MR. BOOTH. [_conciliatory._] I shall make a point of informing your
family that you are in no way to blame in the matter. And in the event
of any personal legal difficulties I shall always be delighted to come
to you. My idea is for the future to employ merely a financial agent--
EDWARD. [_still quite unstrung really, and his nerves betraying him._]
If you had made up your mind before my father died to do this, you ought
to have told =him=.
MR. BOOTH. Please allow me to know my own business best. I did not
choose to distress him by--
EDWARD. [_pulling himself together: speaking half to himself._] Well . .
well . . this is one way out. And it's not my fault.
MR. BOOTH. You're making a fearful fuss about a very simple matter,
Edward. The loss of one client, however important he may be . . Why,
this is one of the best family practices in London. I am surprised at
your lack of dignity.
EDWARD _yields smilingly to this assertiveness_.
EDWARD. True . . I have no dignity. Will you walk off with your papers
now?
MR. BOOTH. What notice is usual?
EDWARD. To a good solicitor, five minutes. Ten to a poor one.
MR. BOOTH. You'll have to explain matters a bit to me.
_Now_ EDWARD _settles to his desk again; really with a certain grim
enjoyment of the prospect_.
EDWARD. Yes, I had better. Well, Mr. Booth, how much do you think you're
worth?
MR. BOOTH. [_easily._] I couldn't say off hand.
EDWARD. But you've a rough idea?
MR. BOOTH. To be sure.
EDWARD. You'll get not quite half that out of us.
MR. BOOTH. [_precisely._] I think I said I had made up my mind to
withdraw the whole amount.
EDWARD. You should have made up your mind sooner.
MR. BOOTH. I don't in the least understand you, Edward.
EDWARD. A great part of your capital doesn't exist.
MR. BOOTH. [_with some irritation._] Nonsense, it must exist. [_He
scans_ EDWARD'S _set face in vain_.] You mean that it won't be prudent
to realise? You can hand over the securities. I don't want to reinvest
simply because--
EDWARD. I can't hand over what I haven't got.
_This sentence falls on the old man's ears like a knell._
MR. BOOTH. Is anything . . =wrong=?
EDWARD. [_grim and patient._] How many more times am I to say that we
have robbed you of nearly half your property?
MR. BOOTH. [_his senses failing him._] Say that again.
EDWARD. It's quite true.
MR. BOOTH. My money . . =gone=?
EDWARD. Yes.
MR. BOOTH. [_clutching at a straw of anger._] You've been the thief . .
you . . you . . ?
EDWARD. I wouldn't tell you if I could help it . . my father.
_That actually calls the old man back to something like dignity and
self-possession. He thumps on_ EDWARD'S _table furiously_.
MR. BOOTH. I'll make you prove that.
_And now_ EDWARD _buries his face in his arms and just goes off into
hysterics_.
EDWARD. Oh, you've fired a mine!
MR. BOOTH. [_scolding him well._] Slandering your dead father . . and
lying to me, revenging yourself by frightening me . . because I detest
you.
EDWARD. Why . . haven't I thanked you for putting an end to all my
troubles? I do . . I promise you I do.
MR. BOOTH. [_shouting, and his sudden courage failing as he shouts._]
Prove this . . prove it to me! I'm not to be frightened so easily. One
can't lose half of all one has and then be told of it in two minutes . .
sitting at a table. [_his voice tails off to a piteous whimper._]
EDWARD. [_quietly now and kindly._] If my father had told you this in
plain words you'd have believed him.
MR. BOOTH. [_bowing his head._] Yes.
EDWARD _looks at the poor old thing with great pity_.
EDWARD. What on earth did you want to withdraw your account for? You
need never have known . . you could have died happy. Settling with all
those charities in your will would certainly have smashed us up. But
proving your will is many years off yet we'll hope.
MR. BOOTH. [_pathetic and bewildered._] I don't understand. No, I don't
understand . . because your father . . But I =must= understand, Edward.
EDWARD. Don't shock yourself trying to understand my father, for you
never will. Pull yourself together, Mr. Booth. After all, this isn't a
vital matter to you. It's not even as if you had a family to consider . .
like some of the others.
MR. BOOTH. [_vaguely._] What others?
EDWARD. Don't imagine your money has been specially selected for
pilfering.
MR. BOOTH. [_with solemn incredulity._] One has read of this sort of
thing but . . I thought people always got found out.
EDWARD. [_brutally humorous._] Well . . we are found out. You've found
us out.
MR. BOOTH. [_rising to the full appreciation of his wrongs._] Oh . .
I've been foully cheated!
EDWARD. [_patiently._] I've told you so.
MR. BOOTH. [_his voice breaks, he appeals pitifully._] But by you,
Edward . . say it's by you.
EDWARD. [_unable to resist his quiet revenge._] I've not the ability or
the personality for such work, Mr. Booth . . nothing but principles,
which forbid me even to lie to you.
_The old gentleman draws a long breath and then speaks with great awe,
blending into grief._
MR. BOOTH. I think your father is in Hell . . I'd have gone there myself
to save him from it. I loved him very truly. How he could have had the
heart! We were friends for nearly fifty years. Am I to think now he only
cared for me to cheat me?
EDWARD. [_venturing the comfort of an explanation._] No . . he didn't
value money as you do.
MR. BOOTH. [_with sudden shrill logic._] But he took it. What d'you mean
by that?
EDWARD _leans back in his chair and changes the tenor of their talk_.
EDWARD. Well, you're master of the situation now. What are you going to
do?
MR. BOOTH. To get my money back?
EDWARD. No, that's gone.