TRENCHARD. Nonsense, my dear Edward. The law will take anything it has a
right to and all it can get; you needn't be afraid. There's no
obligation, legal or moral, for us to throw our pounds into the wreck
that they may become pence.
EDWARD. I can hear him.
TRENCHARD. But what about your own position . . can we get you clear?
EDWARD. That doesn't matter.
BOOTH'S _head has been turning incessantly from one to the other and by
this he is just a bristle of alarm_.
BOOTH. But I say, you know, this is awful! Will this have to be made
public?
TRENCHARD. No help for it.
_The Major's jaw drops; he is speechless._ MRS. VOYSEY'S _dead voice
steals in_.
MRS. VOYSEY. What is all this?
TRENCHARD. Edward wishes us to completely beggar ourselves in order to
pay back to every client to whom father owed a pound perhaps ten
shillings instead of seven.
MRS. VOYSEY. He will find that my estate has been kept quite separate.
EDWARD _hides his face in his hands_.
TRENCHARD. I'm very glad to hear it, Mother.
MRS. VOYSEY. When Mr. Barnes died your father agreed to appointing
another trustee.
TREGONING. [_diffidently._] I suppose, Edward, I'm involved.
EDWARD. [_lifting his head quickly._] Denis, I hope not. I didn't know
that anything of yours--
TREGONING. Yes . . all that I got under my aunt's will.
EDWARD. You see how things are . . I've discovered no trace of that.
We'll hope for the best.
TREGONING. [_setting his teeth._] It can't be helped.
MAJOR BOOTH _leans over the table and speaks in the loudest of
whispers_.
BOOTH. Let me advise you to say nothing of this to Ethel at such a
critical time.
TREGONING. Thank you, Booth, naturally I shall not.
HUGH, _by a series of contortions, has lately been giving evidence of a
desire or intention to say something_.
EDWARD. Well, what is it, Hugh?
HUGH. I have been wondering . . if he can hear this conversation.
_Up to now it has all been meaningless to_ HONOR, _in her nervous
dilapidation, but this remark brings a fresh burst of tears_.
HONOR. Oh, poor papa . . poor papa!
MRS. VOYSEY. I think I'll go to my room. I can't hear what any of you
are saying. Edward can tell me afterwards.
EDWARD. Would you like to go too, Honor?
HONOR. [_through her sobs._] Yes, please, I would.
TREGONING. And I'll get out, Edward. Whatever you think fit to do . .
Oh, well, I suppose there's only one thing to be done.
EDWARD. Only that.
TREGONING. I wish I were in a better position as to work, for Ethel's
sake and--and the child's.
EDWARD. Shall I speak to Trenchard?
TREGONING. No . . he knows I exist in a wig and gown. If I can be
useful to him, he'll be useful to me, I daresay. Good bye, Hugh. Good
bye, Booth.
_By this time_ MRS. VOYSEY _and_ HONOR _have been got out of the room_:
TREGONING _follows them. So the four brothers are left together._ HUGH
_is vacant_, EDWARD _does not speak_, BOOTH _looks at_ TRENCHARD, _who
settles himself to acquire information_.
TRENCHARD. How long have things been wrong?
EDWARD. He told me the trouble began in his father's time and that he'd
been battling with it ever since.
TRENCHARD. [_smiling._] Oh, come now . . that's impossible.
EDWARD. But I believed him! Now I look through his papers I can find
only one irregularity that's more than ten years old, and that's only to
do with old George Booth's business.
BOOTH. But the Pater never touched his money . . why, he was a personal
friend.
EDWARD. Did you hear what Denis said?
TRENCHARD. Very curious his evolving that fiction about his father . . I
wonder why. I remember the old man. He was honest as the day.
EDWARD. To gain sympathy, I suppose.
TRENCHARD. I think one can trace the psychology of it deeper than that.
It would add a fitness to the situation . . his handing on to you an
inheritance he had received. You know every criminal has a touch of the
artist in him.
HUGH. [_suddenly roused._] That's true.
TRENCHARD. What position did you take up on the matter when he told you?
EDWARD. [_shrugging._] You know what the Pater was as well as I.
TRENCHARD. Well . . what did you attempt to do?
EDWARD. I urged him to start by making some of the smaller accounts
right. He said . . he said that would be penny wise and pound foolish.
So I did what I could myself.
TRENCHARD. With your own money?
EDWARD. The little I had.
TRENCHARD. Can you prove that you did that?
EDWARD. I suppose I could.
TRENCHARD. It's a good point.