Five Little Plays — The Bracelet
A PLAY IN ONE ACT
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
HARVEY WESTERN
HIS HONOUR JUDGE BANKET
MARTIN
WILLIAM
MRS.
WESTERN
MRS.
BANKET
MISS FARREN
SMITHERS
TIME--_The present_ _Produced at the Liverpool Repertory Theatre on Feb.
26, 1912_ THE BRACELET
_The dining-room in an upper middle-class house near the Park.
It is furnished in the conventional modern style, soberly and without imagination.
The room is on the ground floor, facing the street, the door is to the right, and leads into the hall.
To the left of this door is a sideboard, glittering with silver.
Three tall windows, at the back heavily curtained; between them hang two or three family portraits.
The table, on which there is the usual debris of a meal that is over--coffee-cups, liqueur-glasses, etc. --has been laid for four persons, and their four chairs are still around it.
The fireplace, with its rather crude and ambitious mantelpiece, is in the centre of the left wall; and uncomfortable-looking heavy armchairs are on each side of it.
On the mantelpiece are a marble clock and a few bits of china.
In the angle formed at the left side is a small Queen Anne writing-table, open.
To the right of the room is a large sofa.
The floor is heavily carpeted, and there are many rugs scattered about.
_ _When the curtain rises, the room is in darkness.
_ WILLIAM, _the footman, enters hurriedly and switches on the electric light.
He rushes to the table, looks eagerly around, shifting cups and glasses, napkins, etc. , then goes on his hands and knees and searches on the carpet.
After a moment,_ SMITHERS, _the lady's-maid, follows him.
_ SMITHERS.
[_Eagerly.
_] Can't you find it?
WILLIAM.
[_Sulkily.
_] No. Not yet.
Give me time.
SMITHERS.
[_Feeling along the table-cloth.
_] Under one of those rugs, perhaps.
WILLIAM.
Well, I'm looking.
[_Motor-horn sounds sharply, off.
_] All right, all right!
SMITHERS.
[_With a jerk of the head.
_] Missis is telling him to do it.
WILLIAM.
[_On all fours, crawling about.
_] Very like her voice, too, when she's angry.
Drat the thing!
Where can it be?
[_He peers into the coal-scuttle.
_ SMITHERS.
No good looking in there, stupid.
WILLIAM.
They always say it's the unlikeliest places-- [MARTIN, _the butler, comes in.
_ MARTIN.
Come, come, haven't you found it?
WILLIAM.
No, Mr. Martin.
It ain't here.
MARTIN.
[_Bustling about.
_] Must be, must be.
She says-- WILLIAM.
I can't help what she says.
It ain't. MARTIN.
[_Looking under the sofa.
_] Just you hustle, young man, and don't give me any back-answers.
[_Having completed his examination of the sofa, he moves to the sideboard, and fusses round that.
_ SMITHERS.
[_Methodically shaking out each napkin.
_] I tell you she's cross.
MARTIN.
[_Hard at work, searching.
_] Doesn't mind disturbing _us,_ in the midst of our supper!
WILLIAM.
[_Who, all the time, has been on all fours searching.
_] We're dirt, that's what we are--dirt.
MARTIN.
[_Reprovingly.
_] William, I've told you before-- WILLIAM.
Very sorry, Mr. Martin, but this is the first time I've accepted an engagement at a stockbroker's. [_He has been crawling round the curtains at the back, shaking them; pulling hard at one of them he dislodges the lower part.
_] Lor!
_Now_ I've done it!
SMITHERS.
Clumsy!
MARTIN.
[_Severely.
_] That comes of too much talk Never mind the curtain--go on looking.
[WILLIAM _drops on to his hands and knees again;_ HARVEY WESTERN _comes into the room, perturbed and restless.
He is a well-preserved man of fifty.
_ HARVEY.
I say--not found it?
MARTIN.
Not yet, sir.
HARVEY.
Nuisance.
_Must_ be here, you know.
MARTIN.
Is it a very valuable one, sir?
HARVEY.
[_Who has gone to the table, and is turning things over.
_] No, no, not particularly--but that's not the point.
[_He looks under the table.
_ MARTIN.
[_Still seeking.
_] When did madam find that she'd lost it, sir?
HARVEY.
Oh, about five minutes after we'd started And we've turned over everything in the car.
It's certainly not there.
[_He fusses around the table.
_ MARTIN.
Is madam quite sure she was wearing it, sir?
SMITHERS.
[_Fretfully.
_] Yes, yes, of course she was wearing it.
I put it on her myself.
MARTIN.
Where did madam put her cloak on, sir?
SMITHERS.
In here.
I brought it in.
MARTIN.
You didn't notice whether-- SMITHERS.
No. Don't you think if we moved _all_ the rugs-- [_She moves across the room and joins_ WILLIAM, _who is still grovelling on the floor, and goes on her knees by his side.
_ HARVEY.
It must be here _somewhere.
_ [_They are all searching furiously_--WILLIAM _by the windows, peering into the spaces between the wall and the carpets,_ MARTIN _at the sideboard,_ SMITHERS _gathering the rugs together, all on their hands and knees, while_ HARVEY, _bent double, is looking under the table.
_ MRS.
WESTERN _comes in stonily, followed by the_ JUDGE _and_ MRS. BANKET.
MRS.
WESTERN _is a handsome woman of forty-five, with a rather stern, cold face; the_ JUDGE, _a somewhat corpulent, genial man of fifty-five; and his wife, an amiable nullity, seven or eight years younger.
They are all in evening-dress, the ladies in opera-cloaks.
_ MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Pausing on the threshold.
_] Well!
HARVEY.
[_Rising and dusting himself.
_] No trace of it.
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Looking around.
_] A nice mess you've made of the room!
MARTIN.
You told us to look, Madam.
JUDGE.
[_Going to the fire and standing with his back to it.
_] I'm afraid we'll be shockingly late, Alice.
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Firmly.
_] I don't go without my bracelet.
[_She goes to the table, and proceeds to shift the cups and glasses.
_ MRS.
BANKET.
[_Moving to the other side of the table, and doing the same.
_] Quite right, dear--I wouldn't. [_They all search, except the_ JUDGE, _who shrugs his shoulders placidly, then takes a cigarette from his case, and lights it.
The three servants still are grovelling on the floor.
_ MRS.
WESTERN.
I _know_ I had it while I was drinking my coffee-- JUDGE.
My experience is, one should never look for things.
They find themselves.
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Shortly.
_] Nonsense.
JUDGE.
A fact.
Or at least one should _pretend_ to be looking for something else.
My glasses now.
When I lose them I declare loudly I can't find my cigar-case.
That disheartens the glasses--they return at once.
MRS.
BANKET.
[_Reproachfully.
_] Don't be so irritating, Tom!
JUDGE.
That's all very well, but how about me?
I was asked here to dine.
I've dined--I'm not complaining about the dinner.
But now the curtain's up--and here am I watching half-a-dozen people looking very hard for a thing that isn't there.
MRS.
BANKET.
Tom, Tom, it's those laughs you get in Court that make you so fond of talking.
Don't you see how you're vexing your sister?
MRS.
WESTERN.
Oh, I'm used to Tom.
Harvey, I think you might be looking.
HARVEY.
My dear, I've been turning round and round in this corner like a bird in a cage.
MARTIN.
[_Who all this time, like the other servants, has been crawling around the different articles of furniture in the room, suddenly rises to his feet and addresses his mistress firmly but respectfully.
_] It's not here, madam.
[_The other servants also rise; and stand, each in their corner.
_ JUDGE.
That, I imagine, is perfectly clear; and I congratulate the witness on the manner in which he has given his evidence.
[_He throws his cigarette into the fire and steps forward.
_] Now, my dear Alice-- MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Sitting doggedly in the chair in front of the table and proceeding to pull off her gloves.
_ I don't go without my bracelet.
JUDGE.
Heaven forbid that I should speak slightingly of a gift of Harvey's--but really it isn't of such priceless value.
MRS.
WESTERN.
That has nothing to do with it.
MRS.
BANKET.
Of course not.
Oh, these men!
HARVEY.
[_Stepping forward.
_] Tom's right.
Let's go.
Look here, I'll get you another.
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Drily.
_] Thanks--I want _that_ one.
--Smithers, and you, William, just look again in the hall.
SMITHERS.
Yes, m'm. MRS.
WESTERN.
And then help the chauffeur--turn out _everything_ in the car.
SMITHERS.
Yes, m'm. MRS.
WESTERN.
Bring the rugs into the house, and shake them.
SMITHERS.
Yes, m'm. [_She and_ WILLIAM _go.
_ JUDGE.
[_Going hack to the fire.
_] Sumptuary laws--that's what we want.
If women didn't wear bracelets, they couldn't lose them.
MRS.
WESTERN.
Martin, William is honest, isn't he?
HARVEY.
[_Protesting.
_] Oh, hang it, Alice!
MARTIN.
Quite, madam--excellent character--a little flighty, but a most respectable young man.
MRS.
WESTERN.
I've seen him reading a sporting paper.
JUDGE.
A weakness, my dear Alice, common to the best of us, I do it myself sometimes, but I'm willing to be searched.
MRS.
BANKET.
O Tom, _do_ be quiet!
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_To the_ JUDGE.
] You're very unsympathetic.
[_Turning to_ MARTIN _again.
_] None of the other servants came in after we left?
MARTIN.
No, madam.
MRS.
WESTERN.
You're sure?
MARTIN.
Quite sure, madam.
They were all downstairs, having their supper.
MRS.
WESTERN.
Most mysterious!
Incomprehensible!
JUDGE.
[_Looking at his watch.
_] Past nine!
We shall plunge into the play--like body-snatchers, looking for the corpse of the plot--and we shall never know what it was that the heroine did.
MRS.
WESTERN.
[_Ignoring him, to_ MARTIN.
] Smithers I'll answer for.
MARTIN.
Oh yes, madam.
If I _might_ make a suggestion-- MRS.
WESTERN.
Well?
MARTIN.
It couldn't have fallen anywhere into your dress, madam?
MRS.
WESTERN.
Nonsense, how could it?
[_She gets up and shakes herself.
_] Absurd.
[_She sits again.
_ MARTIN.
Into your cloak?
MRS.
WESTERN.
Silk!
No. That'll do, Martin.
You might help the others outside.
