The Second Mrs. Tanqueray Arthur W. Pinero (free children's online books txt) đ
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mother died.
Drummle
Yes, yes, but absolutely at the end there was reconciliation between husband and wife, and she won his promise that the child should complete her conventual education. He reaped his reward. When he attempted to gain his girlâs confidence and affection he was too late; he found he was dealing with the spirit of the mother. You remember his visit to Ireland last month?
Jayne
Yes.
Drummle
That was to wish his girl goodbye.
Misquith
Poor fellow?
Drummle
He sent for me when he came back. I think he must have had a lingering hope that the girl would relentâ âwould come to life, as it wereâ âat the last moment, for, for an hour or so, in this room, he was terribly shaken. Iâm sure heâd clung to that hope from the persistent way in which he kept breaking off in his talk to repeat one dismal word, as if he couldnât realise his position without dinning this damned word into his head.
Jayne
What word was that?
Drummle
Aloneâ âalone.
Aubrey enters.
Aubrey
A thousand apologies!
Drummle
Gaily. We are talking about you, my dear Aubrey.
During the telling of the story, Misquith has risen and gone to the fire, and Drummle has thrown himself full-length on the sofa. Aubrey now joins Misquith and Jayne.
Aubrey
Well, Cayley, are you surprised?
Drummle
Surpâ â! I havenât been surprised for twenty years.
Aubrey
And youâre not angry with me?
Drummle
Angry! Rising. Because you considerately withhold the name of a lady with whom it is now the object of my life to become acquainted? My dear fellow, you pique my curiosity, you give zest to my existence! And as for a wedding, who on earth wants to attend that familiar and probably draughty function? Ugh! My cigarâs out.
Aubrey
Letâs talk about something else.
Misquith
Looking at his watch. Not tonight, Aubrey.
Aubrey
My dear Frank!
Misquith
I go up to Scotland tomorrow, and there are some little mattersâ â
Jayne
I am off too.
Aubrey
No, no.
Jayne
I must: I have to give a look to a case in Clifford Street on my way home.
Aubrey
Going to the door. Well! Misquith and Jayne exchange looks with Drummle. Opening the door and calling. Morse, hats and coats! I shall write to you all next week from Genoa or Florence. Now, doctor, Frank, remember, my love to Mrs. Misquith and to Mrs. Jayne!
Morse enters with hats and coats.
Misquith and Jayne
Yes, yesâ âyes, yes.
Aubrey
And your young people!
As Misquith and Jayne put on their coats there is the clatter of careless talk.
Jayne
Cayley, I meet you at dinner on Sunday.
Drummle
At the Stratfieldsâ. Thatâs very pleasant.
Misquith
Putting on his coat with Aubreyâs aid. Ah-h!
Aubrey
Whatâs wrong?
Misquith
A twinge. Why didnât I go to Aix in August?
Jayne
Shaking hands with Drummle. Good night, Cayley.
Drummle
Good night, my dear doctor!
Misquith
Shaking hands with Drummle. Cayley, are you in town for long?
Drummle
Dear friend, Iâm nowhere for long. Good night.
Misquith
Good night.
Aubrey, Jayne, and Misquith go out, followed by Morse; the hum of talk is continued outside.
Aubrey
A cigar, Frank?
Misquith
No, thank you.
Aubrey
Going to walk, doctor?
Jayne
If Frank will.
Misquith
By all means.
Aubrey
Itâs a cold night.
The door is closed. Drummle remains standing with his coat on his arm and his hat in his hand.
Drummle
To himself, thoughtfully. Now then! What the devilâ â!
Aubrey returns.
Aubrey
Eyeing Drummle a little awkwardly. Well, Cayley?
Drummle
Well, Aubrey?
Aubrey walks up to the fire and stands looking into it.
Aubrey
Youâre not going, old chap?
Drummle
Sitting. No.
Aubrey
After a slight pause, with a forced laugh. Hah! Cayley, I never thought I should feelâ âshyâ âwith you.
Drummle
Why do you?
Aubrey
Never mind.
Drummle
Now, I can quite understand a man wishing to be married in the dark, as it were.
Aubrey
You can?
Drummle
In your place I should very likely adopt the same course.
Aubrey
You think so?
Drummle
And if I intended marrying a lady not prominently in Society, as I presume you doâ âas I presume you doâ â
Aubrey
Well?
Drummle
As I presume you do, Iâm not sure that I should tender her for preliminary dissection at afternoon tea-tables.
Aubrey
No?
Drummle
In fact, there is probably only one personâ âwere I in your position tonightâ âwith whom I should care to chat the matter over.
Aubrey
Whoâs that?
Drummle
Yourself, of course. Going to Aubrey and standing beside him. Of course, yourself, old friend.
Aubrey
After a pause. I must seem a brute to you, Cayley. But there are some acts which are hard to explain, hard to defendâ â
Drummle
To defendâ â?
Aubrey
Some acts which one must trust to time to put right.
Drummle watches him for a moment, then takes up his hat and coat.
Drummle
Well, Iâll be moving.
Aubrey
Cayley! Confound you and your old friendship! Do you think I forget it? Put your coat down! Why did you stay behind here? Cayley, the lady I am going to marry is the ladyâ âwho is known asâ âMrs. Jarman.
There is a pause.
Drummle
In a low voice. Mrs. Jarman! are you serious?
He walks up to the fireplace, where he leans upon the mantelpiece uttering something like a groan.
Aubrey
As youâve got this out of me I give you leave to say all you care to say. Come, weâll be plain with each other. You know Mrs. Jarman?
Drummle
I first met her atâ âwhat does it matter?
Aubrey
Yes, yes, everything! Come!
Drummle
I met her at Homburg, twoâ âthree seasons ago.
Aubrey
Not as Mrs. Jarman?
Drummle
No.
Aubrey
She was thenâ â?
Drummle
Mrs. Dartry.
Aubrey
Yes. She has also seen you in London, she says.
Drummle
Certainly.
Aubrey
In Aldford Street. Go on.
Drummle
Please!
Aubrey
I insist.
Drummle
With a slight shrug of the shoulders. Some time last year I was asked by a man to sup at his house, one night after the theatre.
Aubrey
Mr. Selwyn Ethurstâ âa bachelor.
Drummle
Yes.
Aubrey
You were surprised therefore to find Mr. Ethurst aided in his cursed hospitality by a lady.
Drummle
I was unprepared.
Aubrey
The lady you had known as Mrs. Dartry?
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