Five days have passed since Act II
_Scene:_ As in Act I
_Time:_ Late afternoon
[_When the curtain rises Mrs. Clouston, Mrs. De
Mullin, and Janet are on the stage. The nervous
tension of the last few days has clearly told on
Janet, who looks feverish and irritable._
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(speaking off into the hall on
the right)_ Good-bye. Good-bye.
JANET
_(who is standing about c., scornfully)_
Good-bye! Good-bye!
MRS. CLOUSTON
_(shocked)_
Janet!
JANET
_(fiercely)_
How many times a week does that Bulstead woman
think it necessary to call on us?
MRS. CLOUSTON
_(sitting)_
She doesn’t call very often.
JANET
She’s been three times this week.
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(closing door r.)_
Naturally she wants to hear how your father is,
dear.
JANET
_(irritably)_
My dear mother, what _can_ it matter to Mrs.
Bulstead whether father lives or dies?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
_(exasperated)_
Well, mother, do you seriously believe she
cares? Or Miss Deanes? Or Miss Rolt? Or any of
these people? They only call because they’ve
nothing better to do. It’s sheer mental vacuity
on their part. Besides, father’s perfectly well
now. They know that. But they go on _calling,
calling!_ I wonder Miss Deanes doesn’t bring her
cockatoo to inquire.
[_Tramps to and fro impatiently._
MRS. CLOUSTON
Really, Janet, I can’t think what’s the matter
with you. Do sit down and try and exercise some
selfcontrol.
JANET
I’ve no self-control where these Brendon people
are concerned. They get on my nerves, every one
of them.... Where’s Johnny?
MRS. DE MULLIN
In the garden, I think,
JANET
Sensible boy! He’s had enough of visitors for
one day, I’ll be bound. I’ll go out and join
him.
[_Goes out angrily._
MRS. CLOUSTON
I can’t think what’s come to Janet the last day
or two. Her temper gets worse and worse.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Perhaps it’s only the hot weather. No De
Mullin---
MRS. CLOUSTON
Nonsense, Jane, don’t be foolish. We can’t have
_Janet_ giving way to that sort of thing at her
age.
MRS. DE MULLIN
I’m afraid she is rather irritable just now. She
flew out quite savagely at Hester to-day just
after luncheon.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Why was that?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Because of something she had been teaching
Johnny. The Athanasian Creed I think it was.
Yes, it must have been that because Johnny asked
Janet what was meant by three Incomprehensibles.
Janet asked him where he had heard all that and
Johnny said Aunt Hester had taught it to him.
Janet was very angry and forbade Hester ever to
teach him anything again. Hester was quite hurt
about it.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Naturally. Still, I do think Hester might have
chosen something else to teach him.
MRS. DE MULLIN
That was what Janet said.
MRS. CLOUSTON
But that’s no reason why she shouldn’t behave
herself when visitors are here. She was quite
rude to Mrs. Bulstead. What they think of her
in London when she goes on like this I can’t
imagine.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Perhaps she isn’t like this in London.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Of course she is, Jane. Worse. Here she has the
restraining influences of home life. Whereas in
London, living alone as she does...
MRS. DE MULLIN
She has Johnny.
MRS. CLOUSTON
She has Johnny, of course. But that’s not
enough. She ought to have a husband to look
after her.
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(sighs)_
Yes.
[_Seats herself slowly beside her sister._
MRS. CLOUSTON
Where’s Hester?
MRS. DE MULLIN
At church, I expect.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Church! Why the girl’s always at church.
MRS. DE MULLIN
It’s a Wednesday. And it does no harm, I think.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Let us hope not, Jane.
[_De Mullin enters by the door on the left. He
has evidently got over his recent attack and
looks comparatively hale and vigorous._
MRS. DE MULLIN
Have you had your nap, Hugo?
DE MULLIN
Yes. The sunset woke me, I suppose. It was
shining full on my face.
MRS. DE MULLIN
What a pity it woke you.
DE MULLIN
It didn’t matter. I’ve slept enough... _(wanders
towards sofa, c.)_. Where’s Johnny?
MRS. DE MULLIN
In the garden, I think, with Janet.
DE MULLIN
_(wanders to window, c., and looks
out)_
Yes. There he is. He’s playing hide and seek
with Ellen.... Now she’s caught him. No, he’s
got away. Bravo, Johnny! _(Stands watching
intently for a while. Then turns and comes down
c.)_ What a fine little fellow it is! A true De
Mullin!
MRS. DE MULLIN
Do you think so, Hugo?
DE MULLIN
Every inch of him! _(pause, sits c., half to
himself)_ If only Janet had been married!
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(sighs)_
Yes.
DE MULLIN
_(musing)_
I wonder who the father really was. _(looking
up)_ She has never told you, Jane, I suppose?
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(steadily, without looking up)_
No, Hugo.
MRS. CLOUSTON
And never will. Nobody was ever so obstinate as
Janet.
DE MULLIN
_(nods sadly)_
JANET always had plenty of will.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Far too much! [_pause._
MRS. DE MULLIN
You’ll quite miss Johnny when he goes away from
us, Won’t you, Hugo.
DE MULLIN
Yes. I never thought I could grow so fond of a
child. The house will seem empty without him.
MRS. DE MULLIN
I shall miss him too.
DE MULLIN
We shall all miss him. _(pause, thoughtfully)_ I
wonder if Janet would leave him with us when she
goes back to London?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Leave him with us? Altogether, you mean?
DE MULLIN
Yes.
MRS. DE MULLIN
I’m afraid not, Hugo. In fact, I’m quite sure
she would not. She’s so fond of Johnny.
DE MULLIN
I suppose she wouldn’t _(pause)_. I was greatly
shocked at what you told me about her the other
day, Harriet.
MRS. CLOUSTON
About her keeping a shop, you mean?
DE MULLIN
Yes. And going into partnership with a
Miss Higgs or Hicks. It all sounds most
discreditable.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Deplorable.
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(meekly)_
She had to do something to keep herself, Hugo.
DE MULLIN
No doubt. Still, it can’t be considered a proper
sort of position for my daughter. I think she
must give it up at once.
MRS. DE MULLIN
She would only have to take to something else.
DE MULLIN
Not necessarily. She might come back here to
live with us... with Johnny, of course.
Mrs. De. Mullin _(astonished)_
_Live_ with us?
DE MULLIN
Why not, Jane?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Well, of course if _you_ think so, Hugo.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Are you sure you will like to have Janet living
at home again, Hugo?
DE MULLIN
I think it might be the best arrangement. And
I shall like to have Johnny here. He’s our only
descendant, Harriet, the last of the De Mullins.
If you or Jane had had a son it would be
different.
MRS. CLOUSTON
_(sighs)_
Yes.
DE MULLIN
As it is I don’t see how we can do
anything-better than have them both down
here--as Jane doesn’t think Janet would part
with Johnny. It would be better for Janet
too. It would take her away from her present
unsatisfactory surroundings. It would give her
a position and independence--everything she now
lacks.
MRS. DE MULLIN
I should have thought she was _independent_ now,
DE MULLIN
_(irritably)_
My dear Jane, how can a woman possibly be
independent whose income comes out of selling
hats? The only form of independence that is
possible or desirable for a woman is that she
shall be dependent upon her husband or, if she
is unmarried, on her nearest male relative. I am
sure _you_ agree with me, Harriet?
MRS. CLOUSTON
Quite, Hugo.
DE MULLIN
Very well. I will speak to her about it at once.
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(nervously)_
I hardly think I would say anything about it
to-day, Hugo.
DE MULLIN
Why not, Jane?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Well, she seems nervous and irritable to-day. I
think I should put it off for a day or two.
DE MULLIN
_(testily)_
My dear Jane, you are always procrastinating. If
such an arrangement is to be made the sooner
it is made the better. _(Goes to window, c.,
calls)_ Janet my dear. Janet.
[_Pause. Then Janet appears at window, c._
JANET
Did you call me, father?
DE MULLIN
Yes. Come to me for a moment. I want to speak
to you. _(De Mullin wanders undecidedly to the
fireplace. A moment later Janet enters from the
garden.)_ Is Johnny with you?
JANET
No. He’s having tea with Ellen. I said he might.
[_Pause. Janet comes down._
DE MULLIN
Janet, your mother and I have been talking over
your future.
JANET
Have you, father?
[_With a quick glance at her mother. Mrs. De
Mullin, however, makes no sign._
DE MULLIN
Yes. We have come to the conclusion that it
would be better for you to come back here to
live.
[_Janet faces round towards her father._
JANET
But what would become of the business?
DE MULLIN
You will have to give up the business, of
course. So much the better. You never ought to
have gone into it. It was not at all a suitable
occupation for you.
JANET
But I like it, father.
MRS. CLOUSTON
_Like_ it! A De Mullin _like_ keeping a shop!
Impossible.
JANET
_(firmly)_
Yes, Aunt Harriet, I like it. And I’m proud of
it.
DE MULLIN
_(sharply)_
Nonsense, Janet. Nobody can possibly be proud of
keeping a shop.
JANET
_I_ am. I made it, you see. It’s my child, like
Johnny.
DE MULLIN
_(amazed)_
JANET! Do you understand what you’re doing? I
offer you the chance of returning to Brendon to
live as my daughter.
JANET
_(indifferently)_
I quite understand, father. And I’m much obliged
for the offer. Only I decline it. That’s all.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Really!
DE MULLIN
_(with dignity)_
The question is, are you to be allowed to
decline it, in Johnny’s interests if not your
own?
JANET
Johnny’s?
DE MULLIN
Yes. Johnny’s. As long as he was a child it
made little difference where he was brought up.
Relatively little that is. Now he is getting
to an age when early associations are
all-important. Living here at Brendon in the
home of his ancestors he will grow up worthy of
the race from which he is descended. He will be
a true De Mullin.
JANET
_(quietly)_
Perhaps I don’t want him to be a true De Mullin,
father.
DE MULLIN
What do you mean?
JANET
My dear father, you’re infatuated about your De
Mullins. Who are the De Mullins, after all?
Mere country squires who lived on here down at
Brendon generation after generation. What have
they ever done that I should want Johnny to be
like them? Nothing. There’s not one of them who
has ever distinguished himself in the smallest
degree or made his name known outside his native
village. The De Mullins are, and have always
been, nobodies. Look at their portraits. Is
there a single one of them that is worth a
second glance? Why they never even had the
brains to be painted by a decent artist. With
the result that they aren’t worth the canvas
they’re painted on. Or is it board? I’d make a
bonfire of them if they were mine.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
_(impatiently)_
I would. You seem to think there’s some peculiar
virtue about always living in the same place. I
believe in people uprooting themselves and doing
something with their lives. What was the good of
the De Mullins going on living down here century
after century, always a little poorer and a
little poorer, selling a farm here, mortgaging
another there, instead of going out into the
world to seek their fortunes? We’ve stayed too
long in one place, we De Mullins. We shall never
be worth anything sleeping away our lives down
at Brendon.
DE MULLIN
_(sharply)_
Janet, you are talking foolishly. What you say
only makes it clearer to me that you cannot
be allowed to live by yourself in London any
longer. Such a life is demoralizing to you. You
must come back to Brendon.
JANET
I shall not come back to Brendon, father. On
that I am quite determined.
DE MULLIN
_(with dignity)_
My dear, this is not a matter that rests with
you. My mind is made up. Hitherto I have only
asked you to return. Do not force me to command
you.
JANET
_(fiercely)_
Command? By what right do you command?
DE MULLIN
By the right of a father, Janet. By that right I
insist on your obedience.
JANET
_(losing her temper)_
Obedience! Obedience! I owe no one obedience.
I am of full age and can order my life as I
please. Is a woman never to be considered old
enough to manage her own affairs? Is she to go
down to her grave everlastingly under tutelage?
Is she always to be obeying a father when she’s
not obeying a husband? Well, I, for one, will
not submit to such nonsense. I’m sick of this
everlasting _obedience_.
DE MULLIN
_(fiercely)_
JANET...!
[_Door opens l. Ellen enters with the lamp.
There is a considerable pause, during which
Ellen puts down the lamp, turns it up, pulls
down the blind and begins to draw the curtains.
In the middle of the last process De Mullin
intervenes._
DE MULLIN
(irritably)
You can leave the curtains, Ellen.
ELLEN
Very well, sir.
[_Exit Ellen l. with maddening deliberation.
Pause._
JANET
Father, I’m sorry if what I said vexed you.
Perhaps I spoke too strongly.
DE MULLIN
_(with great dignity)_
Very well, Janet. You will remain with us.
JANET
No, father, that’s not possible. For Johnny’s
sake, as well as my own, it would be madness for
us to live down here.
DE MULLIN
For Johnny’s sake?
JANET
Yes, Johnny’s. In London we’re not known, he and
I. There he’s simply Johnny Seagrave, the son of
a respectable widow who keeps a hat-shop. Here
he is the son of Janet De Mullin who ran away
from home one night eight years ago and whose
name was never mentioned again by her parents
until one fine day she turned up with an
eight-year-old boy and said she was married. How
long would they take to see through _that_ story
down here, do you think?
MRS. CLOUSTON
_(tartly)_
Whose fault is that?
JANET
Never mind whose fault it is, Aunt Harriet. The
question is, will they see through it or will
they not? Of course, they _know_ nothing so far,
but I’ve no doubt they suspect. What else have
people to do down here but suspect other people?
Miss Deanes murmurs her doubts to Mrs. Bulstead
and Mrs. Bulstead shakes her head to Miss
Deanes. Mrs. Bulstead! What right has _she_ to
look down that huge nose of hers at _me!_ She’s
had _ten_ children!
MRS. DE MULLIN
JANET! She’s married.
JANET
To Mr. Bulstead! That vulgar animal! You don’t
ask me to consider that a _merit_, do you? No,
Mrs. Bulstead shan’t have the chance of sneering
at Johnny if _I_ can help it. Or at me either.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet, listen to me. You don’t understand how
your father feels about this or how much it
means to him. Johnny is his only grandchild--our
only descendant. He would adopt him and call him
De Mullin, and then the name would not die out.
You know how much your father thinks of that and
how sorry he has always been that I never had a
son.
JANET
_(more gently)_
I know, mother. But when Hester marries...
HESTER?
DE MULLIN
JANET
Yes.
DE MULLIN
_(turning angrily to his wife)_
But whom is Hester going to marry? Is she going
to marry? I have heard nothing about this.
What’s this, Jane? Has something been kept from
me?
MRS. DE MULLIN
No, no, Hugo. Nothing has been kept from you.
It’s only some fancy of Janet’s. She thinks Mr.
Brown is going to propose to Hester. There’s
nothing in it, really.
DE MULLIN
Mr. Brown! Impossible!
MRS. CLOUSTON
Quite impossible!
JANET
_(calmly)_
Why impossible, father?
DE MULLIN
He would never dare to do such a thing. _Mr.
Brown_ to have the audacity to propose to _my_
daughter!
JANET
_(quietly)_
Why not, father?
DE MULLIN
_(bubbling with rage)_
Because he is not of a suitable position.
Because the _De Mullins_ cannot be expected to
marry people of _that_ class. Because...
JANET
_(shrugs)_
I dare say Mr. Brown won’t think of all that.
Anyhow, I hope he won’t. I hope he’ll propose
to Hester and she’ll accept him and then when
they’ve a whole herd of little Browns you can
select one of them and make a De Mullin of him,
poor little wretch.
_[At this moment Hester enters from the garden.
An uncomfortable silence falls_.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Hush, hush, Janet. Here is Hester. Is that you,
Hester? Have you come from church?
HESTER
Yes, mother.
_[She comes down, her face looking pale and
drawn, and stands by her mother._
MRS. DE MULLIN
You’re very late, dear.
HESTER
A little, I stayed on after service was over.
MRS. CLOUSTON
How very eccentric of you!
HESTER
_(quietly)_
I suppose saying one’s prayers does seem
eccentric to you, Aunt Harriet?
MRS. CLOUSTON
My dear Hester, considering you’d only just
finished _one_ service...
JANET
_(who has not noticed the look on her
sister’s face)_
Well, Aunt Harriet, who was right?
MRS. DE MULLIN
Hush, Janet!
JANET
_(gaily)_
My dear mother, what on earth is there to “hush”
about? And what on earth is there to keep Hester
in church half an hour after service is over, if
it’s not what I told you?
HESTER
What do you mean?
JANET
Nothing, dear. Come and give me a kiss.
[_Pulling her towards her._
HESTER {repulsing her roughly)
I won’t. Leave me alone, Janet. What has she
been saying about me, mother? I insist on
knowing.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Nothing, dear. Only some nonsense about you and
Mr. Brown. Janet is always talking nonsense.
JANET
Yes, Hester. About you and Mr. Brown. _Your_ Mr.
Brown. Confess he has asked you to marry him as
I said?
HESTER
_(slowly)_
Mr. Brown is engaged to be married to Agatha
Bulstead. He told me so this evening after
service.
JANET
He told you!
HESTER
Yes. He asked me to congratulate him.
JANET
The little wretch!
MRS. DE MULLIN
To Agatha Bulstead? That’s the plain one, isn’t
it?
HESTER
The third one. Yes.
JANET
The plain one! Good heavens, it oughtn’t to be
allowed. The children will be little monsters.
MRS. CLOUSTON
So that’s why you were so long at church?
HESTER
Yes. I was praying that they might be happy.
JANET
Poor Hester!
MRS. DE MULLIN
Are you disappointed, dear?
HESTER
I’d rather not talk about it if you don’t mind,
mother.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Your father would never have given his consent.
HESTER
So Mr. Brown said.
JANET
The little _worm_.
MRS. DE MULLIN
My dear!
JANET
Well, mother, isn’t it too contemptible?
DE MULLIN
I’m bound to say Mr. Brown seems to have behaved
in a very fitting manner.
JANET
You think so, father?
DE MULLIN
Certainly. He saw what my objections would
be and recognized that they were reasonable.
Nothing could be more proper.
JANET
Well, father. I don’t know what you do want. Ten
minutes ago you were supposed to be wanting a
grandson to adopt. Here’s Hester going the right
way to provide one, and you don’t like that
either.
HESTER
What is all this about, father? What have you
all been discussing while I’ve been out?
MRS. DE MULLIN
It was nothing about you, Hester.
HESTER
I’m not sure of that, mother. Anyhow I should
like to hear what it was.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Hester, that is not at all a proper tone to use
in speaking to your mother.
HESTER
_(fiercely)_
Please don’t interfere, Aunt Harriet. I suppose
I can be trusted to speak to my mother properly
by this time.
MRS. CLOUSTON
You certainly ought to, my dear. You are quite
old enough.
HESTER
Very well then. Perhaps you will be good enough
not to dictate to me in future. What was it you
were discussing, father?
JANET
I’ll tell you, Hester. Father wanted to adopt
Johnny. He wanted me to come down here to live
altogether.
HESTER
Indeed? Well, father, understand, please, that
if Janet comes down here to live _I go!_
MRS. DE MULLIN
Hester!
HESTER
I will not live in the same house with Janet.
Nothing shall induce me. I would rather beg my
bread.
JANET
That settles it then. Thanks, Hester. I’m glad
you had the pluck to say that. You are right.
Quite right.
HESTER
I can do without _your_ approval, Janet.
JANET
_(recklessly)_
Of course you can. But you can have it all the
same. You never wanted me down here. You always
disapproved of my being sent for. I ought never
to have come. I wish I hadn’t come. My coming
has only done harm to Hester, as she knew it
would.
DE MULLIN
How harm?
JANET
Mr. Brown would have asked Hester to marry him
if I hadn’t come. He meant to; I’m sure of it.
MRS. DE MULLIN
But he said...
JANET
I know. But that was only an excuse. Young
men aren’t so considerate of their future
fathers-inlaw as all that nowadays. No. Mr.
Brown heard some story about me from Miss
Deanes. Or perhaps the Vicar put him on his
guard. Isn’t it so, Hester?
[_Hester nods._
MRS. DE MULLIN
But as your father would never have consented,
dear...
HESTER
_(slowly)_
Still, I’d rather he had asked me, mother.
JANET
Quite right, Hester! I’m glad you’ve got
some wholesome feminine vanity left in your
composition. And you’d have said “yes,” like a
sensible woman.
HESTER
Oh, you’re always sneering!
JANET
Yes. But I’m _going_, Hester, _going! That’s_
great thing! Keep your eyes fixed steadily on
that and you’ll be able to bear anything else.
That reminds me. _(Goes to door, l., and calls
loudly into the hall.)_ Johnny! Johnny!
MRS. CLOUSTON
Really, Janet!
JANET
Oh, I forgot. It’s not genteel to call into
the passage, is it? I ought to have rung. I
apologise, Aunt Harriet. _(Calls again)_ Johnny!
MRS. DE MULLIN
Why are you calling Johnny?
JANET
To tell him to put on his hat and coat, mother
dear. I’m going to the station.
DE MULLIN
You’re going to-night?
JANET
Yes, father, to-night. I’ve done harm enough
down here. I’m going away.
JOHNNY
_(entering l.)_
Do you want me, Mummie?
JANET
Yes. Run and put on your things and say goodbye
to Cook and Ellen and tell Robert to put in the
pony. Mother’s going back to London.
JOHNNY
Are we going now, Mummie?
JANET
_(nods)_
As fast as the train can carry us. And tell
Ellen to lock my trunk for me and give you the
key. Run along.
_[Exit Johnny, l._
DE MULLIN
Lock your trunk! But you’ve not _packed?_
JANET
Oh yes, I have. Everything’s packed, down to my
last shoelace. I don’t know how often I haven’t
packed and unpacked during the last five days.
MRS. DE MULLIN
_(astonished and hurt)_
You meant to leave us then, Janet? You’ve been
_wanting_ to leave us all the time?
JANET
Yes, mother. I’ve been wanting to leave you. I
can’t stay here any longer. Brendon stifles
me. It has too many ghosts. I suppose it’s your
ridiculous De Mullins.
DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
I know, father. That’s blasphemy, isn’t it? But
I can’t help it. I must go. I’ve been meaning to
tell you every day for the last four days, but
somehow I always put it off.
DE MULLIN
Understand me, Janet. If you leave this house
to-night you leave it for ever.
JANET
_(cheerfully)_
All right, father.
DE MULLIN
_(growing angrier)_
Understand, too, that if you leave it you are
never to hold any communication either with me
or with any one in it henceforward. You are cut
off from the family. I will never see you or
recognize you in any way, or speak to you again
as long as I live.
JANET
_(astonished)_
My dear father, why are you so angry? Is there
anything so dreadful in my wanting to live in
London instead of in the country?
DE MULLIN
_(getting more and more excited)_
Why am I angry! Why am I...!
MRS. DE MULLIN
Sh! Hugo! You mustn’t excite yourself. You know
the doctor said...
DE MULLIN
Be quiet, Jane! _(turning furiously to Janet)_
Why am I angry! You disgrace the family. You
have a child, that poor fatherless boy....
JANET
_(quietly)_
Oh come, I could have got along quite well
without a father if it comes to that. And so
could Hester.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
Well, mother, what has father ever done for
Hester or me except try and prevent us from
doing something we wanted to do? Hester wanted
to marry Mr. Brown. Father wouldn’t have allowed
her. He’s not genteel enough to marry a De
Mullin. I want to go back to my shop. Father
objects to that. That’s not genteel enough for a
De Mullin either. Well, hang all the De Mullins,
say I.
DE MULLIN
_(furious)_
I forbid you to speak of your family in that
way-of _my_ family! I forbid it! It is an
outrage. Your ancestors were honourable men and
pure women. They did their duty in the position
in which they were born, and handed on their
name untarnished to their children. Hitherto our
honour has been unsullied. You have sullied it.
You have brought shame upon your parents and
shame upon your son, and that shame you can
never wipe out. If you had in you a spark of
human feeling, if you were not worthless and
heartless you would blush to look me in the face
or your child in the face. But you are utterly
hardened. I ought never to have offered to
receive you back into this house. I ought never
to have consented to see you again. I was wrong.
I regret it. You are unfit for the society of
decent people. Go back to London. Take up the
wretched trade you practise there. It is what
you are fit for.
JANET
That’s exactly what I think, father. As we agree
about it why make such a fuss?
DE MULLIN
_(furious)_
Janet....
HESTER
Father, don’t argue with her. It’s no use.
_(solemnly)_ Leave her to God.
JANET
Hester, Hester, don’t deceive yourself. In your
heart you envy me my baby, and you know it.
HESTER
_(indignant)_
I do not.
JANET
You do. Time is running on with you, my dear.
You’re twenty-eight. Just the age that I was
when I met my lover. Yes, my lover. In a few
years you will be too old for love, too old to
have children. So soon it passeth away and we
are gone. Your best years are slipping by and
you are growing faded and cross and peevish.
Already the lines are hardening about your mouth
and the hollows coming under your eyes. You
will be an old woman before your time unless you
marry and have children. And what will you do
then? Keep a lap-dog, I suppose, or sit up at
night with a sick cockatoo like Miss Deanes.
Miss Deanes! Even she has a heart somewhere
about her. Do you imagine she wouldn’t
rather give it to her babies than snivel over
_poultry?_ No, Hester, make good use of your
youth, my dear. It won’t last always. And once
gone it is gone for ever. _(Hester bursts into
tears.)_ There, there, Hester! I’m sorry. I
oughtn’t to have spoken like that. It wasn’t
kind. Forgive me. _(Hester weep more and more
violently.)_ Hester, don’t cry like that. I
can’t bear to hear you. I was angry and said
more than I should. I didn’t mean to vex you.
Come, dear, you mustn’t give way like that or
you’ll make yourself ill. Dry your eyes and let
me see you smile. _(Caressing her. Hester, who
has begun by resisting her feebly, gradually
allows herself to be soothed.)_ That’s better!
My dear, what a sight you’ve made of yourself!
But all women are hideous when they’ve been
crying. It makes their noses red and that’s
dreadfully unbecoming. _(Hester sobs out a
laugh)_. No. You mustn’t begin to cry again or I
shall scold you. I shall, really.
HESTER
_(half laughing, half crying
hysterically)_
You seem to think every woman ought to behave as
shamefully as you did.
JANET
_(grimly)_
No, Hester. I don’t think that. To do as I did
needs pluck and brains--and five hundred pounds.
Everything most women haven’t got, poor things.
So they must marry or remain childless. You must
marry--the next curate. I suppose the Bulsteads
will buy Mr. Brown a living as he’s marrying the
plainest of the daughters. It’s the least they
can do. But that’s no reason why _I_ should
marry unless I choose.
MRS. CLOUSTON
Well, I’ve never heard of anything so
disgraceful. I thought Janet at least had the
grace to be ashamed of what she did!
JANET
_(genuinely astonished)_
Ashamed? Ashamed of wanting to have a child?
What on earth were women created for, Aunt
Harriet, if not to have children?
MRS. CLOUSTON To _marry_ and have children.
JANET
_(with relentless logic)_
My dear Aunt Harriet, women had children
thousands of years before marriage was invented.
I dare say they will go on doing so thousands of
years after it has ceased to exist.
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
Well, mother, that’s how I feel. And I believe
it’s how all wholesome women feel if they would
only acknowledge it. I _wanted_ to have a child.
I always did from the time when I got too old to
play with dolls. Not an adopted child or a child
of some one else’s, but a baby of my very own.
Of course I wanted to marry. That’s the ordinary
way a woman wants to be a mother nowadays,
I suppose. But time went on and nobody came
forward, and I saw myself getting old and my
chance slipping away. Then I met-never mind. And
I fell in love with him. Or perhaps I only
fell in love with love. I don’t know. It was
so splendid to find some one at last who really
cared for me as women should be cared for!
Not to talk to because I was clever or to play
tennis with because I was strong, but to kiss me
and to make love to me! Yes! To make love to me!
DE MULLIN
_(solemnly)_
Listen to me, my girl. You say that now, and I
dare say you believe it. But when you are older,
when Johnny is grown up, you will bitterly
repent having brought into the world a child who
can call no man father.
JANET
_(passionately)_
Never! Never! That I’m sure of. Whatever
happens, even if Johnny should come to hate me
for what I did, I shall always be glad to have
been his mother. At least I shall have lived.
These poor women who go through life listless
and dull, who have never felt the joys and the
pains a mother feels, how they would envy me if
they knew! If they knew! To know that a child is
your very own, is a part of you. That you have
faced sickness and pain and death itself for it.
That it is yours and nothing can take it from
you because no one can understand its wants as
you do. To feel it’s soft breath on your cheek,
to soothe it when it is fretful and still it
when it cries, that is motherhood and that is
glorious!
[_Johnny runs in by the door on the left. He is
obviously in the highest spirits at the thought
of going home._
JOHNNY
The trap is round, Mummie, and the luggage is
in.
JANET
That’s right. Good-bye, father. _(He does not
move)_ Say good-bye to your grandfather, Johnny.
You won’t see him again.
[_De Mullin kisses Johnny._
MRS. DE MULLIN
Janet!
JANET
No, mother. It’s best not. _(Kisses her)_ It
would only be painful for father. Good-bye, Aunt
Harriet. Good-bye, Hester.
[_Looks at Hester doubtfully. Hester rises, goes
to her slowly and kisses her._
HESTER
Good-bye. .
[_Exeunt Johnny and Janet by the door the
right._
DE MULLIN
_(his grey head bowed on his chest
as Mrs De Mullin timidly lays her hand on his
shoulder)_
The last of the De Mullins! The last of the De
Mullins!
_(The curtain falls)_
End of Project Gutenberg's The Last of The De Mullins, by St. John Hankin