THE 'ROSE' ROOM
[A simple, pleasantly furnished room in the forester's house. The walls
are colour-washed in red; the curtains are of thin rose-coloured
muslin. In the small latticed windows there are flowers. On right, a
writing-table and bookshelf. Left, a sofa with rose-coloured curtains
above in the form of a baldachino. Tables and chairs in Old German
style. At the back, a door. Outside the country can be seen and the
poorhouse, a dark, unpleasant building with black, uncurtained windows.
Strong sunlight. The LADY is sitting on the sofa working.]
MOTHER (standing with a book bound in rose-coloured cloth in her hand.)
You won't read your husband's book?
LADY. Not that one. I promised not to.
MOTHER. You don't want to know the man to whom you've entrusted your
fate?
LADY. What would be the use? We're all right as we are.
MOTHER. You make no great demands on life?
LADY. Why should I? They'd never be fulfilled.
MOTHER. I don't know whether you were born full of worldly wisdom, or
foolishness.
LADY. I don't know myself.
MOTHER. If the sun shines and you've enough to eat, you're content.
LADY. Yes. And when it goes in, I make the best of it.
MOTHER. To change the subject: did you know your husband was being
pressed by the courts on account of his debts?
LADY. Yes. It happens to all writers.
MOTHER. Is he mad, or a rascal?
LADY. He's neither. He's no ordinary man; and it's a pity I can tell
him nothing he doesn't know already. That's why we don't speak much; but
he's glad to have me near him; and so am I to be near him.
MOTHER. You've reached calm water already? Then it can't be far to the
mill-race! But don't you think you'd have more to talk of, if you read
what he has written?
LADY. Perhaps. You can leave me the book, if you like.
MOTHER. Take it and hide it. It'll be a surprise if you can quote
something from his masterpiece.
LADY (hiding the book in her bag). He's coming. If he's spoken of he
seems to feel it from afar.
MOTHER. If he could only feel how he makes others suffer--from afar.
(Exit left.)
(The LADY, alone for an instant, looks at the book and seems taken
aback. She hides it in her bag.)
STRANGER (entering). Your mother was here? You were speaking of me, of
course. I can almost hear her ill-natured words. They cut the air and
darken the sunshine. I can almost divine the impression of her body in
the atmosphere of the room, and she leaves an odour like that of a dead
snake.
LADY. You're irritable to-day.
STRANGER. Fearfully. Some fool has restrung my nerves out of tune, and
plays on them with a horse-hair bow till he sets my teeth on edge....
You don't know what that is! There's someone here who's stronger than
I! Someone with a searchlight who shines it at me, wherever I may be. Do
they use the black art in this place?
LADY. Don't turn your back on the sunlight. Look at this lovely country;
you'll feel calmer.
STRANGER. I can't bear that poorhouse. It seems to have been built there
solely for me. And a demented woman always stands there beckoning.
LADY. Do you think they treat you badly here?
STRANGER. In a way, no. They feed me with tit-bits, as if I were to be
fattened for the butcher. But I can't eat because they grudge it me, and
I feel the cold rays of their hate. To me it seems there's an icy wind
everywhere, although it's still and hot. And I can hear that accursed
mill....
LADY. It's not grinding now.
STRANGER. Yes. Grinding... grinding.
LADY. Listen. There's no hate here. Pity, at most.
STRANGER. Another thing.... Why do people I meet cross themselves?
LADY. Only because they're used to praying in silence. (Pause.) You had
an unwelcome letter this morning?
STRANGER. Yes. The kind that makes your hair rise from the scalp, so
that you want to curse at fate. I'm owed money, but can't get paid.
Now the law's being set in motion against me by... the guardians of my
children, because I've not paid alimony. No one has ever been in such
a dishonourable position. I'm blameless. I could pay my way; I want to,
but am prevented! Not my fault; yet my shame! It's not in nature. The
devil's got a hand in it.
LADY. Why?
STRANGER. Why? Why is one born into this world an ignoramus, knowing
nothing of the laws, customs and usage one inadvertently breaks? And
for which one's punished. Why does one grow into a youth full of high
ambition only to be driven into vile actions one abhors? Why, why?
LADY (who has secretly been looking at the book: absent-mindedly). There
must be a reason, even if we don't know it.
STRANGER. If it's to humble one, it's a poor method. It only makes me
more arrogant. Eve!
LADY. Don't call me that.
STRANGER (starting). Why not?
LADY. I don't like it. You'd feel as I do, if I called you Caesar.
STRANGER. Have we got back to that?
LADY. To what?
STRANGER. Did you mention that name for any reason?
LADY. Caesar? No. But I'm beginning to find things out.
STRANGER. Very well! Then I may as well fall honourably by my own
hand. I am Caesar, the school-boy, for whose escapade your husband, the
werewolf, was punished. Fate delights in making links for eternity.
A noble sport! (The LADY, uncertain what to do, does not reply.) Say
something!
LADY. I can't.
STRANGER. Say that he became a werewolf because, as a child, he lost
his belief in the justice of heaven, owing to the fact that, though
innocent, he was punished for the misdeeds of another. But if you say
so, I shall reply that I suffered ten times as much from my conscience,
and that the spiritual crisis that followed left me so strengthened that
I've never done such a thing again.
LADY. No. It's not that.
STRANGER. Then what is it? Do you respect me no longer?
LADY. It's not that either.
STRANGER. Then it's to make me feel my shame before you! And it would be
the end of everything between us.
LADY. No!
STRANGER. Eve.
LADY. You rouse evil thoughts.
STRANGER. You've broken your vow: you've been reading my book!
LADY. I have.
STRANGER. Then you've done wrong.
LADY. My intention was good.
STRANGER. The results even of your good intentions are terrible! You've
blown me into the air with my own petard. Why must all our misdeeds come
home to roost--both boyish escapades and really evil action? It's fair
enough to reap evil where one has sown it. But I've never seen a good
action get its reward. Never! It's a disgrace to Him who records all
sins, however black or venial. No man could do it: men would forgive.
The gods... never!
LADY. Don't say that. Say rather _you_ forgive.
STRANGER. I'm not small-minded. But what have I forgive you?
LADY. More than I can say.
STRANGER. Say it. Perhaps then we'll be quits.
LADY. He and I used to read the curse of Deutertonomy over you... for
you'd ruined his life.
STRANGER. What curse is that?
LADY. From the fifth book of Moses. The priests chant it in chorus when
the fasts begin.
STRANGER. I don't remember it. What does it matter--a curse more or
less?
LADY. In my family those whom we curse, are struck.
STRANGER. I don't believe it. But I do believe that evil emanates from
this house. May it recoil upon it! That is my prayer! Now, according to
custom, it would be my duty to shoot myself; but I can't, so long as I
have other duties. You see, I can't even die, and so I've lost my last
treasure--what, with reason, I call my religion. I've heard that man can
wrestle with God, and with success; but not even job could fight against
Satan. (Pause.) Let's speak of you....
LADY. Not now. Later perhaps. Since I've got to know your terrible
book--I've only glanced at it, only read a few lines here and there--I
feel as if I'd eaten of the tree of knowledge. My eyes are opened and I
know what's good and what's evil, as I've never known before. And now
I see how evil you are, and why I am to be called Eve. She was a mother
and brought sin into the world: it was another mother who brought
expiation. The curse of mankind was called down on us by the first,
a blessing by the second. In me you shall not destroy my whole sex.
Perhaps I have a different mission in your life. We shall see!
STRANGER. So you've eaten of the tree of knowledge? Farewell.
LADY. You're going away?
STRANGER. I can't stay here.
LADY. Don't go.
STRANGER. I must. I must clear up everything. I'll take leave of the old
people now. Then I'll come back. I shan't be long. (Exit.)
LADY (remains motionless, then goes to the door and looks out. She sinks
to her knees). No! He won't come back!
Curtain.