Benefit of the Doubt — Act 2 Part 2
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
[_Looking at his watch.
_] Oh, Allingham, the hotel people were to send a carriage up for us; perhaps you’ll get your servant—— JOHN.
Certainly.
[_To_ QUAIFE.
] Quaife—what’s that?
[_Upon entering_, QUAIFE _has encountered_ MRS. ALLINGHAM;
_her eyes fall upon the letter on the salver_.
OLIVE.
[_Under her breath, staring at the letter.
_] Ah-h-h!
QUAIFE.
Ma’am?
OLIVE.
[_Drawing back and speaking to_ QUAIFE.
] Well, give it to Mr. Allingham.
QUAIFE.
A boy has brought this, sir—waiting for an answer.
[JOHN _is about to take the letter; when he sees the writing upon the envelope he hesitates for a moment and draws his hand back; then he picks up the letter deliberately_.
JOHN.
[_To_ QUAIFE, _calmly_.
] Wait; I’ll ring.
[QUAIFE _retires_.
OLIVE.
[_Pointing to the letter.
_] Isn’t that letter from Mrs. Fraser?
JOHN.
[_After opening the letter.
_] Yes.
[_He reads the letter to himself.
_] Poor little lady!
This is bad news.
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
[_Agitatedly.
_] Really, Mr. Allingham, really?
JOHN.
Don’t you know?
She has left her husband.
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
Er—yes, sir, we do know it—certainly we know it.
I was almost the last person she spoke to before she quitted her mother’s house.
She is deeply attached to me.
[_Buttoning his coat.
_] Where is she?
Where is she?
JOHN.
I gather she is waiting not very far from this house—— OLIVE.
[_Breathlessly.
_] Waiting——!
JOHN.
She—she wishes to see me.
OLIVE.
[_In a low voice.
_] Oh, yes.
[_Sitting, her hands tightly gripped together.
_] Oh, yes.
JOHN.
[_Going to her and handing her the letter.
_] Read it, please, Olive.
OLIVE.
[_After a pause, holding the letter between her finger and thumb, reading.
_] “Station Hotel, Epsom.
My dear old Jack”—— [_Hastily returning the letter to_ JOHN, _with a shudder_.
] Take it from me!
JOHN.
[_Reading aloud.
_] “My dear old Jack”—[_looking round, simply_]—we have known each other many years—[_reading_]—“oh!
I have had such a job to find you.
I shall plant myself at some quiet spot near your cottage and get a messenger to bring this to you.
The messenger will show you where I am, if you will only consent to see me for a few moments on—[_looking round_]—on a matter of business.
” [MRS.
CLOYS, _concealed from the others by_ SIR FLETCHER, _sinks on to the settee_.
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
Ha, a matter of business!
Of course, a matter of business.
JOHN.
[_Resuming.
_] “I have left my husband.
He turned against me at the end and crushed my one hope of being able to whitewash myself.
” The cur!
[_Resuming.
_] “Am off to Paris the first thing in the morning.
Very likely this is the last chance you will ever have of a word with your poor little friend, Theo.
” [_To_ SIR FLETCHER.
] Sir Fletcher, I congratulate you on finding your niece; please tell her that it is impossible for me to grant her request.
OLIVE.
[_Calmly.
_] Oh, but wait.
[_Rising.
_] Surely it would be rather uncivil to refuse what Mrs. Fraser asks.
MRS.
CLOYS.
[_Rising.
_] I can be trusted to explain—— OLIVE.
But she is apparently in need of some business service which my husband can render her.
MRS.
CLOYS.
Now that she is again in the hands of her relatives there can be no necessity for troubling Mr. Allingham.
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
Not the slightest; not the slightest.
OLIVE.
Perhaps not.
But before such a very curt message is sent to Mrs. Fraser, will you do me the favour of letting me have two or three minutes’ conversation with my husband alone?
MRS.
CLOYS.
I—I am anxious to go to my niece.
OLIVE.
Two minutes.
Please, John.
[JOHN _goes to the dining-room door and opens it.
After a moment’s hesitation_, MRS. CLOYS _goes to the door_.
MRS.
CLOYS.
[_Turning.
_] I beg that I may not be detained longer.
[_She passes out;_ JOHN _follows her, leaving the door open_.
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
[_Standing over_ CLAUDE, _shaking him_.
] Wake up, sir!
wake up!
CLAUDE.
[_Waking.
_] What is it?
eh?
[_Rising.
_] Hullo, Uncle!
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
You’ve been sleeping, sir; your manners are appalling.
CLAUDE.
[_Stupidly.
_] Where’s aunt?
SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD.
[_Leading him towards the door.
_] In the next room.
Come, sir!
You are deficient in tact, delicacy—— [JOHN _re-enters.
_ SIR FLETCHER _passes him and goes out_.
CLAUDE.
[_As he passes_ JOHN.
] The dining-room?
JOHN.
[_To_ CLAUDE.
] I shan’t keep you more than a minute or two.
CLAUDE.
[_In the doorway, turning to_ JOHN.
] Allingham, of course you and I can never again be the same to each other as we have been in the past; but may I take the liberty of foraging for a piece of cake?
JOHN.
[_Laying a hand on his shoulder.
_] Certainly.
[CLAUDE _goes out_; JOHN _closes the door and turns to_ OLIVE.
OLIVE.
[_Facing him.
_] Well?
JOHN.
[_Advancing to her.
_] Well?
OLIVE.
Oh, could anything be clearer?
It’s easy enough now to see through the twaddle these people have been talking!
Mrs. Fraser runs away from her husband, who believes her guilty; her relatives go in pursuit; they look for her and find her—where?
JOHN.
Her relations chance to be here when Mrs. Fraser sends for me—— OLIVE.
[_Mockingly.
_] Yes!
JOHN.
[_Referring to the letter.
_] Desiring to see me “for a few moments, upon a matter of business.
” That is all that can be made of it.
OLIVE.
A matter of business!
JOHN.
This letter is not quite ingenuous, you infer.
OLIVE.
You’ve caught the tone of the lawyers exactly.
JOHN.
[_Hotly.
_] “A matter of business” is a lie, you mean?
OLIVE.
Her arrival to-night is a remarkable coincidence.
JOHN.
A perfectly natural one.
OLIVE.
Why are you so eager, then, to avoid granting her the interview she asks for?
JOHN.
Eager——!
OLIVE.
You send word to her that it’s impossible.
JOHN.
Don’t you make it impossible?
OLIVE.
No, I do not; I do not.
I want you to meet her to-night; you’ve heard me say I wish it.
JOHN.
You mean that?
OLIVE.
If ever I meant anything in my life.
JOHN.
[_Referring to the letter.
_] “I shall plant myself at some quiet spot near your cottage——” OLIVE.
Ah, no!
never mind the quiet spot near the cottage.
Why can’t you have your business interview here?
JOHN.
Here?
OLIVE.
[_In a low voice, her head drooping.
_] Where we are now, while I—[_glancing towards the library_]—while I take my place in there?
[_There is a pause; he stands looking at her for a moment silently.
_ JOHN.
And this is how you propose to carry out your undertaking to make amends to Mrs. Fraser?
[_He turns away from her.
_ OLIVE.
Everything is altered since—since—— JOHN.
Since we were reconciled!
reconciled!
OLIVE.
Since I promised to aid Mrs. Fraser.
The arrival of these people—that letter—has undone everything.
[_Throwing herself upon the settee despairingly.
_] Oh, they knew well enough where their bird would fly to!
[_Burying her face in the pillows.
_] Oh, John, you’ll kill me!
JOHN.
Ha!
and so you would like to try Mrs. Fraser twice in one day!
And there would be no mistake this time, no doubt whatever!
Innocent or Guilty—guilty for choice!
OLIVE.
No, no, innocent.
But I want to be satisfied.
Only satisfy me?
JOHN.
Satisfy you!
My heavens!
OLIVE.
Satisfy me!
satisfy me!
JOHN.
And what a model judge of this lady you would make, of any woman you are jealous of!
How scrupulously fair!
how impartial!
how—— OLIVE.
I would be just, John; I would be!
JOHN.
[_Savagely taking a cigarette from the box on the table and sticking it between his teeth.
_] Women of your temperament detect a leer in the smile of a wax doll.
OLIVE.
I give you my word that I will make every allowance for you both, if you will let me hear you together.
You _are_ old friends—“chums” was her expression for it in the witness-box to-day—and you are Jack and Theo to each other, naturally; I am prepared for all that kind of thing.
She can kiss you good-bye when she parts from you—[_beating her brow_]—I can comprehend even _that_.
Only—only let me be satisfied by her general tone and bearing, by that unmistakable ring in the voice, that she has never been the arrant little profligate I once thought her.
[JOHN _now sitting staring at the carpet and chewing the end of his cigarette_.
JOHN.
Supposing I—consented, and you were—satisfied——?
OLIVE.
[_Rising and speaking earnestly and rapidly.
_] We are in June; I would have her to stay with me.
My friends, her own friends, should see that we were close companions.
She should go everywhere with me; my arm should always be through hers.
I would get a crowd together; she should receive my guests with me.
Oh, by Goodwood week her reputation should be as sound as any woman’s in England!
Come!
think of the dreadful days and nights she’s given me, whether she’s good or bad!
Come!
wouldn’t that be generous?
JOHN.
[_In a low voice.
_] Look here!
you would swear to me you’d never use against her anything that might arise during our meeting—I mean anything that your cursed jealousy could twist into harm?
OLIVE.
Solemnly.
If she proclaimed herself openly in this room to be your—[_with a stamp of the foot he rises_]—she should go scot-free, for me.
If she behaved as an innocent woman, she might walk over me in the future, trample on me; I’d be a slave to her.
Only satisfy me!
[_He goes to the writing-table, and rapidly scribbles a note.
She watches him with eager eyes.
When he has finished writing, he takes an envelope, rises, comes to_ OLIVE, _and holds the note up before her_.
JOHN.
“Come to the cottage.
—J.
A.
” [_She inclines her head.
He touches the bell-press.
Then he encloses the note in the envelope, which he fastens, and hands to_ OLIVE.
OLIVE.
Why?
JOHN.
Take it.
[_She takes it wonderingly.
_] I have met your demands so far.
Now, if you wish to do a womanly thing, you’ll throw that on the fire.
[QUAIFE _enters_; OLIVE _stands staring before her.
Speaking in measured tones, keeping his eyes on_ OLIVE.
] Quaife, the note which Mrs. Allingham will give you is for the messenger.
QUAIFE.
Yes, sir.
JOHN.
If a lady arrives, ask her to sit down in the card-room; let me know when she comes.
I am alone, should the lady make any inquiries.
QUAIFE.
