expresses his regret--to-morrow----
AUBREY.
Ellean--Ellean!
ELLEAN.
Yes, papa?
AUBREY.
I--I can't let you see this man again. [_He walks away from her in a
paroxysm of distress, then, after a moment or two, he returns to her
and takes her to his arms._] Ellean! my child!
ELLEAN.
[_Releasing herself._] What has happened, papa? What is it?
AUBREY.
[_Thinking out his words deliberately._] Something has occurred,
something has come to my knowledge, in relation to Captain Ardale,
which puts any further acquaintanceship between you two out of the
question.
ELLEAN.
Any further acquaintanceship ... out of the question?
AUBREY.
Yes.
[_Advancing to her quickly, but she shrinks from him._
ELLEAN.
No, no--I am quite well. [_After a short pause._] It's not an hour
ago since Mrs. Cortelyon left you and me together here; you had
nothing to urge against Captain Ardale then.
AUBREY.
No.
ELLEAN.
You don't know each other; you haven't even seen him this evening.
Father!
AUBREY.
I have told you he and I have not met.
ELLEAN.
Mrs. Cortelyon couldn't have spoken against him to you just now. No,
no, no; she's too good a friend to both of us. Aren't you going to
give me some explanation? You can't take this position towards
me--towards Captain Ardale--without affording me the fullest
explanation.
AUBREY.
Ellean, there are circumstances connected with Captain Ardale's
career which you had better remain ignorant of. It must be
sufficient for you that I consider these circumstances render him
unfit to be your husband.
ELLEAN.
Father!
AUBREY.
You must trust me, Ellean; you must try to understand the depth of
my love for you and the--the agony it gives me to hurt you. You must
trust me.
ELLEAN.
I will, father; but you must trust me a little too. Circumstances
connected with Captain Ardale's career?
AUBREY.
Yes.
ELLEAN.
When he presents himself here to-morrow of course you will see him
and let him defend himself?
AUBREY.
Captain Ardale will not be here to-morrow.
ELLEAN.
Not! You have stopped his coming here?
AUBREY.
Indirectly--yes.
ELLEAN.
But just now he was talking to me at that window! Nothing had taken
place then! And since then nothing can have----! Oh! Why--you have
heard something against him from Paula.
AUBREY.
From--Paula!
ELLEAN.
She knows him.
AUBREY.
She has told you so?
ELLEAN.
When I introduced Captain Ardale to her she said she had met him in
London. Of course! It is Paula who has done this!
AUBREY.
[_In a hard voice._] I--I hope you--you'll refrain from rushing at
conclusions. There's nothing to be gained by trying to avoid the
main point, which is that you must drive Captain Ardale out of your
thoughts. Understand that! You're able to obtain comfort from your
religion, aren't you? I'm glad to think that's so. I talk to you in
a harsh way, Ellean, but I feel your pain almost as acutely as you
do. [_Going to the door._] I--I can't say anything more to you
to-night.
ELLEAN.
Father! [_He pauses at the door._] Father, I'm obliged to ask you
this; there's no help for it--I've no mother to go to. Does what you
have heard about Captain Ardale concern the time when he led a
wild, a dissolute life in London?
AUBREY.
[_Returning to her slowly and staring at her._] Explain yourself!
ELLEAN.
He has been quite honest with me. One day--in Paris--he confessed to
me--what a man's life is--what his life had been.
AUBREY.
[_Under his breath._] Oh!
ELLEAN.
He offered to go away, not to approach me again.
AUBREY.
And you--you accepted his view of what a man's life is!
ELLEAN.
As far as _I_ could forgive him, I forgave him.
AUBREY.
[_With a groan._] Why, when was it you left us? It hasn't taken you
long to get your robe "just a little dusty at the hem!"
ELLEAN.
What do you mean?
AUBREY.
Hah! A few weeks ago my one great desire was to keep you ignorant of
evil.
ELLEAN.
Father, it is impossible to be ignorant of evil. Instinct, common
instinct, teaches us what is good and bad. Surely I am none the
worse for knowing what is wicked and detesting it!
AUBREY.
Detesting it! Why, you love this fellow!
ELLEAN.
Ah, you don't understand! I have simply judged Captain Ardale as we
all pray to be judged. I have lived in imagination through that one
week in India when he deliberately offered his life back to God to
save those wretched, desperate people. In his whole career I see now
nothing but that one week; those few hours bring him nearer the
Saints, I believe, than fifty uneventful years of mere blamelessness
would have done! And so, father, if Paula has reported anything to
Captain Ardale's discredit----
AUBREY.
Paula----!
ELLEAN.
It must be Paula; it can't be anybody else.
AUBREY.
You--you'll please keep Paula out of the question. Finally, Ellean,
understand me--I have made up my mind.
[_Again going to the door._
ELLEAN.
But wait--listen! I have made up my mind also.
AUBREY.
Ah! I recognise your mother in you now!
ELLEAN.
You need not speak against my mother because you are angry with me!
AUBREY.
I--I hardly know what I'm saying to you. In the morning--in the
morning----
[_He goes out. She remains standing, and turns her head
to listen. Then, after a moment's hesitation she goes
softly to the window, and looks out under the verandah._
ELLEAN.
[_In a whisper._] Paula! Paula!
[PAULA _appears outside the window and steps into the room;
her face is white and drawn, her hair is a little
disordered._
PAULA.
[_Huskily._] Well?
ELLEAN.
Have you been under the verandah all the while--listening?
PAULA.
N--no.
ELLEAN.
You _have_ overheard us--I see you have. And it _is_ you who have
been speaking to my father against Captain Ardale. Isn't it? Paula,
why don't you own it or deny it?
PAULA.
Oh, I--I don't mind owning it; why should I?
ELLEAN.
Ah! You seem to have been very very eager to tell your tale.
PAULA.
No, I wasn't eager, Ellean. I'd have given something not to have had
to do it. I wasn't eager.
ELLEAN.
Not! Oh, I think you might safely have spared us all for a little
while.
PAULA.
But, Ellean, you forget I--I am your step-mother. It was my--my
duty--to tell your father what I--what I knew----
ELLEAN.
What you knew! Why, after all, what can you know! You can only speak
from gossip, report, hearsay! How is it possible that you----! [_She
stops abruptly. The two women stand staring at each other for a
moment; then_ ELLEAN _backs away from_ PAULA _slowly._] Paula!
PAULA.
What--what's the matter?
ELLEAN.
You--you knew Captain Ardale in London!
PAULA.
Why--what do you mean?
ELLEAN.
Oh!
[_She makes for the door, but_ PAULA _catches her by the
wrist._
PAULA.
You shall tell me what you mean!
ELLEAN.
Ah! [_Suddenly looking fixedly in_ PAULA'S _face._] You know what I
mean.
PAULA.
You accuse me!
ELLEAN.
It's in your face!
PAULA.
[_Hoarsely._] You--you think I'm--that sort of creature, do you?
ELLEAN.
Let me go!
PAULA.
Answer me! You've always hated me! [_Shaking her._] Out with it!
ELLEAN.
You hurt me!
PAULA.
You've always hated me! You shall answer me!
ELLEAN.
Well, then, I have always--always----
PAULA.
What?
ELLEAN.
I have always known what you were!
PAULA.
Ah! Who--who told you?
ELLEAN.
Nobody but yourself. From the first moment I saw you I knew you were
altogether unlike the good women I'd left; directly I saw you I knew
what my father had done. You've wondered why I've turned from you!
There--that's the reason! Oh, but this is a horrible way for the
truth to come home to every one! Oh!
PAULA.
It's a lie! It's all a lie! [_Forcing_ ELLEAN _down upon her
knees._] You shall beg my pardon for it. [_Ellean utters a loud
shriek of terror._] Ellean, I'm a good woman! I swear I am! I've
always been a good woman! You dare to say I've ever been anything
else! It's a lie!
[_Throwing her off violently._
AUBREY _re-enters._
AUBREY.
Paula! [PAULA _staggers back as_ AUBREY _advances. Raising_ ELLEAN.]
What's this? What's this?
ELLEAN.
[_Faintly._] Nothing. It--it's my fault. Father, I--I don't wish to
see Captain Ardale again.
[_She goes out,_ AUBREY _slowly following her to the
door._
PAULA.
Aubrey, she--she guesses.
AUBREY.
Guesses?
PAULA.
About me--and Ardale.
AUBREY.
About you--and Ardale?
PAULA.
She says she suspected my character from the beginning ... that's
why she's always kept me at a distance ... and now she sees
through----
[_She falters; he helps her to the ottoman, where she
sits._
AUBREY.
[_Bending over her._] Paula, you must have said something--admitted
something----
PAULA.
I don't think so. It--it's in my face.
AUBREY.
What?
PAULA.
She tells me so. She's right! I'm tainted through and through;
anybody can see it, anybody can find it out. You said much the same
to me to-night.
AUBREY.
If she has got this idea into her head we must drive it out, that's
all. We must take steps to---- What shall we do? We had
better--better----What--what?
[_Sitting and staring before him._
PAULA.
Ellean! So meek, so demure! You've often said she reminded you of
her mother. Yes, I know now what your first marriage was like.
AUBREY.
We must drive this idea out of her head. We'll do something. What
shall we do?
PAULA.
She's a regular woman too. She could forgive _him_ easily
enough--but _me_! That's just a woman!
AUBREY.
What _can_ we do?
PAULA.
Why, nothing! She'd have no difficulty in following up her
suspicions. Suspicions! You should have seen how she looked at me!
[_He buries his head in his hands. There is silence for a time, then
she rises slowly, and goes and sits beside him._] Aubrey!
AUBREY.
Yes.
PAULA.
I'm very sorry.
[_Without meeting her eyes, he lays his hand on her arm
for a moment._
AUBREY.
Well, we must look things straight in the face. [_Glancing round._]
At any rate, we've done with this.
PAULA.
I suppose so. [_After a brief pause._] Of course, she and I can't
live under the same roof any more. You know she kissed me to-night,
of her own accord.
AUBREY.
I asked her to alter towards you.
PAULA.
That was it, then.
AUBREY.
I--I'm sorry I sent her away.
PAULA.
It was my fault; I made it necessary.
AUBREY.
Perhaps now she'll propose to return to the convent,--well, she
must.
PAULA.
Would you like to keep her with you and--and leave me?
AUBREY.
Paula----!
PAULA.
You needn't be afraid I'd go back to--what I was. I couldn't.
AUBREY.
Sssh, for God's sake! We--you and I--we'll get out of this place ...
what a fool I was to come here again!
PAULA.
You lived here with your first wife!
AUBREY.
We'll get out of this place and go abroad again, and begin afresh.
PAULA.
Begin afresh?
AUBREY.
There's no reason why the future shouldn't be happy for us--no
reason that I can see----
PAULA.
Aubrey!
AUBREY.
Yes?
PAULA.
You'll never forget this, you know.
AUBREY.
This?
PAULA.
To-night, and everything that's led up to it. Our coming here,
Ellean, our quarrels--cat and dog!--Mrs. Cortelyon, the Orreyeds,
this man! What an everlasting nightmare for you!
AUBREY.
Oh, we can forget it, if we choose.
PAULA.
That was always your cry. How _can_ one do it!
AUBREY.
Well make our calculations solely for the future, talk about the
future, think about the future.
PAULA.
I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another
gate.
AUBREY.
That's an awful belief.
PAULA.
To-night proves it. You must see now that, do what we will, go where
we will, you'll be continually reminded of--what I was. I see it.
AUBREY.
You're frightened to-night; meeting this man has frightened you. But
that sort of thing isn't likely to recur. The world isn't quite so
small as all that.
PAULA.
Isn't it! The only great distances it contains are those we carry
within ourselves--the distances that separate husbands and wives,
for instance. And so it'll be with us. You'll do your best--oh, I
know that--you're a good fellow. But circumstances will be too
strong for you in the end, mark my words.
AUBREY.
Paula----!
PAULA.
Of course I'm pretty now--I'm pretty still--and a pretty woman,
whatever else she may be, is always--well, endurable. But even now I
notice that the lines of my face are getting deeper; so are the
hollows about my eyes. Yes, my face is covered with little shadows
that usen't to be there. Oh, I know I'm "going off." I hate paint
and dye and those messes, but, by-and-by, I shall drift the way of
the others; I sha'n't he able to help myself. And then, some
day--perhaps very suddenly, under a queer, fantastic light at night
or in the glare of the morning--that horrid, irresistible truth that
physical repulsion forces on men and women will come to you, and
you'll sicken at me.
AUBREY.
I----!
PAULA.
You'll see me then, at last, with other people's eyes; you'll see me
just as your daughter does now, as all wholesome folks see women
like me. And I shall have no weapon to fight with--not one
serviceable little bit of prettiness left me to defend myself with!
A worn-out creature--broken up, very likely, some time before I
ought to be--my hair bright, my eyes dull, my body too thin or too
stout, my cheeks raddled and ruddled--a ghost, a wreck, a
caricature, a candle that gutters, call such an end what you like!
Oh, Aubrey, what shall I be able to say to you then? And this is the
future you talk about! I know it--I know it! [_He is still sitting
staring forward; she rocks herself to and fro as if in pain._] Oh,
Aubrey! Oh! Oh!
AUBREY.
Paula----!
[_Trying to comfort her._
PAULA.
Oh, and I wanted so much to sleep to-night! [_Laying her head upon
his shoulder. From the distance, in the garden, there comes the
sound of_ DRUMMLE'S _voice; he is singing as he approaches the
house._] That's Cayley, coming back from The Warren. [_Starting
up._] He doesn't know, evidently. I--I won't see him!
[_She goes out quickly._ DRUMMLE'S _voice comes nearer._
AUBREY _rouses himself and snatches up a book from the
table, making a pretence of reading. After a moment or
two,_ DRUMMLE _appears at the window and looks in._
DRUMMLE.
Aha! my dear chap!
AUBREY.
Cayley?
DRUMMLE.
[_Coming into the room._] I went down to The Warren after you?
AUBREY.
Yes?
DRUMMLE.
Missed you. Well? I've been gossiping with Mrs. Cortelyon. Confound
you, I've heard the news!
AUBREY.
What have you heard?
DRUMMLE.
What have I heard! Why--Ellean and young Ardale! [_Looking at_
AUBREY _keenly._] My dear Aubrey! Alice is under the impression that
you are inclined to look on the affair favourably.
AUBREY.
[_Rising and advancing to_ DRUMMLE.] You've not--met--Captain
Ardale?
DRUMMLE.
No. Why do you ask? By-the-bye, I don't know that I need tell
you--but it's rather strange. He's not at The Warren to-night.
AUBREY.
No?
DRUMMLE.
He left the house half-an-hour ago, to stroll about the lanes; just
now a note came from him, a scribble in pencil, simply telling Alice
that she would receive a letter from him to-morrow. What's the
matter? There's nothing very wrong, is there! My dear chap, pray
forgive me if I'm asking too much.
AUBREY.
Cayley, you--you urged me to send her away!
DRUMMLE.
Ellean! Yes, yes. But--but--by all accounts this is quite an
eligible young fellow. Alice has been giving me the history----
AUBREY.
Curse him! [_Hurling his book to the floor._] Curse him! Yes, I do
curse him--him and his class! Perhaps I curse myself too in doing
it. He has only led "a man's life"--just as I, how many of us, have
done! The misery he has brought on me and mine it's likely enough
we, in our time, have helped to bring on others by this leading "a
man's life"! But I do curse him for all that. My God, _I've_ nothing
more to fear--I've paid _my_ fine! And so I can curse him in safety.
Curse him! Curse him!
DRUMMLE.
In Heaven's name, tell me what's happened?
AUBREY.
[_Gripping_ DRUMMLE's _arm._] Paula! Paula!
DRUMMLE.
What?
AUBREY.
They met to-night here. They--they--they're not strangers to each
other.
DRUMMLE.
Aubrey!
AUBREY.
Curse him! My poor, wretched wife! My poor, wretched wife!
[_The door opens and_ ELLEAN _appears. The two men turn to
her. There is a moment's silence._
ELLEAN.
Father ... father...!
AUBREY.
Ellean?
ELLEAN.
I--I want you. [_He goes to her._] Father ... go to Paula! [_He
looks into her face, startled._] Quickly--quickly! [_He passes her
to go out, she seizes his arm, with a cry._] No, no; don't go!
[_He shakes her off and goes._ ELLEAN _staggers back
towards_ DRUMMLE.
DRUMMLE.
[_To_ ELLEAN.] What do you mean? What do you mean?
ELLEAN.
I--I went to her room--to tell her I was sorry for something I had
said to her. And I _was_ sorry--I _was_ sorry. I heard the fall.
I--I've seen her. It's horrible.
DRUMMLE.
She--she has----!
ELLEAN.
Killed--herself? Yes--yes. So everybody will say. But I know--I
helped to kill her. If I had only been merciful!
[_She faints upon the ottoman. He pauses for a moment
irresolutely--then he goes to the door, opens it, and
stands looking out._
_Printed by_ BALLANTYNE, HANSON, & CO.
_London and Edinburgh_
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Spelling has been preserved as in the original, but several cases of
missing punctuation have been corrected.