Lucas, this man
[Looking at Van Zorn]
will tell you that he is in the hands of Destiny — gin-rickeys and all.
[With a laugh]
We can do nothing for him.
MRS. LOVETT
[Rising with a sigh]
It may be so, poor fellow. If he were not so thoroughly impossible, he would be rather interesting.
[Villa looks at her almost angrily]
VAN ZORN
May I venture to ask, Mrs. Lovett, if you are final in your judgment?
MRS. LOVETT
[With apologetic vivacity]
Dear me, no! I don’t judge anything — not even a fly.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling, as if with effort]
I am very glad, for I have begun to believe that Mr.
Lucas and I may be of service to each other.
[Villa looks at him eagerly]
MRS. LOVETT
[Puzzled and not wholly pleased]
I don’t understand what you mean, and I’m not going to try.
VAN ZORN
I am not always sure that I understand myself.
VILLA
[With a nervous laugh]
I’m glad to know it, for I’m, not either.
[To Mrs. Lovett]
Come along, Auntie, or Mrs. Dyce’s little dogs will eat up all the luncheon.
[Laughing]
Pomeranian twins!
[Giving her hand to Van Zorn]
Goodbye... I’m glad you aren’t the Flying Dutchman.
VAN ZORN
[Holding her hand]
Nothing half so distinguished, I assure you.
VILLA
[Not wholly at ease]
Or so unfortunate.
VAN ZORN
[Letting her hand go, slowly]
I am not so sure about that.
VILLA
Weldon thinks you are the greatest man in the world
[To Farnham, laughing — except himself.
MRS. LOVETT
[Beaming]
And the most wonderful creature.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling]
Weldon has made a mistake.
VILLA
You are too modest.
VAN ZORN
Do you think so?
VILLA
[With the same constrained laugh]
Perhaps I don’t know you well enough to say.
VAN ZORN
We may come to know each other better in the future.
VILLA
I feel sure of that. I should like to know you better.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling You may be disappointed in me.
VILLA
[As before]
If I am, I’ll tell you so.
MRS. LOVETT
[Who has been watching the two with bewildered approval She means that she will say, on all occasions, the first thing that comes into her silly little head. — But we must go now. Good-bye.
[THEY shake hands. VAN ZORN and VILLA VANNEVAR look at each other with a smile of half-fascinated intensity. The two women go]
FARNHAM
[Coming from the door and touching VAN ZORN on the shoulder, laughing curiously]
Well, Childe Harold, for a sedate and rather melancholy Ancient Mariner, you seem to be getting on.
VAN ZORN
[Standing in thought]
Yes, I am getting on in years.
FARNHAM
Oh, cheer up. We are only thirty two. “We are children still,” and we “grope in the dark for what the day will bring.”
[Going to the table and reaching for the cigars]
That’s what we do: we “grope in the dark for what the day will bring”... Here — have a cigar.
VAN ZORN
[Absently]
No, thank you.
FARNHAM
[Holding out the box]
It’s a Pedro.
VAN ZORN
No, thank you.
FARNHAM
[Coaxingly]
Colorado.
VAN ZORN
Not now.
FARNHAM
[Taking a cigar and putting back the box]
Well, is there anything that your serene excellency would like, that I can give you — this fine October morning?
You’ll have a drink, perhaps.
VAN ZORN
[Shaking his head]
No, Farnham. But I may — I may ask you for your advice.
FARNHAM
[Lighting his cigar]
And you couldn’t possibly do better. What seems to be weighing most heavily on your noble mind?
[Pointing to a chair]
Sit down.
[VAN ZORN takes the large chair mechanically and remains for a time in silence. Farnham sits expectantly in a small chair not far from the table]
VAN ZORN
[Slowly]
Farnham, I wish you would tell me something about this man Lucas.... About his life, and his death, and his possibilities.
FARNHAM
[Laughing]
His death, did you say?
VAN ZORN
[Simply]
Yes. He seems to have died.
FARNHAM
[Carelessly]
I don’t know but you are right. And if you refer to his possibilities in the way of drink, I can recommend him without qualifications. There is nothing else in town that is quite like him.
VAN ZORN
I am not joking, I assure you.
FARNHAM
Neither am I. Old Hundred is no joke.
VAN ZORN
Then you might tell me something about him. Who is he? What is he? And why is he where he is?
FARNHAM
[Laughing]
Where is he?
VAN ZORN
He appears just now to be at what we might call the crossways. Whether he takes one way or the other, will depend upon events.
FARNHAM
[With a short laugh]
Why don’t you say Destiny, and be done with it?
VAN ZORN
Very well — we’ll call it Destiny. How old is Lucas?
FARNHAM
About twenty-nine. Abundantly old enough to know better.
VAN ZORN
[With a smile]
You might say that of me. It is possible that Lucas and I may have a great deal in common.
[He taps the arms of his chair with his fingers and looks into the distance]
FARNHAM
[Laughing impatiently]
I thought of that when I saw you together.
[Crossing his legs]
Well, you ask me to tell you about Lucas, and I find that I haven’t much to tell. I haven’t known him very long, when it comes to that; but from what I have gathered and inferred, it would seem that his father was a good deal of a metropolitan rounder — before the days of the Great White Way. Whether that made any difference or not, I don’t know. All I can say for certain is that Lucas’s father didn’t spend all his evenings holding his little one on his knee, or teaching him the binomial theorem.
[With a tired sigh]
Little Georgie was undoubtedly neglected. But what of it?
[Looking at the bust]
So was Shakespeare, I fancy.
VAN ZORN
[Frowning]
And Lucas’s mother?
FARNHAM
She had the good fortune to die. You needn’t look at me like that, for the old man was a bad egg.
VAN ZORN
[Disappointed]
Is that the best you can do for me?
FARNHAM
[Impatiently]
What more do you want? It’s for Lucas to do the rest.
He has ability enough to fit out a dozen ordinary men, but he can’t use it — or he won’t. He isn’t peculiar to New York. You’ll find him over all the world.
VAN ZORN
[Thoughtfully]
&nb
sp; And Lucas has run down — like a watch.
FARNHAM
Yes, or rather like the Old Clock on the Stairs. And I’m afraid he’s past winding up.
VAN ZORN
[Tapping with his fingers]
And what will be the outcome of all this?
FARNHAM
[Weary of the subject]
Oh, I don’t know. I shouldn’t wonder if I were to take up a newspaper some morning and read that one George Lucas had blown the top of his head off in one of our public parks — probably in Washington Square, not far from the statue of Garibaldi. That statue beats anything of Petherick’s.
VAN ZORN
[Slowly]
I wonder if I have made a mistake. I don’t often make mistakes in my judgment of men.
FARNHAM
That’s interesting. How about women?
VAN ZORN
We are not talking about women —
[With emphasis]
at present.
FARNHAM
[Laughing]
All right; excuse me. But what if you do make mistakes?
You can charge them all up to Destiny, and go on about your business. The rest of us poor devils, who think we are burdened with free will, have to pay for our mistakes —
with complex interest.
VAN ZORN
No matter about that. But what if I were to run down —
after the manner of Lucas?
FARNHAM
But Lucas’s case hasn’t anything to do with yours.
VAN ZORN
How do you know?
FARNHAM
You couldn’t let yourself run down.
VAN ZORN
How do you know?
FARNHAM
[Getting up, with a laugh of protest]
Because that isn’t the way we do things nowadays — if we have any sense. If you say “How do you know.”
again, I’ll...
VAN ZORN
Farnham, has it occurred to you that Lucas’s problem may not be half so simple as you have made it out to be?
FARNHAM
You can’t expect me to tell you what I don’t know.
VAN ZORN
[Significantly]
Or all that you do know — possibly.
[Farnham says nothing, but smokes]
In the light of what you say, I wonder that you should trouble yourself to have this man Lucas around.
FARNHAM
More Destiny I suppose. We can’t beat Destiny.
VAN ZORN
Certainly not. But Destiny can beat us, and it can make us do better than we have done in the past.
FARNHAM
[With a sharp look]
So Lucas is going to have greatness thrust upon him, is he?
[Laughing]
“Van Zorn and Lucas, the eminent comedians.”
VAN ZORN
[Laughing a little and looking at the bust]
I wonder what Shakespeare would do if he were in my place.
FARNHAM
He might kill Polonius, or he might mix himself a drink.
That would depend entirely upon Destiny.
VAN ZORN
[Drily]
Undoubtedly... and we might say more about Destiny... But whether or not we ought to say it...
FARNHAM
According to your convenient doctrine, I don’t see that there is any “ought” or “ought not” about it — unless you think you ought to congratulate me on my engagement to Villa Vannevar. Do you?
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly, after a pause]
Most assuredly not.
[Van Zorn drums with his fingers on the arms of his chair and looks straight before him. Farnham watches him with a gathering hardness in his look and at length breaks the strained silence with a flat laugh, to which Van Zorn pays no attention]
FARNHAM
[Uncomfortably]
Is this a new kind of joke that you have brought with you from India? If it is, I don’t seem to care much for it.
VAN ZORN
[Looking at him]
I wish, Farnham, that you would wait a little before you talk like that.
FARNHAM
[With a short laugh]
All right — I’ll wait. There’s nothing else for me to do.
It’s going to be Destiny anyhow, and I can’t help myself.
VAN ZORN
[After getting up and looking at the picture]
Farnham, there is something wrong here.
[He moves slowly towards him]
There is something in the air. I can feel it. I have felt it ever since I came in.
FARNHAM
[Unpleasantly]
Shall I open a window and let it out?
VAN ZORN
I think it would be quite sufficient if we were to — lift a curtain.
FARNHAM
[Drily]
On your past life?
VAN ZORN
On mine — and yours. Past, present, and future.
FARNHAM
You are sure that you are quite well?
VAN ZORN
[Nods slowly]
I am sure.
FARNHAM
[With mock relief]
That’s good. Now a man in your condition ought to have a cheerful, not to say optimistic, outlook on life.
[He shrugs his shoulders and forces another laugh]
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
I may not see life as it is, but I see it as I see it. And I am confident that I see one rather important aspect of it as it is going to be if you have your way. I mean, rather, if your vanity and your obstinacy have their way.
FARNHAM
[With a sign of resignation]
Goon.
[Drily]
You are the best thing we have had since Samson and the foxes. Well, with my Vanity and your Destiny working together, we ought to arrive somewhere, as I have no doubt we shall.
VAN ZORN
And where do you think we shall arrive?
FARNHAM
If you’ll be good enough to raise that magic curtain of yours, we may find out.
VAN ZORN
[Frowning]
If I raise it — yes.
FARNHAM
[Nervously]
Then why the devil don’t you?
[Laughing as before]
I can stand it — Destiny and all.
[With assumed lightness]
I am enjoying what you say, thus far; and I have no doubt
[Sitting down]
that I shall be interested in what may follow.
VAN ZORN
[After watching Farnham]
Then I may as well come to my subject. Do you know that I have been coming to it for a long time — for more than four years, in fact?
FARNHAM
I don’t know what you are talking about, but go ahead, all the same.
VAN ZORN
I will. And I’ll begin by asking you one or two direct questions. If they seem too direct, you must try to pardon me.
[Pause]
Farnham, does the approaching unhappiness of three people, who might as well be happy, commend itself to you as an attractive picture, or as a desirable state of affairs? Have you said to yourself that your Vanity and my Destiny, to use your own words, might as easily work together for joy and for good, as for misery and for evil?
FARNHAM
[Squirming]
What name does your doctor give to this?
VAN ZORN
Don’t you think we are beyond that now?
FARNHAM
[Nervously]
Beyond recovery? I hope not.
VAN ZORN
Haven’t I raised the curtain?
FARNHAM
[Getting up]
You have raised the devil. That’s about what you have done.
[With another dry laugh]
What have you been doing since you went away?
VAN ZORN
[Quietly]
You give me a leverage when you ask that.
FARNHAM
[Impulsively]
Then for God’s sake use it, and send this curtain of yours up a little higher.
[With irony]
If I can be of any assistance...
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
Farnham, my career, during the past four years, has consisted for the most part in seeking... seeking for guidance.
FARNHAM
[With another laugh]
You might have done worse. “He that seeketh”...
You know about that fellow.
VAN ZORN
[Slowly, but with finality]
“Findeth.”
FARNHAM
[With strained humor]
Good. Are you sure you won’t have a cigar?
VAN ZORN
[Solemnly]
Do you remember what the text goes on to say of him that knocketh? I wonder what you think would be likely to happen if I were to — knock.
[Farnham moves to the fireplace and stands gazing into the gyrate.
Van Zorn looks at him and waits for him to speak]
FARNHAM
[Slowly and incredulously]
What are you driving at, anyhow? Are you in love with Villa Vannevar?... You have never told me about this.
VAN ZORN
You have not been exactly available.
Works of Edwin Arlington Robinson Page 57
