been announced.

  MRS. GUZZARD. I believe I was punctual.

  But I didn’t mind waiting in the least, Sir Claude.

  I know that you are always much engaged.

  SIR CLAUDE. First, let me introduce you to my wife.

  Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer.

  LADY ELIZABETH. Good morning, Mrs. Guzzard.

  You don’t know me, but I know about you:

  We have more in common than you are aware of.

  MRS. GUZZARD. I suppose you mean Colby?

  LADY ELIZABETH. Yes. To do with Colby.

  SIR CLAUDE. Elizabeth, you know we are to leave that to Eggerson.

  This is Mr. Eggerson, Mrs. Guzzard:

  My confidential clerk. That is to say,

  Colby’s predecessor, who recently r
etired.

  Now he lives … in the country. But he knows the whole story:

  He’s been in my confidence — and I may say, my friend —

  For very many years. So I asked him to be present.

  I hope you don’t mind?

  MRS. GUZZARD. Why should I mind?

  I have heard about Mr. Eggerson from Colby.

  I am very happy to make his acquaintance.

  SIR CLAUDE. And I thought he might … conduct the proceedings:

  He’s the very soul of tact and discretion.

  MRS. GUZZARD. Certainly, Sir Claude, if that is what you wish.

  But is the subject of this meeting —

  I suppose to do with Colby — so very confidential?

  EGGERSON. Yes, that is what I should call it, Mrs. Guzzard.

  I take it, Sir Claude, I should open the discussion?

  SIR CLAUDE. If you please, Eggerson.

  EGGERSON. Then let’s make a start.

  The question has to do, as you surmised, with Mr. Simpkins.

  It also concerns a problem of paternity.

  LADY ELIZABETH. Or of maternity.

  SIR CLAUDE. Don’t interrupt, Elizabeth.

  MRS. GUZZARD. I don’t understand you.

  EGGERSON. It’s this way, Mrs. Guzzard.

  It is only recently that Lady Elizabeth

  Heard your name mentioned, by Mr. Simpkins.

  She was struck by your name and your living in Teddington.

  And now we must go back, many years:

  Well, not so many years — when you get to my age

  The past and the future both seem very brief —

  But long enough ago for the question to be possible.

  Lady Elizabeth, before her marriage

  Had a child …

  LADY ELIZABETH. A son.

  EGGERSON. Had a son

  Whom she could not, in the circumstances, acknowledge.

  That happens not infrequently, Mrs. Guzzard.

  MRS. GUZZARD. So I am aware. I have known it to happen.

  EGGERSON. — Who was taken charge of by the father.

  That is to say, placed out to be cared for

  Till further notice by a foster-mother.

  Unfortunately, the father died suddenly …

  LADY ELIZABETH. He was run over. By a rhinoceros

  In Tanganyika.

  SIR CLAUDE. That’s not relevant.

  Leave it to Eggerson.

  EGGERSON. The father died abroad.

  Lady Elizabeth did not know the name of the lady

  Who had taken the child. Or rather, had forgotten it.

  She was not, in any case, in a position

  In which she could have instituted enquiries.

  So, for many years, she has been without a clue

  Until the other day. This son, Mrs. Guzzard,

  If he is alive, must be a grown man.

  I believe you have had no children of your own;

  But I’m sure you can sympathise.

  MRS. GUZZARD. I can sympathise.

  I had a child, and lost him. Not in the way

  That Lady Elizabeth’s child was lost.

  Let us hope that her son may be restored to her.

  EGGERSON. That is exactly what we are aiming at.

  We have a clue — or what appears to be a clue.

  That is why Sir Claude has asked you to be present.

  MRS. GUZZARD. You think that I might be able to help you?

  EGGERSON. It seems just possible. A few days ago,

  As I said, Lady Elizabeth learned your name;

  And the name struck her as being familiar.

  MRS. GUZZARD. Indeed? It is not a very common name.

  EGGERSON. That is what impressed her. Mrs. Guzzard

  Of Teddington! Lady Elizabeth is convinced

  That it was a Mrs. Guzzard of Teddington

  To whom her new-born child was confided.

  Of course she might be mistaken about Teddington …

  LADY ELIZABETH. I am not mistaken about Teddington.

  EGGERSON. I am only suggesting, Lady Elizabeth,

  There are other places that sound like Teddington

  But not so many names that sound like Guzzard —

  Or if there are, they are equally uncommon.

  But, Mrs. Guzzard, this is where you can help us —

  Do you know of any other Mrs. Guzzard?

  MRS. GUZZARD. None.

  EGGERSON. Whether, I mean, in Teddington or elsewhere?

  Now I must ask a more delicate question:

  Did you, at any time, take in a child —

  A child, that is, of parents unknown to you —

  Under such conditions?

  MRS. GUZZARD. Yes, I did take in a child.

  My husband and I were childless … at the time,

  And very poor. It offered two advantages.

  EGGERSON. And did you know the name of the father

  Or of the mother?

  MRS. GUZZARD. I was not told either.

  I understood the child was very well connected:

  Otherwise, I should not have taken him.

  But he was brought to me by a third party,

  Through whom the monthly payments were made.

  EGGERSON. The terms were satisfactory?

  MRS. GUZZARD. Very satisfactory —

  So long, that is to say, as the money was forthcoming.

  EGGERSON. Did the payments come to an end?

  MRS. GUZZARD. Very suddenly.

  LADY ELIZABETH. That must have been when Tony met with his accident.

  MRS. GUZZARD. I was informed that the father had died

  Without making a will.

  LADY ELIZABETH. He was very careless.

  MRS. GUZZARD. And that the heirs acknowledged no responsibility.

  The mother, I suppose, could have got an order

  If she could have established the paternity;

  But I didn’t know who she was! What could I do?

  LADY ELIZABETH. Oh, Claude, you see? You understand, Colby?

  SIR CLAUDE. Don’t be certain yet, Elizabeth.

  LADY ELIZABETH. There is no doubt about it.

  Colby is my son.

  MRS. GUZZARD. Your son, Lady Elizabeth?

  Are you suggesting that I kept a child of yours

  And deceived Sir Claude by pretending it was his?

  SIR CLAUDE. That is just the point. My wife has convinced herself

  That Colby is her son. I know he is my son.

  And I asked you here so that you might tell her so.

  EGGERSON. Don’t take this as a personal reflection,

  Mrs. Guzzard. Far from it. You must make allowances

  For a mother who has been hoping against hope

  To find her son. Put yourself in her position.

  If you had lost your son, in a similar way,

  Wouldn’t you grasp at any straw

  That offered hope of finding him?

  MRS. GUZZARD. Perhaps I should.

  LADY ELIZABETH. There isn’t a shadow of doubt in my mind.

  I’m surprised that you, Eggerson, with your legal training,

  Should talk about straws! Colby is my son.

  MRS. GUZZARD. In the circumstances, I ignore that remark.

  EGGERSON. May I pour a drop of oil on these troubled waters?

  Let us approach the question from another angle,

  And ask Mrs. Guzzard what became of the child

  She took in, which may have been Lady Elizabeth’s.

  SIR CLAUDE. That’s a very sensible suggestion, Eggerson.

  A breath of sanity. Thank you for that.

  MRS. GUZZARD. We parted with it. A dear little boy.

  I was happy to have him while the payments were made;

  But we could not afford to adopt the child,

  Or continue to keep him, when the payments ended.

  EGGERSON. And how did you dispose of him?

  MRS. GUZZARD. We
had neighbours

  Who were childless, and eager to adopt a child.

  They had taken a fancy to him. So they adopted him.

  Then they left Teddington, and we lost sight of them.

  EGGERSON. But you know their name?