GERTRUDE. An ordinary smart woman. [Contemptuously.] Well, you ought to
find no difficulty in managing that. You can make yourself very
charming, it appears.
[AGNES again reaches out a hand towards the wine. GERTRUDE pours a very
little wine into the wine-glass and takes up the glass; AGNES holds out
her hand to receive it.]
GERTRUDE. Do you mind my drinking from your glass?
AGNES. [Staring at her.] No.
[GERTRUDE empties the glass and then places it, in a marked way, on the
side of the table farthest from AGNES.]
GERTRUDE. [With a little shudder.] Ugh! Ugh! [AGNES moves away from
GERTRUDE, to the end of the settee, her head bowed, her hands
clenched.] I have something to propose. Come home with me tomorrow.
AGNES. [After a pause, raising her head.] Home--?
GERTRUDE. Ketherick. The very spot for a woman who wants to shut out
things. Miles and miles of wild moorland! For company, purple heath and
moss-covered granite, in summer; in winter, the moor-fowl and the snow
glistening on top of the crags. Oh, and for open-air music, our little
church owns the sweetest little peal of bells--! [AGNES rises,
disturbed.] Ah, I can't promise you their silence! Indeed, I'm very
much afraid that on a still Sunday you can even hear the sound of the
organ quite a long distance off. I am the organist when I'm at home.
That's Ketherick. Will you come? [The distant tinkling of mandolin and
guitar is again heard.]
AGNES. Listen to that. The mandolinisti! You talk of the sound of your
church organ, and I hear his music.
GERTRUDE. His music?
AGNES. The music he is fond of; the music that gives him the thoughts
that please him, soothe him.
GERTRUDE. [Listening--humming the words of the air, contemptuously:
"Bell'amore deh! Porgi l'orecchio, ad un canto che parte del
cuore . . ."] Love-music!
AGNES. [In a low voice, staring upon the ground.] Yes, love music.
[The door leading from LUCAS'S room opens, and ST. OLPHERTS and LUCAS
are heard talking. GERTRUDE hastily goes out. KUCAS enters; the
boyishness of manner has left him--he is pale and excited.]
AGNES. What is the matter?
LUCAS. My wife is revealing quite a novel phase of character.
AGNES. Your wife--?
LUCAS. The submissive mood. It's right that you should be told, Agnes.
She is here, at the Danieli, with my brother Sandford. [ST. OLPHERTS
enters slowly.] Yes, positively! It appears that she has lent herself
to a scheme of Sandford's--[glancing at ST. OLPHERTS]--and of--and--
ST. OLPHERTS. Of Sandford's.
LUCAS. [To AGNES.] A plan of reconciliation. [To ST. OLPHERTS.] Tell
Sybil that the submissive mood comes too late, by a year or so! [He
paces to and fro. AGNES sits, with an expressionless face.]
AGNES.[Quietly, to ST. OLPHERTS.] The "friends" you were expecting,
Duke?