[Ruefully]
Every nerve and fibre tells me so.
VAN ZORN
You are too healthy to have nerves and fibres. And if you knew yourself better, you could not even think of being angry with me.
VILLA
[With humor and self-assertion]
You are not an absolute mystery, and I know a great deal about you, and about myself — that is, for a girl who has never seen the Sphynx.
[Taking up the card again and looking at it]
I’ll tell you something else that I know — something that I’ve known for a long time.
[He nods slowly]
I have known for a long time that our ways,
[Quickly]
Weldon’s way and mine, I mean, — have been leading us just where you have said they are leading us — into the dark.
[Looking down]
And I have always been afraid of the dark.
[With a shrug and a laugh]
I wonder whether your coming to make me tell you this may not be “destiny” after all.
VAN ZORN
[Looking at her fixedly]
There can be no doubt about that.
[They stand looking at each other, she with her hands behind her, and he with his hands on the back of the chair. After a pause she turns quietly toward the door, where the maid is seen standing]
THE MAID
Mr. Mink would like to see you, Miss Villa.
VILLA
[Biting her lip to keep from laughing at Van Zorn’s augmented solemnity]
Tell him to come up, Jenny.
[To Van Zorn]
You don’t look as if you were going to be glad to see Otto.
You ought to be, for he is a very nice boy.
VAN ZORN
[Forcing a smile]
So I have been told.
[Otto enters briskly, with a book in his hand. Being a child of nature he does not attempt to conceal his surprise at discovering Van Zorn in the room]
OTTO
[Blankly]
Oh! How do you do?... I’m afraid I’m in the way.
VILLA
[Laughing]
Of what, Otto? You foolish child, you are never in the way.
OTTO
[Doubtfully]
I don’t know about that. But I have come, anyhow, as I said I would. And here, my adorable young lady, is a copy of my latest abhorred twitterings. Does it look wicked?
VILLA
[Taking the book and laughing at Otto]
It looks lovely. But why do you call it Au Cinquième?
You don’t live on the fifth floor.
OTTO
[Briskly]
That isn’t necessary. All you have to do is to shut yourself up in almost any kind of place, have in a barrel of mangoes, and let imagination do the rest.
VILLA
[Laughing]
Mangoes?
OTTO
[Cheerfully]
Mangoes. The mango has the flavor of all the fruits.
If you eat a barrel of ‘em, you will have the wisdom of all the ages.
[With a grimace]
Unhappily, I didn’t eat my barrel quite fast enough, and so I lost some of it.
VILLA
[Laughing]
That was too bad.
[Looking at the book]
But I hope the critics will be good to Au Cinquième.
OTTO
[Shaking his head sorrowfully]
They won’t.
[Brightening]
Do you remember my last book — Huîtres et Chablis?
[She nods and laughs]
Thank you for remembering it. Well,
[Putting his hands into his trousers pockets]
one inky-fingered imbecile advised me to write one more book as an antidote and to call it Huile de Foie de Morue, or Cod-liver-oil, — that being his private idea of humor. No, my dear young lady, Posterity is the only judge. Sometime, therefore, when I am gone — sometime when you are old and full of wrinkles — and rheumatism, if God wills it so — some far-off winter evening, for example, when you sit by the fire, with your cat in your lap, — say to yourself that Mink, who was always delicate, once took you out canoeing and contrived somehow to spill you into the beautiful Hudson, and that you swam ashore.
VILLA
And nearly died laughing.
OTTO
Oh, very well. But I can assure you both
[Looking at VAN ZORN, who has been listening rather wearily]
that my neglected afflatus is of no manner of importance when compared with a bit of history that occurred about half an hour ago on Broadway, not far from Forty-second Street. It will do no good for me to tell it, for neither of you will believe it, — unless you believe in Noah’s Ark, and such like.
VILLA
[Quickly]
We do believe in Noah’s Ark, and you will please go on.
Sit down and tell us about it.
[She sits on the piano stool]
OTTO
I’d better not. I might not be able to get up again.
Well then, it’s about Phoebus — Old Hundred — Lucas...
O Lord!
VAN ZORN
[With a quick frown of inquiry]
Has anything happened to Lucas?
OTTO
[Looking from one to the other]
It isn’t easy to talk about.
VILLA
[Impatiently]
But tell me what you mean, Otto.
OTTO
I mean
[Folding his arms]
that Old Hundred has refused a gin-rickey.
VILLA
[Forgetting herself]
Oh!... But after all, was that so very wonderful?
[Her manner reveals her suppressed excitement]
OTTO
[Innocently]
You speak as if you thought so.
VILLA
[More naturally]
I spoke because I was glad. It was the only thing for him to do, and I was afraid that he could never do it.
[Eagerly again]
Are you sure that he has done it, Otto, — or is this only once?
OTTO
[With a queer smile of reminiscence]
He has done it fast enough, if I know anything about him.
[To Van Zorn, with sudden expansion]
You see, this friend of ours fills himself with fluid extract of early death for certain years, and then, all of a sudden, on Broadway, not far from Forty-second Street, he slaps a fellow kindly on the shoulder and tells a fellow that he, Phoebus, has been born again. That was it,— “born again.”
[To Villa, who has risen to her feet in her excitement]
The man is illuminated, I tell you. There is something in his eyes.
VAN ZORN
[With tightening lips]
Let us hope it is not dust.
OTTO
[Standing on his toes]
No, the dust is in our eyes, if anywhere. Or it was.
VILLA
[To Van Zorn, gratefully]
Not in yours, at any rate... And you have been the cause of it all!
[Otto looks at Van Zorn in amazement]
VAN ZORN
[As before]
On the contrary, I don’t know that I have ever been the cause of anything. But I agree with you in saying that this was the only course for him to take, although I have never shared your fear that he would not take it.
VILLA
[Still wondering]
But how did you know anything about him?
VAN ZORN
[Smiling faintly]
Oh, there are signs. Moreover, I permitted Farnham to tell me as much as he would about Lucas’s early life.
VILLA
But he cannot possibly know much about it.
VAN ZORN
[Thoughtfully]
He spoke, I think, of an eccentric father.
[He glances at
the portrait of Lovett]
Weldon was not here in those days and perhaps it was as well that he was not, — for he might not have understood.
[As if to correct herself]
I mean that men like Weldon find it hard to measure the importance of things that happen in other people’s lives.
They can’t do otherwise, I suppose.
VAN ZORN
All of which being granted, there still remains no room for doubt as to Farnham’s friendliness towards Lucas.
VILLA
[Vexed]
I didn’t mean that. I don’t see how I came to speak as I did.
OTTO
[Going to VILLA]
I’m very much afraid that you must put me down as the tender and innocent cause. Pardon my interruption, and — beware the book.
[After a somewhat bewildered pause]
Good afternoon.
VILLA
[As he is going]
Is there very much about Nineveh in it?
[She laughs rather thinly]
OTTO
[With a grimace]
Nineveh occurs but twice, and Babylon has disappeared entirely.
[He bows with exaggerated deference and disappears]
[After OTTO’S departure there is a pause. VILLA sits down in the large chair at the left of the table, while VAN ZORN stands looking at the portrait. Both have become very serious, and VILLA’S voice and manner reveal more and more constraint and emotion during the following scene]
VILLA
[Trying to smile]
What do you think of Otto, now?
[Pause]
Wasn’t it strange — what he told us about George?
VAN ZORN
[Standing near his chair]
Was it any stranger than my coming to this house?
VILLA
[Embarrassed]
But your coming was different, and I knew just when to expect you.
VAN ZORN
Did you know just why you were to expect me?
VILLA
Well, no, — not quite.
VAN ZORN
Were you a little offended at my request to see you?
VILLA
[Slowly]
No.
VAN ZORN
You must at least have thought it very unusual.
VILLA
Possibly.
[With a faint smile]
But one looks for unusual things from you, somehow...
But I shouldn’t have said that. I beg your pardon.
VAN ZORN
I am asking myself whether or not I should beg your pardon.
VILLA
[Her voice trembling]
For telling me the truth?
VAN ZORN
No; but for remaining here when you must be wishing that I would go away.
[She pauses, rises quickly from her chair, and stands before him.
She can hardly control herself. He looks into her eyes and then turns away]
VILLA
[Almost beseeching him]
No, you must not do that! You must not go yet!...
I can’t let you go until I tell you something.
[She moves back to her chair and sits down slowly]
VAN ZORN
[Unhappily, but with dignity]
I don’t wish you to tell me anything unless you are sure that I should hear it; and I don’t wish to take advantage of your perplexity — or of your unhappiness. You will understand that, I am sure; and you will agree with me, no doubt, when I say that my position has already become rather — well, say strange, to use your own word.
[With unconscious bitterness]
It will serve as well as another.
VILLA
[Impulsively]
I don’t care how strange it is, or how strange you are, so long as I know that I can trust you. If you were not strange, I might not have the courage to ask you to help me... I wonder if I ought to wait until I know you better.
VAN ZORN
[With deep feeling]
You will never know me better, and I shall be always at your service.
[With a bitter smile]
“They also serve who only stand and wait.”
[Pause]
Even the blind can serve, in their limited way.
VILLA
[Choking]
You must not say that again. You must not...
[Her voice breaks completely. She throws herself forward, laying her head and arms upon the table. Her whole body shakes, as if the prisoned emotion of years were finally asserting itself. VAN ZORN stands with his hands on the back of his chair and looks down at her with a great sorrow in his eyes. Finally he turns from her to the part of the table that is near him and absently picks up the pieces of ivory that LUCAS has broken]
VAN ZORN
[Fitting the pieces together, and speaking with difficulty]
Then you are not going to Damascus, after all.
[VILLA’S body still shakes with her emotion, and she makes no sign to show that she has heard him. He looks down other as the curtain falls]
CURTAIN
ACT III
FARNHAM’S studio, a little after ten in the evening. When the curtain rises the room is dark, save for the light of the fire which is now burning in the grate.
FARNHAM is lying stretched on the window seat. Presently he gets up rather lazily, turns on the light, looks at his watch and stands in the middle of the room with his hands thrust deep into the pockets of a black velvet house coat. Apart from this coat he is in evening dress. He moves about aimlessly, yawns, and takes a cigar from the box on the table.
As he is lighting it, the bell rings. He remains motionless for a little while, and a strange hard smile comes over his face.
Finally, with a shrug of his shoulders he goes to the door and admits VAN ZORN, who is dressed in ordinary business clothes. His face wears a serious expression and he greets FARNHAM with a kindly but somewhat uncanny smile. Then he looks towards the portrait on the easel, which has been moved back to its original place in Act I.
FARNHAM
[Still smiling drily]
For such a demon of punctuality, it seems to me that you are a bit late.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling as before]
Am I so insufferably punctual that I cannot have five minutes’ grace?
[He takes off his overcoat]
FARNHAM
[Taking his coat and hat and putting them on the window seat]
Oh, no offence. You have made your own reputation.
[VAN ZORN goes to the fire]
Are you cold?
VAN ZORN
It’s rather cool outside.
FARNHAM
[With a grin]
I noticed that when I came out of the subway. Aren’t you going to sit down?
VAN ZORN
Presently.
FARNHAM
Take your time about it. Have a cigar.
[He holds out the box and smiles]
VAN ZORN
I’ll take one later, if you don’t mind.
FARNHAM
It’s a Pedro.
VAN ZORN
Not now.
FARNHAM
[Coaxingly]
Colorado.
[VAN ZORN shakes his head and smiles patiently]
Very well. Pardon me if I appear to urge you.
VAN ZORN
I can think of no one who should ask me to pardon him.
FARNHAM
You remind me of the noble Spaniard who had no enemies because he had killed them all.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling faintly]
I have never killed anybody, to my knowledge. I may once have had something to do with bringing a man back to life again.
FARNHAM
That was good. Did he thank you for it?
VAN ZORN
He didn’t say very much.
FARNHAM
They don’t as a
rule, I believe. By the way,
[Grinning]
when do you intend to tackle Old Hundred?
VAN ZORN
[Frowning slightly]
I dined with Lucas this evening — if you mean Lucas.
FARNHAM
[Surprised]
Oho! You did? — Did he get drunk?
VAN ZORN
He did not.
FARNHAM
[Not too pleasantly]
Oh well, you needn’t be discouraged over that. There’ll be time enough between now and midnight.
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
There will be time enough between now and midnight for more things than you may have considered.
FARNHAM
[Puzzled]
I have no doubt of it. But no matter about Lucas.
Tell me something more about your destiny.
[Drily]
How is your destiny this evening, anyway?
VAN ZORN
[Still standing by the fire]
My destiny is a very good destiny, but unfortunately it has encountered one that is better. — Unfortunately for myself I mean, — not in any sense for others.
FARNHAM
[Patronizingly]
You are a good fellow — altogether too good to be put at a disadvantage. But this once — only this once, upon my word — I can’t help repeating that I didn’t think much of it. One interview, and all that sort of thing. You see, it wasn’t quite in your line.
[Pause]
Well, how much am I to know? — and how soon am I to know it?
Works of Edwin Arlington Robinson Page 61
