CHARLES. Well, Monica, here I am. I hope you got my message.
MONICA. Oh Charles, Charles, Charles, I'm so glad you've come!
I've been so worried, and rather frightened.
It was exasperating that they couldn't find me
When you telephoned this morning. That Mrs. Piggott
Should have heard my beloved's voice
And I couldn't, just when I had been yearning
For the sound of it, for the caress that is in it!
Oh Charles, how I've wanted you! And now I need you.
CHARLES. My darling, what I want is to know that you need me.
On that last day in London, you admitted that you loved me,
But I wondered … I'm sorry, I couldn't help wondering
How much your words meant. You didn't seem to need me then.
And you said we weren't engaged yet …
MONICA. We're engaged now.
At least I'm engaged. I'm engaged to you for ever.
CHARLES. There's another shopping expedition we must make!
But my darling, since I got your letter this morning
About your father and Michael, and those people from his past,
I've been trying to think what I could do to help him.
If it's blackmail, and that's very much what it looks like,
Do you think I could persuade him to confide in me?
MONICA. Oh Charles! How could anyone blackmail Father?
Father, of all people the most scrupulous,
The most austere. It's quite impossible.
Father with a guilty secret in his past!
I just can't imagine it.
[CLAVERTON has entered unobserved]
MONICA. I never expected you from that direction, Father!
I thought you were indoors. Where have you been?
LORD CLAVERTON. Not far away. Standing under the great beech tree.
MONICA. Why under the beech tree?
LORD CLAVERTON. I feel drawn to that spot.
No matter. I heard what you said about guilty secrets.
There are many things not crimes, Monica,
Beyond anything of which the law takes cognisance:
Temporary failures, irreflective aberrations,
Reckless surrenders, unexplainable impulses,
Moments we regret in the very next moment,
Episodes we try to conceal from the world.
Has there been nothing in your life, Charles Hemington,
Which you wish to forget? Which you wish to keep unknown?
CHARLES. There are certainly things I would gladly forget, Sir,
Or rather, which I wish had never happened.
I can think of things you don't yet know about me, Monica,
But there's nothing I would ever wish to conceal from you.
LORD CLAVERTON. If there's nothing, truly nothing, that you couldn't tell Monica
Then all is well with you. You're in love with each other —
I don't need to be told what I've seen for myself!
And if there is nothing that you conceal from her
However important you may consider it
To conceal from the rest of the world — your soul is safe.
If a man has one person, just one in his life,
To whom he is willing to confess everything —
And that includes, mind you, not only things criminal,
Not only turpitude, meanness and cowardice,
But also situations which are simply ridiculous,
When he has played the fool (as who has not?) —
Then he loves that person, and his love will save him.
I'm afraid that I've never loved anyone, really.
No, I do love my Monica — but there's the impediment:
It's impossible to be quite honest with your child
If you've never been honest with anyone older,
On terms of equality. To one's child one can't reveal oneself
While she is a child. And by the time she's grown
You've woven such a web of fiction about you!
I've spent my life in trying to forget myself,
In trying to identify myself with the part
I had chosen to play. And the longer we pretend
The harder it becomes to drop the pretence,
Walk off the stage, change into our own clothes
And speak as ourselves. So I'd become an idol
To Monica. She worshipped the part I played:
How could I be sure that she would love the actor
If she saw him, off the stage, without his costume and makeup
And without his stage words. Monica!
I've had your love under false pretences.
Now, I'm tired of keeping up those pretences,
But I hope that you'll find a little love in your heart
Still, for your father, when you know him
For what he is, the broken-down actor.
MONICA. I think I should only love you the better, Father,
The more I knew about you. I should understand you better.
There's nothing I'm afraid of learning about Charles,
There's nothing I'm afraid of learning about you.
CHARLES. I was thinking, Sir — forgive the suspicion —
From what Monica has told me about your fellow guests,
Two persons who, she says, claim a very long acquaintance —
I was thinking that if there's any question of blackmail,
I've seen something of it in my practice at the bar.
I'm sure I could help.
MONICA. Oh Father, do let him.
CHARLES. At least, I think I know the best man to advise you.
LORD CLAVERTON. Blackmail? Yes, I've heard that word before,
Not so very long ago. When I asked him what he wanted.
Oh no, he said, I want nothing from you
Except your friendship and your company.
He's a very rich man. And she's a rich woman.
If people merely blackmail you to get your company
I'm afraid the law can't touch them.
CHARLES. Then why should you submit?
Why not leave Badgley and escape from them?
LORD CLAVERTON. Because they are not real, Charles. They are merely ghosts:
Spectres from my past. They've always been with me
Though it was not till lately that I found the living persons
Whose ghosts tormented me, to be only human beings,
Malicious, petty, and I see myself emerging
From my spectral existence into something like reality.
MONICA. But what did the ghosts mean? All these years
You've kept them to yourself. Did Mother know of them?
LORD CLAVERTON. Your mother knew nothing about them. And I know
That I never knew your mother, as she never knew me.
I thought that she would never understand
Or that she would be jealous of the ghosts who haunted me.
And I'm still of that opinion. How open one's heart
When one is sure of the wrong response?
How make a confession with no hope of absolution?
It was not her fault. We never understood each other.
And so we lived, with a deep silence between us,
And she died silently. She had nothing to say to me.
I think of your mother, when she lay dying:
Completely without interest in the life that lay behind her
And completely indifferent to whatever lay ahead of her.
MONICA. It is time to break the silence! Let us share your ghosts!
CHARLES. But these are only human beings, who can be dealt with.
MONICA. Or only ghosts, who can be exorcised!
Who are they, and what do they stand for in your life?
LORD CLAVERTON.… And yet they've both done better for themselves
In consequence of it all. He admitted as much,
Fred Culverwell …
MONICA. Fred Culverwell?
Who is Fred Culverwell?
LORD CLAVERTON. He no longer exists.
He's Federico Gomez, the Central American,
A man who's made a fortune by his own peculiar methods,
A man of great importance and the highest standing
In his adopted country. He even has sons
Following in their father's footsteps
Who are also successful. What would he have been
If he hadn't known me? Only a schoolmaster
In an obscure grammar school somewhere in the Midlands.
As for Maisie Batterson …
MONICA. Maisie Batterson?
Who is Maisie Batterson?
LORD CLAVERTON. She no longer exists.
Nor the musical comedy star, Maisie Montjoy.
There is Mrs. John Carghill, the wealthy widow.
But Freddy Culverwell and Maisie Batterson,
And Dick Ferry too, and Richard Ferry —
These are my ghosts. They were people with good in them,
People who might all have been very different
From Gomez, Mrs. Carghill and Lord Claverton.
Freddy admired me, when we were at Oxford;
What did I make of his admiration?
I led him to acquire tastes beyond his means:
So he became a forger. And so he served his term.
Was I responsible for that weakness in him?
Yes, I was.
How easily we ignore the fact that those who admire us
Will imitate our vices as well as our virtues —
Or whatever the qualities for which they did admire us!
And that again may nourish the faults that they were born with.
And Maisie loved me, with whatever capacity
For loving she had — self-centred and foolish —
But we should respect love always when we meet it;
Even when it's vain and selfish, we must not abuse it.
That is where I failed. And the memory frets me.
CHARLES. But all the same, these two people mustn't persecute you.
We can't allow that. What hold have they upon you?
LORD CLAVERTON. Only the hold of those who know
Something discreditable, dishonourable …
MONICA. Then, Father, you should tell us what they already know.
Why should you wish to conceal from those who love you
What is known so well to those who hate you?
LORD CLAVERTON. I will tell you very briefly
And simply. As for Frederick Culverwell,
He re-enters my life to make himself a reminder
Of one occasion the memory of which
He knows very well, has always haunted me.
I was driving back to Oxford. We had two girls with us.
It was late at night. A secondary road.
I ran over an old man lying in the road
And I did not stop. Then another man ran over him.
A lorry driver. He stopped and was arrested,
But was later discharged. It was definitely shown
That the old man had died a natural death
And had been run over after he was dead.
It was only a corpse that we had run over
So neither of us killed him. But I didn't stop.
And all my life I have heard, from time to time,
When I least expected, between waking and sleeping,
A voice that whispered, 'you didn't stop!'
I knew the voice: it was Fred Culverwell's.
MONICA. Poor Father! All your life! And no one to share it with;
I never knew how lonely you were
Or why you were lonely.
CHARLES. And Mrs. Carghill:
What has she against you?
LORD CLAVERTON. I was her first lover.
I would have married her — but my father prevented that:
Made it worth while for her not to marry me —
That was his way of putting it — and of course
Made it worth while for me not to marry her.
In fact, we were wholly unsuited to each other,
Yet she had a peculiar physical attraction
Which no other woman has had. And she knows it.
And she knows that the ghost of the man I was
Still clings to the ghost of the woman who was Maisie.
We should have been poor, we should certainly have quarrelled,
We should have been unhappy, might have come to divorce;
But she hasn't forgotten or forgiven me.
CHARLES. This man, and this woman, who are so vindictive:
Don't you see that they were as much at fault as you
And that they know it? That's why they are inspired
With revenge — it's their means of self-justification.
Let them tell their versions of their miserable stories,
Confide them in whispers. They cannot harm you.
LORD CLAVERTON. Your reasoning's sound enough. But it's irrelevant.
Each of them remembers an occasion
On which I ran away. Very well.
I shan't run away now — run away from them.
It is through this meeting that I shall at last escape them.
— I've made my confession to you, Monica:
That is the first step taken towards my freedom,
And perhaps the most important. I know what you think.
You think that I suffer from a morbid conscience,
From brooding over faults I might well have forgotten.
You think that I'm sickening, when I'm just recovering!
It's hard to make other people realise
The magnitude of things that appear to them petty;
It's harder to confess the sin that no one believes in
Than the crime that everyone can appreciate.
For the crime is in relation to the law
And the sin is in relation to the sinner.
What has made the difference in the last five minutes
Is not the heinousness of my misdeeds
But the fact of my confession. And to you, Monica,
To you, of all people.
CHARLES. I grant you all that.
But what do you propose? How long, Lord Claverton,
Will you stay here and endure this persecution?
LORD CLAVERTON. To the end. The place and time of liberation
Are, I think, determined. Let us say no more about it.
Meanwhile, I feel sure they are conspiring against me.
I see Mrs. Carghill coming.
MONICA. Let us go.
LORD CLAVERTON. We will stay here. Let her join us.
[Enter MRS. CARGHILL]
MRS. CARGHILL. I've been hunting high and low for you, Richard!
I've some very exciting news for you!
But I suspect … Dare I? Yes, I'm sure of it, Monica!
I can tell by the change in your expression to-day;
This must be your fiancé. Do introduce him.
MONICA. Mr. Charles Hemington. Mrs. Carghill.
CHARLES. How do you do.
MRS. CARGHILL. What a charming name!
CHARLES. I'm glad my name meets with your approval, Mrs. Carghill.
MRS. CARGHILL. And let me congratulate you, Mr. Hemington.
You're a very lucky man, to get a girl like Monica.
I take a great interest in her future.
Fancy! I've only known her two days!
But I feel like a mother to her already.
You may say that I just missed being her mother!
I've known her father for a very long time,
And there was a moment when I almost married him,
Oh so long ago. So you see, Mr. Hemington,
I've come to regard her as my adopted daughter.
So much so, that it seems odd to call you Mr. Hemington:
I'm going to call you Charles!
CHARLES. As you please, Mrs. Carghill.
LORD CLAVERTON. You said you had some exciting news for us.
Would you care to impart it?
MRS. CARGHILL. It's about dear Michael.
LORD CLAVERTON. Oh? What about Michael?
MRS. CARGHILL. He's told me all his story.
You've cruelly misunderstood him, Richard.
How he must have suffered! So I put on my thinking cap.
I know you've always thought me utterly brainless,
But I have an idea or two, now and then.
And in the end I discovered what Michael really wanted
For making a new start. He wants to go abroad!
And find his own way in the world. That's very natural.
So I thought, why not appeal to Señor Gomez?
He's a wealthy man, and very important
In his own country. And a friend of Michael's father!
And I found him only too ready to help.
LORD CLAVERTON. And what was Señor Gomez able to suggest?
MRS. CARGHILL. Ah! That's the surprise for which I've come to prepare you.
Dear Michael is so happy — all his problems are solved;
And he was so perplexed, poor lamb. Let's all rejoice together.
[Enter GOMEZ and MICHAEL]
LORD CLAVERTON. Well, Michael, you know I expected you this morning,
But you never came.
MICHAEL. No, Father. I'll explain why.
LORD CLAVERTON. And I learn that you have discussed your problems
With Mrs. Carghill and then with Señor Gomez.
MICHAEL. When I spoke, Father, of my wish to get abroad,
You couldn't see my point of view. What's the use of chasing
Half round the world, for the same sort of job
You got me here in London? With another Sir Alfred
Who'd constitute himself custodian of my morals
And send you back reports. Some sort of place
Where everyone would sneer at the fellow from London,
The limey remittance man for whom a job was made.
No! I want to go where I can make my own way,
Not merely be your son. That's what Señor Gomez sees.
He understands my point of view, if you don't.
And he's offered me a job which is just what I wanted.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, I see the advantage of a job created for you
By Señor Gomez …
MICHAEL. It's not created for me.
Señor Gomez came to London to find a man to fill it,
And he thinks I'm just the man.
GOMEZ. Yes, wasn't it extraordinary.
LORD CLAVERTON. Of course you're just the man that Señor Gomez wants,
But in a different sense, and for different reasons
From what you think. Let me tell you about Gomez.
He's unlikely to try to be custodian of your morals;
His real name is Culverwell …
GOMEZ. My dear Dick,
You're wasting your time, rehearsing ancient history.
Michael knows it already. I've told him myself.
I thought he'd better learn the facts from me
Before he heard your distorted version.
But, Dick, I was nettled by that insinuation
About my not being custodian of Michael's morals.
That is just what I should be! And most appropriate,
Isn't it, Dick, when we recall
That you were once custodian of my morals:
Though of course you went a little faster than I did.
LORD CLAVERTON. On that point, Fred, you're wasting your time:
My daughter and my future son-in-law
Understand that allusion. I have told them the story
In explanation of our … intimacy
Which they found puzzling.
MRS. CARGHILL. Oh, Richard!
Have you explained to them our intimacy too?
LORD CLAVERTON. I have indeed.
MRS. CARGHILL. The romance of my life.
Your father was simply irresistible
In those days. I melted the first time he looked at me!
Some day, Monica, I'll tell you all about it.
MONICA. I am satisfied with what I know already, Mrs. Carghill,
About you.
MRS. CARGHILL. But I was very lovely then.
GOMEZ. We are sure of that! You're so lovely now
That we can well imagine you at … what age were you?
MRS. CARGHILL. Just eighteen.
LORD CLAVERTON. Now, Michael,
Señor Gomez says he has told you his story.
Did he include the fact that he served a term in prison?
MICHAEL. He told me everything. It was his experience
With you, that made him so understanding
Of my predicament.
LORD CLAVERTON. And made him invent
The position which he'd come to find the man for.
MICHAEL. I don't care about that. He's offered me the job
With a jolly good screw, and some pickings in commissions.
He's made a fortune there. San Marco for me!
LORD CLAVERTON. And what are your duties to be? Do you know?
MICHAEL. We didn't go into details. There's time for that later.
GOMEZ. Much better to wait until we get there.
The nature of business in San Marco
Is easier explained in San Marco than in England.
LORD CLAVERTON. Perhaps you intend to change your name to Gomez?
GOMEZ. Oh no, Dick, there are plenty of other good names.
MONICA. Michael, Michael, you can't abandon your family
And your very self — it's a kind of suicide.
CHARLES. Michael, you think Señor Gomez is inspired by benevolence —
MICHAEL. I told you he'd come to London looking for a man
For an important post on his staff —
CHARLES. A post the nature of which is left very vague
MICHAEL. It's confidential, I tell you.
CHARLES. So I can imagine:
Highly confidential …
GOMEZ. Be careful, Mr. Barrister.
You ought to know something about the law of slander.
Here's Mrs. Carghill, a reliable witness.
CHARLES. I know enough about the law of libel and slander
To know that you are hardly likely to invoke it.
And, Michael, here's another point to think of:
Señor Gomez has offered you a post in San Marco,
Señor Gomez pays your passage …
MICHAEL. And an advance of salary.
CHARLES. Señor Gomez pays your passage …
GOMEZ. Just as many years ago
His father paid mine.
CHARLES. This return of past kindness
No doubt gives you pleasure?
GOMEZ. Yes, it's always pleasant
To repay an old debt. And better late than never.
CHARLES. I see your point of view. Can you really feel confidence,
Michael, in a man who aims to gratify, through you,
His lifelong grievance against your father?
Remember, you put yourself completely in the power
Of a man you don't know, of the nature of whose business
You know nothing. All you can be sure of
Is that he served a prison sentence for forgery.
GOMEZ. Well, Michael, what do you say to all this?
MICHAEL. I'll say that Hemington has plenty of cheek.
Señor Gomez and I have talked things over, Hemington …
GOMEZ. As two men of the world, we discussed things very frankly;
And I can tell you, Michael's head is well screwed on.
He's got brains, he's got flair. When he does come back
He'll be able to buy you out many times over.
MRS. CARGHILL. Richard, I think it's time I joined the conversation.
My late husband, Mr. Carghill, was a business man —
I wish you could have known him, Señor Gomez!
You're very much alike in some ways —
So I understand business. Mr. Carghill told me so.
Now, Michael has great abilities for business.
I saw that, and so does Señor Gomez.
He's simply been suffering, poor boy, from frustration.
He's been waiting all this time for opportunity
To make use of his gifts; and now, opportunity —
Opportunity has come knocking at the door.
Richard, you must not bar his way. That would be shameful.
LORD CLAVERTON. I cannot bar his way, as you know very well.
Michael's a free agent. So if he chooses
To place himself in your power, Fred Culverwell,
Of his own volition to contract his enslavement,
I cannot prevent him. I have something to say to you,
Michael, before you go. I shall never repudiate you
Though you repudiate me. I see now clearly
The many many mistakes I have made
My whole life through, mistake upon mistake,
The mistaken attempts to correct mistakes
By methods which proved to be equally mistaken.
I see that your mother and I, in our failure
To understand each other, both misunderstood you
In our divergent ways. When I think of your childhood,
When I think of the happy little boy who was Michael,
When I think of your boyhood and adolescence,
And see how all the efforts aimed at your good
Only succeeded in defeating each other,
How can I feel anything but sorrow and compunction?
MONICA. Oh Michael, remember, you're my only brother
And I'm your only sister. You never took much notice of me.
When we were growing up we seldom had the same friends.
I took all that for granted. So I didn't know till now
How much it means to me to have a brother.
MICHAEL. Why of course, Monica. You know I'm very fond of you
Though we never really seemed to have much in common.
I remember, when I came home for the holidays
How it used to get on my nerves, when I saw you
Always sitting there with your nose in a book.
And once, Mother snatched a book away from you
And tossed it into the fire. How I laughed!
You never seemed even to want a flirtation,
And my friends used to chaff me about my highbrow sister.
But all the same, I was fond of you, and always shall be.
We don't meet often, but if we're fond of each other,
That needn't interfere with your life or mine.
MONICA. Oh Michael, you haven't understood a single word
Of what I said. You must make your own life
Of course, just as I must make mine.
It's not a question of your going abroad
But a question of the spirit which inspired your decision:
If you wish to renounce your father and your family
What is left between you and me?
MICHAEL. That makes no difference.
You'll be seeing me again.
MONICA. But who will you be
When I see you again? Whoever you are then
I shall always pretend that it is the same Michael.
CHARLES. And when do you leave England?
MICHAEL. When we can get a passage.
And I must buy my kit. We're just going up to London.
Señor Gomez will attend to my needs for that climate.
And you see, he has friends in the shipping line
Who he thinks can be helpful in getting reservations.
MRS. CARGHILL. It's wonderful, Señor Gomez, how you manage everything!
— No sooner had I put my proposal before him
Than he had it all planned out! It really was an inspiration —
On my part, I mean. Are you listening to me, Richard?
You look very distrait. You ought to be excited!
LORD CLAVERTON. Is this good-bye then, Michael?
MICHAEL. Well, that just depends.
I could look in again. If there's any point in it.
Personally, I think that when one's come to a decision,
It's as well to say good-bye at once and be done with it.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, if you're going, and I see no way to stop you,
Then I agree with you, the sooner the better.
We may never meet again, Michael.
MICHAEL. I don't see why not.
GOMEZ. At the end of five years he will get his first leave.
MICHAEL. Well … there's nothing more to say, is there?
LORD CLAVERTON. Nothing at all.
MICHAEL. Then we might as well be going.
GOMEZ. Yes, we might as well be going.
You'll be grateful to me in the end, Dick.
MRS. CARGHILL. A parent isn't always the right person, Richard,
To solve a son's problems. Sometimes an outsider,
A friend of the family, can see more clearly.
GOMEZ. Not that I deserve any credit for it.
We can only regard it as a stroke of good fortune
That I came to England at the very moment
When I could be helpful.
MRS. CARGHILL. It's truly providential!
MONICA. Good-bye Michael. Will you let me write to you?
GOMEZ. Oh, I'm glad you reminded me. Here's my business card
With the full address. You can always reach him there.
But it takes some days, you know, even by air mail.
MONICA. Take the card, Charles. If I write to you, Michael,
Will you ever answer?
MICHAEL. Oh of course, Monica.
You know I'm not much of a correspondent;
But I'll send you a card, now and again,
Just to let you know I'm flourishing.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, write to Monica.
GOMEZ. Well, good-bye Dick. And good-bye Monica.
Good-bye, Mr…. Hemington.
MONICA. Good-bye Michael.
[Exeunt MICHAEL and GOMEZ]
MRS. CARGHILL. I'm afraid this seems awfully sudden to you, Richard;
It isn't so sudden. We talked it all over.
But I've got a little piece of news of my own:
Next autumn, I'm going out to Australia,
On my doctor's advice. And on my way back
Señor Gomez has invited me to visit San Marco.
I'm so excited! But what pleases me most
Is that I shall be able to bring you news of Michael.
And now that we've found each other again,
We must always keep in touch. But you'd better rest now.
You're looking rather tired. I'll run and see them off.
[Exit MRS. CARGHILL]
MONICA. Oh Father, Father, I'm so sorry!
But perhaps, perhaps, Michael may learn his lesson.
I believe he'll come back. If it's all a failure
Homesickness, I'm sure, will bring him back to us;
If he prospers, that will give him confidence —
It's only self-confidence that Michael is lacking.
Oh Father, it's not you and me he rejects,
But himself, the unhappy self that he's ashamed of.
I'm sure he loves us.
LORD CLAVERTON. Monica my dear,
What you say comes home to me. I fear for Michael;
Nevertheless, you are right to hope for something better.
And when he comes back, if he does come back,
I know that you and Charles will do what you can
To make him feel that he is not estranged from you.
CHARLES. We will indeed. We shall be ready to welcome him
And give all the aid we can. But it's both of you together
Make the force to attract him: you and Monica combined.
LORD CLAVERTON. I shall not be here. You heard me say to him
That this might be a final good-bye.
I am sure of it now. Perhaps it is as well.
MONICA. What do you mean, Father? You'll be here to greet him.
But one thing I'm convinced of: you must leave Badgley Court.
CHARLES. Monica is right. You should leave.
LORD CLAVERTON. This may surprise you: I feel at peace now.
It is the peace that ensues upon contrition
When contrition ensues upon knowledge of the truth.
Why did I always want to dominate my children?
Why did I mark out a narrow path for Michael?
Because I wanted to perpetuate myself in him.
Why did I want to keep you to myself, Monica?
Because I wanted you to give your life to adoring
The man that I pretended to myself that I was,
So that I could believe in my own pretences.
I've only just now had the illumination
Of knowing what love is. We all think we know,
But how few of us do! And now I feel happy —
In spite of everything, in defiance of reason,
I have been brushed by the wing of happiness.
And I am happy, Monica, that you have found a man
Whom you can love for the man he really is.
MONICA. Oh Father, I've always loved you,
But I love you more since I have come to know you
Here, at Badgley Court. And I love you the more
Because I love Charles.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, my dear.
Your love is for the real Charles, not a make-believe,
As was your love for me.
MONICA. But not now, Father!
It's the real you I love — the man you are,
Not the man I thought you were.
LORD CLAVERTON. And Michael —
I love him, even for rejecting me,
For the me he rejected, I reject also.
I've been freed from the self that pretends to be someone;
And in becoming no one, I begin to live.
It is worth while dying, to find out what life is.
And I love you, my daughter, the more truly for knowing
That there is someone you love more than your father —
That you love and are loved. And now that I love Michael,
I think, for the first time — remember, my dear,
I am only a beginner in the practice of loving —
Well, that is something.
I shall leave you for a while.
This is your first visit to us at Badgley Court,
Charles, and not at all what you were expecting.
I am sorry you have had to see so much of persons
And situations not very agreeable.
You two ought to have a little time together.
I leave Monica to you. Look after her, Charles,
Now and always. I shall take a stroll.
MONICA. At this time of day? You'll not go far, will you?
You know you're not allowed to stop out late
At this season. It's chilly at dusk.
LORD CLAVERTON. Yes, it's chilly at dusk. But I'll be warm enough.
I shall not go far.
[Exit CLAVERTON]
CHARLES. He's a very different man from the man he used to be.
It's as if he had passed through some door unseen by us
And had turned and was looking back at us
With a glance of farewell.
MONICA. I can't understand his going for a walk.
CHARLES. He wanted to leave us alone together!
MONICA. Yes, he wanted to leave us alone together.
And yet, Charles, though we've been alone to-day
Only a few minutes, I've felt all the time …
CHARLES. I know what you're going to say!
We were alone together, in some mysterious fashion,
Even with Michael, and despite those people,
Because somehow we'd begun to belong together,
And that awareness …
MONICA. Was a shield protecting both of us …
CHARLES. So that now we are conscious of a new person
Who is you and me together.
Oh my dear,
I love you to the limits of speech, and beyond.
It's strange that words are so inadequate.
Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath,
So the lover must struggle for words.
MONICA. I've loved you from the beginning of the world.
Before you and I were born, the love was always there
That brought us together.
Oh Father, Father!
I could speak to you now.
CHARLES. Let me go and find him.
MONICA. We will go to him together. He is close at hand,
Though he has gone too far to return to us.
He is under the beech tree. It is quiet and cold there.
In becoming no one, he has become himself.
He is only my father now, and Michael's.
And I am happy. Isn't it strange, Charles,
To be happy at this moment?
CHARLES. It is not at all strange.
The dead has poured out a blessing on the living.
MONICA. Age and decrepitude can have no terrors for me,
Loss and vicissitude cannot appal me,
Not even death can dismay or amaze me
Fixed in the certainty of love unchanging.
I feel utterly secure
In you; I am a part of you. Now take me to my father.
CURTAIN
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