Man and Superman and Three Other Plays (40 page)

ANDERSON
[exploding]
Blood an' owns!
^bt
[His voice is rough and dominant, his gesture full of brute energy]. Here! Essie, Essie!

ANDERSON
[impetuously)
Off with you as hard as you can run, to the inn. Tell them to saddle the fastest and strongest horse they have
[JUDITH rises breathless, and stares at him incredulously
]
—
the chestnut mare, if she's fresh—without a moment's delay. Go into the stable yard and tell the black man there that I'll give him a silver dollar if the horse is waiting for me when I come, and that I am close on your heels. Away with you. [His energy sends
ESSIE flying from the room. He pounces on his riding boots; rushes with them to the chair at the fire; and begins pulling them on].

JUDITH
[unable to believe such a thing of him]
You are not going to him!

ANDERSON
(busy with the boots]
Going to him! What good would that do?
[Growling to himself as he gets the first boot on with a wrench]
I'll go to them, so I will. [
To JUDITH peremptorily]
Get me the pistols: I want them. And money, money: I want money—all the money in the house. [
He stoops over the other boot, grumbling] A
great satisfaction it would be to him to have my company on the gallows. [
He pulls on the boot].

JUDITH You are deserting him, then?

ANDERSON Hold your tongue, woman; and get me the pistols.
[She goes to the press and takes from it a leather belt with two pistols, a powder horn, and a bag of bullets attached to it. She throws it on the table. Then she unlocks a drawer in the press and takes out a purse. ANDERSON grabs the belt and buckles it on, saying]
If they took him for me in my coat, perhaps theyll take me for him in his.
[Hitching the belt into its place]
Do I look like him?

JUDITH [
turning with the purse in her hand]
Horribly unlike him.

ANDERSON
[snatching the purse from her and emptying it on the table]
Hm! We shall see.

JUDITH
[sitting down helplessly]
Is it of any use to pray, do you think, Tony?

ANDERSON
[counting the money]
Pray! Can we pray Swindon's rope off Richard's neck?

JUDITH God may soften Major Swindon's heart.

ANDERSON [
contemptuously
—
pocketing a handful of money]
Let him, then. I am not God; and I must go to work another way. [
JUDITH gasps at the blasphemy. He throws the purse on the table].
Keep that. Ive taken 25 dollars.

JUDITH Have you forgotten even that you are a minister?

ANDERSON Minister be—faugh! My hat: wheres my hat?
[He snatches up hat and cloak, and puts both on in hot haste].
Now listen, you. If you can get a word with him by pretending youre his wife, tell him to hold his tongue until morning: that will give me all the start I need.

JUDITH
[solemnly]
You may depend on him to the death.

ANDERSON Youre a fool, a fool, Judith
[for a moment checking the torrent of his haste, and speaking with something of his old quiet and impressive conviction]
You dont know the man youre married to.
[ESSIE returns. He swoops at her at once].
Well: is the horse ready?

ESSIE [
breathless
] It will be ready when you come.

ANDERSON Good.
[He makes for the door].

JUDITH
[rising and stretching out her arms after him involuntarily]
Wont you say goodbye?

ANDERSON And waste another half minute! Psha!
[He rushes out like an avalanche].

ESSIE
[hurrying to JUDITH
] He has gone to save Richard, hasnt he?

JUDITH To save Richard! No: Richard has saved him. He has gone to save himself. Richard must die.

ACT III

 

SERGEANT You can have a quiet word with him here, mum.

JUDITH Shall I have long to wait?

SERGEANT No, mum, not a minute. We kep him in the Bridewell
^bu
for the night; and he's just been brought over here for the court martial. Dont fret, mum: he slep like a child, and has made a rare good breakfast.

JUDITH
[incredulously]
He is in good spirits!

SERGEANT Tip top, mum. The chaplain looked in to see him last night; and he won seventeen shillings off him at spoil five. He spent it among us like the gentleman he is. Duty's duty, mum, of course; but youre among friends here.
[The tramp of a couple of soldiers is heard approaching
]
.
There: I think he's coming.
[RICHARD comes in, without a sign of care or captivity in his bearing.
The sergeant nods to the two soldiers, and shews them the key of the room in his hand. They withdraw].
Your good lady, sir.

RICHARD [going to her]
What! My wife. My adored one.
[He takes her hand and kisses it with a perverse, raffish
^bv
gallantry].
How long do you allow a brokenhearted husband for leave-taking, Sergeant?

SERGEANT As long as we can, sir. We shall not disturb you til the court sits.

RICHARD But it has struck the hour.

SERGEANT So it has, sir; but there's a delay. General Burgoyne's just arrived—Gentlemanly Johnny we call him, sir—and he wont have done finding fault with everything this side of half past. I know him, sir: I served with him in Portugal. You may count on twenty minutes, sir; and by your leave I wont waste any more of them.
[He goes out, locking the door. RICHARD immediately drops his raffish manner and turns to JUDITH with considerate sincerity].

RICHARD Mrs. Anderson: this visit is very kind of you. And how are you after last night? I had to leave you before you recovered; but I sent word to Essie to go and look after you. Did she understand the message?

JUDITH
[breathless and urgent]
Oh, dont think of me: I havent come here to talk about myself. Are they going to—to—
[meaning “to hang you”
]
?

RICHARD [
whimsically
] At noon, punctually. At least, that was when they disposed of Uncle Peter.
[She shudders].
Is your husband safe? Is he on the wing?

JUDITH He is no longer my husband.

RICHARD
[opening his eyes wide]
Eh?

JUDITH I disobeyed you. I told him everything. I expected him to come here and save you. I wanted him to come here and save you. He ran away instead.

RICHARD Well, thats what I meant him to do. What good would his staying have done? Theyd only have hanged us both.

JUDITH
[with reproachful earnestness]
Richard Dudgeon: on your honour, what would you have done in his place?

RICHARD Exactly what he has done, of course.

JUDITH Oh, why will you not be simple with me—honest and straightforward? If you are so selfish as that, why did you let them take you last night?

RICHARD
[gaily]
Upon my life, Mrs. Anderson, I dont know. Ive been asking myself that question ever since; and I can find no manner of reason for acting as I did.

JUDITH You know you did it for his sake, believing he was a more worthy man than yourself.

RICHARD
[laughing]
Oho! No: thats a very pretty reason, I must say; but I'm not so modest as that. No: it wasnt for his sake.

JUDITH
[after a pause, during which she looks shamefacedly at him, blushing painfully]
Was it for my sake?

RICHARD
[gallantly]
Well, you had a hand in it. It must have been a little for your sake. You let them take me, at all events.

JUDITH Oh, do you think I have not been telling myself that all night? Your death will be at my door. [
Impulsively, she gives
him her
hand, and adds, with intense earnestness].
If I could save you as you saved him, I would do it, no matter how cruel the death was.

RICHARD
[holding her hand and smiling, but keeping her almost at arms length]
I am very sure I shouldnt let you.

JUDITH Dont you see that I can save you?

RICHARD How? By changing clothes with me, eh?

JUDITH
[disengaging her hand to touch his lips with it]
Dont
[meaning “Dont jest”
]
.
No: by telling the Court who you really are.

RICHARD
[frowning]
No use: they wouldnt spare me; and it would spoil half of his chance of escaping. They are determined to cow us by making an example of somebody on that gallows today. Well, let us cow them by showing that we can stand by one another to the death. That is the only force that can send Burgoyne back across the Atlantic and make America a nation.

JUDITH
[impatiently]
Oh, what does all that matter?

RICHARD
[laughing]
True: what does it matter? what does anything matter? You see, men have these strange notions, Mrs. Anderson ; and women see the folly of them.

JUDITH Women have to lose those they love through them.

RICHARD They can easily get fresh lovers.

JUDITH
[revoltedJ
Oh! [
Vehemently
] Do you realise that you are going to kill yourself?

RICHARD The only man I have any right to kill, Mrs. Anderson. Dont be concerned: no woman will lose her lover through my death.
[Smiling]
Bless you, nobody cares for me. Have you heard that my mother is dead?

JUDITH Dead!

RICHARD Of heart disease—in the night. Her last word to me was her curse: I dont think I could have borne her blessing. My other relatives will not grieve much on my account. Essie will cry for a day or two; but I have provided for her: I made my own will last night.

JUDITH
[stonily, after a moment's silence
] And I!

RICHARD [
surprised
] You?

JUDITH Yes, I. Am I not to care at all?

RICHARD [
gaily and bluntly
] Not a scrap. Oh, you expressed your feelings towards me very frankly yesterday. What happened may have softened you for the moment; but believe me, Mrs. Anderson, you dont like a bone in my skin or a hair on my head. I shall be as good a riddance at 12 to-day as I should have been at 12 yesterday.

JUDITH
[her voice trembling]
What can I do to shew you that you are mistaken.

RICHARD Dont trouble. I'll give you credit for liking me a little better than you did. All I say is that my death will not break your heart.

JUDITH
[almost in a whisper]
How do you know?
(She
puts
her hands on his shoulders and looks intently at him].

RICHARD
[amazed
—
divining the truth]
Mrs. Anderson!!!
[The bell of the town clock strikes the quarter. He collects himself. and removes her hands, saying rather coldly]
Excuse me: they will be here for me presently. It is too late.

JUDITH It is not too late. Call me as witness: they will never kill you when they know how heroically you have acted.

RICHARD
[with some scorn]
Indeed! But if I dont go through with it, where will the heroism be? I shall simply have tricked them; and theyll hang me for that like a dog. Serve me right too!

JUDITH
[wildly]
Oh, I believe you wan t to die.

RICHARD
[obstinately]
No I dont.

JUDITH Then why not try to save yourself? I implore you—listen. You said just now that you saved him for my sake—yes [
clutching him as he recoils with a gesture of denial]
a little for my sake. Well, save yourself for my sake. And I will go with you to the end of the world.

RICHARD
[taking her by the wrists and holding her a little way, from him, looking steadily at her]
Judith.

JUDITH [
breathless
—
delighted at the name]
Yes.

RICHARD If I said—to please you—that I did what I did ever so little for your sake, I lied as men always lie to women. You know how much I have lived with worthless men—aye, and worthless women too. Well, they could all rise to some sort of goodness and kindness when they were in love
[the word love comes from him with true Puritan scorn].
That has taught me to set very little store by the goodness that only comes out red hot. What I did last night, I did in cold blood, caring not half so much for your husband, or
[ruthlessly]
for you
[she droops, stricken]
as I do for myself. I had no motive and no interest: all I can tell you is that when it came to the point whether I would take my neck out of the noose and put another man's into it, I could not do it. I dont know why not: I see myself as a fool for my pains; but I could not and I cannot. I have been brought up standing by the law of my own nature; and I may not go against it, gallows or no gallows.
[She has slowly raised her head and is now looking full at him].
I should have done the same for any other man in the town, or any other man's wife.
(Releasing her].
Do you understand that?