Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Arcadia
Page 18
Meanwhile, Septimus reading Thomasina's essay, also studies
the diagram.
SEPTIMUS and valentine study the diagram doubled by
time.) valentine: It's heat. hannah: Are you tight, Val? valentine: It's a diagram of heat exchange. Septimus: So, we are all doomed! thomasina: (Cheerfully) Yes. valentine: Like a steam engine, you see -
(HANNAH fills Septimus's glass from the same decanter, and sips
from it.)
She didn't have the maths, not remotely. She saw what
things meant, way ahead, like seeing a picture. Septimus: This is not science. This is story-telling. thomasina: Is it a waltz now? Septimus: No.
(The music is still modern.) valentine: Like a film. hannah: What did she see? valentine: That you can't run the film backwards. Heat was
the first thing which didn't work that way. Not like Newton.
A film of a pendulum, or a ball falling through the air -
backwards, it looks the same. hannah: The ball would be going the wrong way. valentine: You'd have to know that. But with heat - friction - a
ball breaking a window -hannah: Yes.
valentine: It won't work backwards. hannah: Who thought it did? valentine: She saw why. You can put back the bits of glass but
you can't collect up the heat of the smash. It's gone. Septimus: So the Improved Newtonian Universe must cease and
grow cold. Dear me.
93
valentine: The heat goes into the mix.
(He gestures to indicate the air in the room, in the universe.) thomasina: Yes, we must hurry if we are going to dance. valentine: And everything is mixing the same way, all the time,
irreversibly. . . Septimus: Oh, we have time, I think.
valentine: . . . till there's no time left. That's what time means. Septimus: When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the
meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore. thomasina: Then we will dance. Is this a waltz? Septimus: It will serve.
(He stands up.) thomasina: (Jumping up) Goody!
(SEPTIMUS takes her in his arms carefully and the waltz lesson,
to the music from the marquee, begins.
BERNARD, in unconvincing Regency dress, enters carrying a
bottle.) Bernard: Don't mind me, I left my jacket...
(He heads for the area of the wicker basket.) valentine: Are you leaving?
(BERNARD is stripping offhis period coat. He is wearing his own
trousers, tucked into knee socks and his own shirt.) Bernard: Yes, I'm afraid so. hannah: What's up, Bernard? Bernard: Nothing I can go into -valentine: Should I go? BERNARD: No, I'm going!
(valentine and hannah watch Bernard struggling into his
jacket and adjusting his clothes.
SEPTIMUS, holding thomasina, kisses her on the mouth. The waltz lesson pauses. She looks at him. He kisses her again, in earnest. She puts her arms round him.) thomasina: Septimus ...
(SEPTIMUS hushes her. They start to dance again, with the slight awkwardness of a lesson.
CHLOE bursts in from the garden.)
94
chloE: I'll kill her! I'll kill her!
Bernard: Oh dear.
valentine: What the hell is it, Chlo?
chloE: (Venomously) Mummy!
Bernard: (To valentine) Your mother caught us in that
cottage. chloE: She snooped!
Bernard: I don't think so. She was rescuing a theodolite. chloE: I'll come with you, Bernard. Bernard: No, you bloody won't. chloE: Don't you want me to?
Bernard: Of course not. What for? (To valentine) I'm sorry. chloE: (In furious tears) What are you saying sorry to him for? Bernard: Sorry to you too. Sorry one and all. Sorry, Hannah -
sorry, Hermione - sorry, Byron - sorry, sorry, sorry, now
can I go?
(chloE stands stiffly, tearfully.) chloE: Well...
(thomasina and Septimus dance.) hannah: What a bastard you are, Bernard.
(CHLOE rounds on her.) CHLOE: And you mind your own business! What do you know
about anything? hannah: Nothing.
chloE: (to Bernard) It was worth it, though, wasn't it? Bernard: It was wonderful.
(CHLOE goes out, through the garden door, towards the party.) hannah: (An echo) Nothing. valentine: Well, you shit. I'd drive you but I'm a bit sloshed.
(VALENTINE follows chloE out and can be heard outside
calling (Chlo!Chlo!') Bernard: A scrape. hannah: Oh . .. (she gives up) Bernard! BERNARD: I look forward to The Genius of the Place. I hope you
find your hermit. I think out front is the safest.
(He opens the door cautiously and looks out.) hannah: Actually, I've got a good idea who he was, but I can't
prove it.
95
Bernard: (With a carefree expansive gesture) Publish! (He goes out closing the door.
SEPTIMUS and thomasina are now waltzing freely. She is
delighted with herself) thomasina: Am I waltzing? Septimus: Yes, my lady.
(He gives her a final twirl, bringing them to the table where he
bows to her. He lights her candlestick.
HANNAH goes to sit at the table, playing truant from the party. She pours herself more wine. The table contains the geometrical solids, the computer, decanter, glasses, tea mug, Hannah's research books, Septimus's books, the two portfolios, Thomasina's candlestick, the oil lamp, the dahlia, the Sunday papers. . .
GUS appears in the doorway. It takes a moment to realize that he is not Lord Augustus; perhaps not until HANNAH sees him.)
Septimus: Take your essay, I have given it an alpha in blind faith. Be careful with the flame.
thomasina: I will wait for you to come.
Septimus: I cannot.
thomasina: You may.
Septimus: I may not.
thomasina: You must.
Septimus: I will not.
(Sheputs the candlestick and the essay on the table.)
thomasina: Then I will not go. Once more, for my birthday. (SEPTIMUS and thomasina start to waltz together.
GUS comes forward, startling HANNAH.) hannah: Oh! - you made me jump.
(GUS looks resplendent. He is carrying an old and somewhat
tattered stiff-backed folio fastened with a tape tied in a bow. He
comes to hannah and thrusts this present at her.)
Oh...
(She lays the folio down on the table and starts to open it. It
consists only of two boards hinged, containing Thomasina's
drawing.)
96
'Septimus holding Plautus'. (To gus) I was looking for that.
Thank you.
(gus nods several times. Then, rather awkwardly, he bows to
her. A Regency bow, an invitation to dance.)
Oh, dear, I don't really . . .
(After a moments hesitation, she gets up and they hold each
other, keeping a decorous distance between them, and start to
dance, rather awkwardly.
Septimus and thomasina continue to dance, fluently, to the piano.)
END
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