You needn’t worry about me — or my liver. But I
don’t like the way Rachel looks — or the way she acts.
LARRY
[Sitting down by the table]
Neither do I. But there are going to be changes in this house, and the good God knows it’s time. And you are expected to believe what I tell you.
STUART
I know about that. But I can assure you, Larry, that all this talk of yours about “silver cords,” and “golden bowls,” and other symbolic junk, has no more meaning for me than it has for Rollo. You assume that it has, but it hasn’t.
LARRY
Come, come — be patient. By the way, your wife was here a little while ago.
STUART
[Rubbing his hands slowly]
Was she?
LARRY
She was.
[Smiling]
And that shade of blue that she has taken on is extremely becoming.
STUART
Then I must be very careful not to tell her so.
LARRY
[Laughing]
That means another pill for your liver.
STUART
[Getting up and moving about nervously]
Oh, it’s all right for you to make jokes about this,
Larry; but you needn’t do it any more, for I don’t more than half see them. I may as well tell you that I can’t stand this kind of existence much longer. Sometimes I’ve a good mind to go away and hide myself in the middle of Australia.
LARRY
[Amused]
Emigration seems to be in the air today.
STUART
[Curiously]
What?
LARRY
Nothing. But what if I were to lasso you with my “silver cord” and pull you back to Tadmor?
STUART
[Sharply]
You might have to break my neck in order to do it.
LARRY
In that case, I wouldn’t do it. But let me assure you right here, old fellow, that your neck is not going to be broken on your way back from the middle of Australia. And I speak now as a practical man of affairs — within limits.
STUART
There was a time when I thought I was going to be a practical man of affairs — within limits, — and in one way I came near to succeeding. I didn’t have a chance to overwork myself with affairs, but I found all the limits.
[Wearily]
So you see, if a man can’t do one thing in this life, he can do another.
LARRY
[Amused]
Or still another.
STUART
Go on. I was always an ass.
LARRY
Should I have taken you into my confidence if I had thought so?
STUART
[As if disgusted with himself]
Why not — so long as you knew that I could keep my mouth shut. A mud-turtle can do that.
LARRY
[Still amused]
You might forget your natural history for the moment, and pay more attention to what I am saying. I took you into my confidence, but I did not tell you everything.
STUART
[Drily]
No — not quite everything.
LARRY
[Getting up and stretching himself]
Not yet — but I am still confident.
STUART
Your confidence — in something or other — is very evident.
[He looks quickly to the right as ALMA enters from the lower door]
LARRY
Do I make a show of it?
[To ALMA, who comes to the table]
Do you think, Alma, that I make a show of my confidence — in something or other?
ALMA
I think you make a show of yourself — in those boots.
LARRY
Don’t you care for them?
ALMA
I don’t admire them.
[Taking up a magazine]
And I don’t always admire the person who is wearing them.
LARRY
[Moving towards her]
Why these unsisterly remarks to the likes of one who has no friends? You ought to be sorry for yourself.
[Looking over her shoulder]
What are you reading?
ALMA
I’m looking at the pictures.
[Turning towards him and hitting his face with hers]
Go away!
LARRY
[Pointing down over her shoulder at a picture]
That one looks like me.
ALMA
[Drawing away and laughing]
If I were to tell you what you look like, you would wring my neck.
LARRY
[Gripping her neck with his fingers]
I wouldn’t wring your neck for a thousand dollars.
[He tightens his grip until ALMA lets out a squeal that brings RACHEL from the door at the left]
ALMA
[Laughing]
Take him away, Rachel. He’s choking me to death.
RACHEL
[Coming into the room]
Larry, what is the matter with you?
[Impatiently]
The minute you come into this house, you behave like one possessed.
LARRY
[With his arm around ALMA]
Of devils?
RACHEL
[With a sigh of despair]
Is there another house like this in all the world, I
wonder?
LARRY
I can assure you that I never built one like it. If I did,
Fillson would have an apoplectic fit — and probably go off in it.
RACHEL
[Sharply, and with a kind of interest]
What do you mean by that? You mean something.
LARRY
Didn’t Rollo tell you about Fillson?
RACHEL
[Shortly]
No, Rollo did not.
LARRY
[Sitting by the table and tapping Ms boots]
Well, Rachel, this man Fillson is a very able fellow — and a good talker.
[ROLLO enters from the vestibule]
How are you, Rollo, you didn’t walk very far.
ROLLO
[Pleased]
So you are talking about your friend Fillson, are you?
[Comes towards the table]
Does that mean that you are going to change your clothes?
LARRY
Not yet.
[Surveying the group]
But if I am even so much as the grand nephew of a third rate prophet, there is going to be a general changing of clothes in this house before the boblinks are with us again. — By the way, Alma, do you know that you look like a sick pigeon in that dress?
ALMA
You had better change your boots, before you talk about my dress.
LARRY
I’m going to change them.
[Pointing at ALMA with his stick]
And you are going to change that. And Rachel....
But the devil only knows what Rachel is going to do.
RACHEL
[Sitting down]
Do any of us know what we are going to do?
LARRY
Sometimes — if we live.
RACHEL
[With an effort]
There is always uncertainty, then, even with you.
LARRY
[Getting up and speaking with ironic deliberation]
Yes, my dear Rachel, there is. But we are not going to worship Uncertainty, and we are not going to get down on our knees and beg for Uncertainty to come and keep house for us. Stop me, if I am too cheerful; but at the same time, if I can instil the fertile essence of Hope into this happy household, for God’s sake, let me do it. And whatever else you do, Rachel, don’t put yourself between yourself and the sun any longer, and don’t forever imagine that you see things with claws on ’em coming after you in the dark; for the chances are that they aren’
t coming.
[To the others]
And I’m not saying this to Rachel alone. You had far better — all of you — begin to get yourselves out of your own light, and cease to torment your long-bedevilled heads with the dark doings of bogies that have no real existence. That will be all, I believe, for this afternoon.
[Pause]
And now, Stuart, if you have nothing better to do, you might come for “a short walk” with me, and possibly be of some help to me in my work.
[Smiling]
As a practical man of affairs, within limits, you ought to be interested in my work.
STUART
[Drily]
All right. I’m at your service.
ALMA
[With sarcasm]
Is this an alarming symptom. Isn’t it rather early?
LARRY
It’s well to be early.
[To ROLLO]
You remember how it goes, don’t you, Rollo?
[Points at ROLLO with his stick and makes passes with it while he intones his text]
“Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.”...
[Laughing]
Is that the way it goes, Rollo?
RACHEL
[Slowly and very distinctly]
Are you quite sure, Larry, that your silver cord will hold all the weight that may come upon it?
LARRY
[With a frown of disappointment]
Quite — if there are no flaws in the silver.
RACHEL
[As before]
Let us hope, then, that there are no flaws in the silver.
LARRY
[Puzzled]
Let us hope so.
[Laughing]
Come along, Stuart.
[They go out together. ROLLO, RACHEL, and ALMA watch them as they go, and then gaze at the closed door behind them, as if fascinated.]
ROLLO
[Trying to laugh]
Is that fellow insane, or is he merely crazy?
RACHEL
[Looking at her hands]
I have a fear that Larry may be mistaken.
ALMA
[Troubled]
You speak as if you knew more than we do.
RACHEL
[Getting up and going to the table]
We shall all know more — sometime — than we know now.
ALMA
[To ROLLO, with a quick laugh]
Do you know what she means?
ROLLO
[Moving to the right]
Rachel has been a mystery to me for several years.
[RACHEL gives him a searching look and turns away] I
Sometimes I call her my porcupine — on account of her sharp spines.
[He looks at RACHEL kindly, but rather coldly]
ALMA
[Trying to laugh]
I don’t believe Rachel is a porcupine.
[She embraces RACHEL affectionately, standing behind her]
I don’t believe a word of it.
[She talks to ROLLO and laughs, while RACHEL tries weakly to escape]
It’s all nice and smooth and wiggly — like a seal. It might possibly have what-you-call-’ems — flippers — but it couldn’t have spines.
ROLLO
[Half way to the study door]
The spines are there, whether you feel them or not.
[He stands looking for a moment at the two women. RACHEL
remains motionless, with her hands folded, looking down]
ALMA
[After a long pause]
Good gracious! Has Rollo caught it too?
[ROLLO, troubled and in doubt, moves again towards the centre of the room]
RACHEL
[To Alma, kindly]
You poor child.
ROLLO
[Coming nearer to RACHEL]
I was almost saying that to you, Rachel.
[He looks at ALMA with a slight but significant nod of dismissal]
ALMA
[Standing now between the table and the child’s room]
Very well, Rollo. But don’t try to make Rachel laugh this afternoon. I know by the way she looks that she isn’t going to do it.
[She pauses, and then goes into the child’s room]
ROLLO
[Rather heavily]
Rachel, I know you think that I owe you an explanation; and it may be possible that you owe something of that kind to me.
[Affecting a lighter manner]
I wonder how it would work out if we were to do our best to explain ourselves to each other, and then to make an inventory of what we have left. Larry and I have had a talk, as you know, and from now on we are going to be friends. And Larry wants you and me to be friends — instead of being merely man and wife.
[Pause]
Won’t you say something?
RACHEL
[Looking around her, as if in a cage]
Yes, Rollo. I’ll say that you and Larry, between you, are going to drive me mad.
ROLLO
[Bewildered]
Mad?
RACHEL
[Choking]
Not yet.
ROLLO
But, Rachel! You poor Rachel!
RACHEL
[With difficulty]
Yes — you may call me that now, if you like to. I don’t suppose it makes any difference what any of you call me now.
ROLLO
[After an uncomfortable pause]
I wonder, Rachel, if there is another human being like you on the face of the earth.
[With a sorry attempt at lenity]
What do you think about that yourself?
RACHEL
[Speaking with great effort, as she arranges things mechanically on the table]
Please don’t make me talk now, Rollo. For I’m not — I’m not very well. I know I haven’t made you happy; and I deserve to have suffered. But don’t make me talk now. Don’t make me suffer any more than I must.
ROLLO
[Throwing up his hands in despair]
Good Lord in Heaven!... The women in this house!
[RACHEL stands and watches him as he moves away and into the study on the right]
RACHEL
[To herself, in a law and frightened voice]
This house! This house!
[She stands watching the door that ROLLO has closed. She trembles, and her face is drawn with pain and fear. Finally she goes to the book case, takes the vial from behind the old book on the top shelf, and looks at it intently. Then she looks towards the child’s room, shakes her head sorrowfully, and puts the vial back. After a weary gesture of despair, she moves slowly towards the child’s room. She comes to the door, and while her hand is on the knob the curtain falls.
CURTAIN
ACT III
The same room, nine o’clock the next evening. DR. BEN BAKER
is sitting by the table, smoking. ROLLO BREWSTER is standing between the table and the stove, with his hands behind him.
There is a worried expression in his face.
DR. BEN
[With careless impatience]
Rollo, whenever I smoke in this room, I feel as if I were fumigating the office of a Female President. Are you sure it’s all right?
ROLLO
[Solemnly]
Ben, if I speak with you concerning a very personal matter, may I be sure of your confidence?
DR. BEN
[Brightening]
I’m a jay-bird of a doctor, if you can’t. If I were to tell everything I know, how long do you think I’d be allowed to peddle poison here in Tadmor?
[Looking at his watch]
But you’ll have to hurry up. I’m due now at McGillicuddy’s.
ROLLO
Ben, I’m the most unhappy man on earth.
DR. BEN
I don’t like to contradict a schoolmaster, but you are nothing of the sort.
&nb
sp; ROLLO
[Putting his hand to his head]
You don’t know! You don’t know!
DR. BEN
[Rather cynically]
Eye-strain?
ROLLO
[With emphasis]
No.
DR. BEN
[Grinning to himself]
Well, I know that much, at any rate. And you’d better tell me the rest.
ROLLO
[Coming nearer]
It is what you said about the women in this house — or partly that.
DR. BEN
Did I say too much?
ROLLO
Ben, you didn’t tell me whether you could help Rachel, or whether you couldn’t.
DR. BEN
[As if surprised]
I help Rachel? What do you take me for?
ROLLO
[Embarrassed]
Of course I don’t really expect you to give her anything in the way of a — er — specific....
DR. BEN
That’s lucky for me.
ROLLO
[Apologetic and insincere]
But mightn’t there be something in the way of a — a general restorative — a tonic — a nerve-food, perhaps?
DR. BEN
[With rough irony]
Do Rachel’s nerves live on the American or the European plan?
ROLLO
[After a gesture of despair]
Ben!
DR. BEN
[Blowing a large cloud of smoke]
Works of Edwin Arlington Robinson Page 70
