When the curtain rises the scene is dark and empty. There is a faint glimmer of light through the window. The night is bright and starry. There is a slight noise of a rig being driven up outside, and then voices are heard.
Sharp.
Woa there! Woa!
Taylor.
A tidy pull, that last bit. Trail’s very bad.
Sharp.
Stop still, you brute.
Taylor.
I guess she wants to get home.
[Now comes the sound of a key being put into the lock. It is turned noisily and the door is opened wide. A rig stands outside and Sharp is seen still seated holding the reins. Norah has just got down. Tied on the back of the rig are Norah’s trunk and Taylor’s grip. There is a glimpse of the prairie and the bright Canadian night. Taylor comes in. He is wearing a waterproof coat lined with sheepskin, a dark, roughly cut suit of some coarse blue material, and a broad-brimmed, flat-crowned hat.]
Taylor.
Wait a minute, and I’ll light the lamp. [He strikes a match and looks round.] Where in hell has it got to? The shack’s about two foot by three, and I’m blamed if I can ever find a darned thing.
Sharp.
I’ll give you a hand with that trunk.
[As he speaks he begins to get down. Taylor finds the lamp and lights it.]
Taylor.
I’ll come and help you if you’ll wait a bit. Come in, Norah.
Sharp.
Woa there!
[Norah comes in. She has on a hat and coat. She carries a string bag in which there is a number of parcels.]
Norah.
I’m quite stiff after that long drive.
Taylor.
Are you cold?
Norah.
No, not a bit. I was well wrapped up.
Taylor.
I guess it’s freezing. But it’s your first winter and you won’t feel the cold like we do.
Norah.
[Putting down her bag.] I’ll bring some of the things in.
Taylor.
Don’t touch the trunk, it’s too heavy for you.
Norah.
I’m as strong as a horse.
Taylor.
Don’t touch it.
Norah.
[With a smile.] I won’t.
[He goes out and takes more parcels out of the rig and comes in with them.]
Taylor.
We can all do with a cup of tea. Just have a look at the stove. It won’t take two shakes to light a fire.
Norah.
It seems hardly worth while. It’s so late.
Taylor.
[Cheerily.] Light the fire, my girl, and don’t talk about it.
[He goes out and is seen helping Sharp to unfasten the trunk. Norah, getting down on her knees, rakes out the ashes from the stove. Taylor and Sharp bring the box in between them. Sharp is a rough-looking man of forty. He has been a non-commissioned officer in an English regiment, and has still something of a soldier’s look.]
Sharp.
This trunk of yours isn’t what you might call light, Mrs. Taylor.
Norah.
It contains all I own in the world.
Taylor.
I guess it don’t do that. Since this morning you own a half share in a hundred and sixty acres of as good land as there is in Manitoba and a mighty fine shack.
Norah.
To say nothing of a husband.
Sharp.
Where d’you want this put?
Taylor.
It ‘ud better go in the next room right away, or we shall be falling over it.
[They carry the trunk into the bedroom. Norah gets up from her knees, goes over to a pile of logs by the stove, and takes two or three and some of the newspapers. The men come in again.]
Taylor.
Here, you won’t be able to light a fire with logs like that. Where’s that darned axe? [He glances round and sees it by the logs. He takes a couple and splits them.] I guess you’ll have plenty to do getting the shack tidy. [Sharp brings in Taylor’s grip and his gun.] Now, that’s real good of you, Sid.
Sharp.
Get any shooting down at Dyer, Frank?
Taylor.
There was a rare lot of prairie chickens around, but I didn’t get out more than a couple of days.
Sharp.
Well, I’ll be getting back home now.
Taylor.
Oh, stay and have a cup of tea, won’t you?
Sharp.
I don’t think I will. It’s getting late and the mare’ll get cold.
Taylor.
Put her in the shed.
Sharp.
No, I think I’ll be toddling. My missus says I was to give you her compliments, Mrs. Taylor, and she’ll be round to-morrow to see if there’s anything you want.
Norah.
That’s very kind of her. Thank you very much.
Taylor.
Sid lives where you saw that light just about a mile from here, Norah. Mrs. Sharp’ll be able to help you a lot at first.
Sharp.
Oh, well, we’ve been here for thirteen years, and we know the way of the country by now.
Taylor.
Norah’s about as green as a new dollar bill, I guess.
Sharp.
There’s a lot you can’t be expected to know at first. I’ll say good-night, then, and good luck.
Taylor.
Well, good-night then, Sid, if you won’t stay, and it was real good of you to come and fetch us in the rig.
Sharp.
Oh, that’s all right. Good-night to you, Mrs. Taylor.
Norah.
Good-night.
[Sharp goes out, gets on the rig, and drives away.]
Taylor.
I guess it must seem funny to you to hear him call you Mrs. Taylor, eh?
[Norah gives him a quick look, and represses a little shudder.]
Norah.
Yes.
Taylor.
How are you getting on with that fire?
Norah.
All right.
Taylor.
I guess I’ll get some water.
[He takes a pail and goes out. He is heard pumping. Norah gets up, lifts the lamp so as to see better, and looks round. She is pale, and has a frightened look. She does not hear Frank come in, and starts violently when he speaks to her.]
Taylor.
Having a look at the shack?
Norah.
[Putting the lamp down.] How you startled me.
Taylor.
What d’you think of it?
Norah.
I don’t know.
Taylor.
I built it with my own hands. Every one of them logs was a tree I cut down myself. You wait till the morning and I’ll show you how they’re joined together at the corners. There’s some neat work there, my girl, I guess.
Norah.
Here’s the kettle.
[He pours water into it from the pail, and she puts the kettle on the stove.]
Taylor.
You’ll find some tea in one of them tins on the shelf. Leastways there was some there when I come away. I guess you’re hungry.
Norah.
I don’t think I am, very. I ate a very good supper in the train.
Taylor.
I’m glad you call that a good supper. I guess I could wrap up the amount you ate in a postal stamp.
Norah.
[Smiling.] I haven’t a very large appetite.
Taylor.
I have. Where’s the loaf we got in Winnipeg this afternoon?
Norah.
I’ll get it.
Taylor.
And the butter. You’ll bake to-morrow, I reckon.
[Norah gets a loaf and a piece of butter out of the string bag she brought in with her. She puts them on the table.]
Norah.
Shall I cut you some?
Taylor.
Yep.
Norah.
Please.
Please what?
Norah.
[With a smile.] Yes, please.
Taylor.
Oh!
[He gives her a look, and she, a quiet smile on her face, cuts two or three pieces of bread and butter. Then she gets tea out of the tin and puts it in a teapot.]
Taylor.
I guess you’d better take your hat and coat off.
[Norah does so without answering.]
Taylor.
You ain’t terribly talkative for a woman, my girl.
Norah.
I haven’t got anything to say at the moment.
Taylor.
Well, I guess it’s better to have a wife as talks too little than a wife as talks too much.
Norah.
[With her tongue in her cheek.] I suppose absolute perfection is rare — in women, poor wretches.
Taylor.
What’s that?
Norah.
I was only amusing myself with a reflection.
[Taylor takes off his coat and appears in a grey sweater. He sits down in the rocking chair.]
Taylor.
I guess there’s no place like home. You get a bit fed up with hiring out. Ed was O.K., I reckon, but it ain’t like being your own boss.
Norah.
[Pointing.] What’s through there?
Taylor.
Oh, that’s the bedroom. Like to have a look?
Norah.
No.
Taylor.
When I built the shack I fixed it up so as it would do when I got married. Sid Sharp asked me what in hell I wanted to divide it up in half for, but I guess women like little luxuries like that.
Norah.
Like what?
Taylor.
Like having a room to sleep in and a room to live in.
Norah.
Here’s the bread and butter. Will you have some syrup?
Taylor.
Sure.
[He gets up and sits down at the table.]
Norah.
That water ought to be boiling by now. What about milk?
Taylor.
That’s one of the things you’ll have to do without till I can afford to buy a cow.
Norah.
I can’t drink tea without milk.
Taylor.
You try. Say, can you milk a cow?
Norah.
I? No.
Taylor.
Then it’s just as well I ain’t got one.
Norah.
You’re a philosopher.
[She lifts the cover off the kettle and looks at it, then pours some water into the teapot, and sets it down on the table.]
Norah.
Is there a candle? I’ll just get one or two things out of my box.
Taylor.
Ain’t you going to sit down and have a cup of tea?
Norah.
I don’t want any, thanks.
Taylor.
Sit down, my girl.
Norah.
Why?
Taylor.
[Smiling.] Because I tell you to.
Norah.
[Quite pleasantly.] I don’t think you’d better tell me to do things.
Taylor.
Then I ask you. You ain’t going to refuse the first favour I’ve asked you?
Norah.
[With a pretty smile.] Of course not. [She sits down.] There.
Taylor.
Now pour out my tea for me, will you? [He watches her do it.] It is rum seeing my wife sitting down at my table and pouring out tea for me.
Norah.
Is it pleasant?
Taylor.
Sure. Now have some yourself, my girl. You’ll soon get used to drinking it without milk. And I guess you’ll be able to get some to-morrow from Mrs. Sharp.
[Norah pours herself out some tea.]
Taylor.
I had a sort of a feeling I wanted you and me to have the first meal together in your new home. Just take a bit of the bread and butter.
[He passes over to her a slice and, smiling, she cuts a little piece off and eats it.]
Taylor.
We ain’t lost much time, I guess. Why, it’s only yesterday you told me not to call you Norah.
Norah.
That was very silly of me. I was in a temper.
Taylor.
And now we’re man and wife.
Norah.
Married in haste with a vengeance.
Taylor.
Ain’t you a bit scared?
Norah.
I? What of? You?
Taylor.
With Ed on t’other side of Winnipeg, he might just as well be in the Old Country for all the good he can be to you. You might be a bit scared to find yourself alone with a man you don’t know.
Norah.
I’m not nervous.
Taylor.
Good for you.
Norah.
You did give me a fright, though. When I asked you if you’d take me, I suppose it was only about fifteen seconds before you answered, but it seemed like ten minutes. I thought you might refuse.
Taylor.
I was thinking.
Norah.
[Smiling.] Counting up my good points and setting them against the bad ones?
Taylor.
No, I was thinking you wouldn’t have asked me like that if you hadn’t — despised me.
[Norah, a little taken aback, gives him a quick look, but she tries to pass it off lightly.]
Norah.
I don’t know what makes you think that.
Taylor.
Well, I don’t know how you could have put it more plainly that my name was mud.
Norah.
Why didn’t you refuse, then?
Taylor.
I guess I’m not a nervous fellow, either.
Norah.
[With a twinkle in her eye.] And women are scarce in Manitoba.
Taylor.
I always fancied an Englishwoman. They make the best wives when they’ve been licked into shape.
Norah.
[Frankly amused.] Are you proposing to attempt that operation on me?
Taylor.
You’re clever. I guess a hint or two is about all you’ll want.
Norah.
It embarrasses me when you pay me compliments.
Taylor.
I’ll take you round and show you the land to-morrow. I ain’t done all the clearing yet, so there’ll be plenty of work for the winter. I want to have a hundred acres to sow next year. And then if I get a good crop I’ve a mind to take another quarter. You can’t make it pay really without you’ve got half a section. And it’s a tough proposition when you ain’t got capital.
Norah.
I didn’t think I was marrying a millionaire.
Taylor.
Never mind, my girl, you shan’t live in a shack long, I promise you. It’s the greatest country in the world. We only want three good crops and you shall have a brick house same as you lived in at home.
Norah.
I wonder what they’re doing in England now.
Taylor.
Well, I guess they’re asleep.
Norah.
When I think of England I always think of it at tea-time. [She looks at the tea-things they have just used.] Miss Wickham had a beautiful old silver teapot — George II. — and she was awfully proud of it. And she was very proud of her tea-set — it was old Worcester — and she wouldn’t let anyone wash the things but.... And two or three times a week an old Indian judge came in to tea, and he used to talk to me about the East — oh, why did you make me think of it all?
Taylor.
The past is dead and gone, my girl. We’ve got the future.
Norah.
[Paying no attention to his words.] One never knows when one’s well off, does one? It’s madness to think of what’s gone for ever.
Taylor.
I wish we’d got a drop of liquor her
e so as we could drink one another’s health. But as we ain’t you’d better give me a kiss instead.
Norah.
[Lightly.] I’m not very fond of kissing.
Taylor.
[With a smile.] It ain’t generally an acquired taste, but I guess you’re peculiar.
Norah.
It looks like it.
Taylor.
Come, my girl, you didn’t even kiss me after we was married.
Norah.
[In a perfectly friendly way.] Isn’t a hint enough for you? Why do you force me to say everything in so many words?
Taylor.
It seems to me it wants a few words to make it plain when a woman refuses to give her husband a kiss.
Norah.
Do sit down, there’s a good fellow, and I’ll tell you one or two things.
Taylor.
That’s terribly kind of you. [He sinks back into the rocking-chair.] Have you any choice of seats?
Norah.
You’ve taken the only one that’s tolerably comfortable. I think there’s nothing to choose between the others.
Taylor.
Nothing.
Norah.
I think we’d better fix things up before we go any further.
Taylor.
Sure.
Norah.
You gave me to understand very plainly that you wanted a wife in order to get a general servant without having to pay her wages. Wages are high in Canada.
Taylor.
That was the way you put it.
Norah.
Baching isn’t very comfortable.
Taylor.
Not very.
Norah.
You wanted someone to cook and bake for you, wash, sweep, and mend. I offered to come and do all that. It never struck me for an instant that there was any possibility of your expecting anything else of me.
Taylor.
Then you’re a damned fool, my girl.
Norah.
[Firing up.] D’you mind not saying things like that to me?
Taylor.
[Good-humouredly.] I guess I shall have to say a good many things like that before we’ve done.
Norah.
I asked you to marry me only because I couldn’t stay in the shack without.
Taylor.
I guess you asked me to marry you because you was in a hell of a temper. You wanted to get away from Ed’s farm right then, and you didn’t care what you did so long as you quit. But you was darned sorry for what you’d done by the time you’d packed your box.
Delphi Collected Works of W. Somerset Maugham (Illustrated) Page 388
