The Squire - LightNovelsOnl.com
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{Dormer.} I hope--no! Answer me one question honestly--do you love this young soldier whom I saw here to-day?
{Kate.} Suppose I say--"no."
{Dormer.} Then I _leave you_ without another word.
{Kate.} If I say--"yes?"
{Dormer.} Then I deliver to you a message.
{Kate.} A message! From whom?
{Dormer.} From the one who has returned to life.
Yes or No?
{Kate.} Heaven help me--I love Eric!
"There's a jingle,"
_(In the distance there is the faint sound of Fel's song, supposed to proceed from the room above through the open window. Dor. crosses at back and listens.)_
"Sun is s.h.i.+ning,"
{Dormer.} What is that? _(crosses behind table to c.)_
{Kate.} _(calmly)_ The child singing. She is happy.
Go on--I want the message. _(Dormer takes some papers from pocket-book)_
--"Hear the jingle,"
{Dormer.} It is here--in writing, _(at bureau)_
{Kate.} Addressed--to whom?
"--while you may."
{Dormer.} To the woman who loves Eric Thornd.y.k.e.
{Kate.} I am she--who sends it?
"--above her."
{Dormer.} The stranger at the White Lion.
{Kate.} _(after a pause)_ Who is the stranger at the White Lion?
"--lover."
{Dormer.} _(L. of table)_ Eric Thornd.y.k.e's wife.
_(Kate rises slowly, supporting herself upon the table; she and Dor. stand face to face. The song above ceases.)_
{Kate.} Eric--Thornd.y.k.e's--wife. Yes? _(falls back into chair)_
{Dormer.} Shall I read the message?
{Kate.} If you please.
_(Dormer goes up to the bureau, puts on his spectacles and by the light of the lamp arranges his papers.)_
{Dormer.} It is written in French. I have translated it faithfully, _(he places a paper before Kate)_ That is the original.
_(She takes it mechanically, looks at it, then lets it fall upon the floor. At the same moment the shadow of a man is seen at the window L., and the curtains move slightly.)_
Shall I read the translation to you? _(opens paper with one hand; pushes it off table)_
{Kate.} If you please, _(goes toward lamps)_
_(The movement of the curtain stops. Dor. reads slowly.)_
{Dormer.} _(reading)_ "I was a singer in Brussels, with a sweet voice. They called me La Sirene."
{Kate.} _(in a low tone)_ Stop--the Siren. Yes.
{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I am a Protestant, born at Chaudefontaine, five miles from Liege. My father was an Englishman, my mother a Belgian woman.
They died when I was a child."
{Kate.} An orphan, like me. _(touches lamp again)_
{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "Three years ago a student, Eric Thornd.y.k.e--
_(Eric appears at L. C., holding back curtain.)_
married me secretly but legally at the Protestant church in the Rue de Sta.s.sart in Brussels." Are you listening?
{Kate.} Yes.
{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I married for money and station. I won neither. I found myself wedded to a man who was dependent on a wretched allowance, and who dared not disclose his marriage. We were never happy, and I grew to hate him. One terrible night he discovered me in a gaming house pledging his name to pay my losses. I feared him for the first time in my life, and I fled."
{Kate.} Is this--a woman?
{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "The fatigue of my journey threw me into a fever. For many a day I lay at death's door, and throughout the country where the Siren's was a familiar voice I was thought dead."
{Kate.} Dead. I see.
{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "When I recovered, my sweet voice and pretty face had gone from me forever.
I had nothing but a mad loathing for the man whom I had never loved, and I formed a plan to ruin him."
{Kate.} Oh!
