Night Must Fall : a Play in Three Acts - LightNovelsOnl.com
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_A pause. He crosses towards the fireplace._
HUBERT: Is it another man?
OLIVIA (_startled_): Don't be silly. (_Collecting herself_) What man could I possibly meet, cooped up here?
HUBERT: Sorry. Can't be helped. Sorry.
DAN (_in the garden_): There we are.--Nice outing, eh--
OLIVIA: So am I.
_The front door opens and_ DAN _wheels in_ MRS. BRAMSON.
_He is as serene as ever, but more animated than before. He is dressed the same as in the previous scene, and is smoking his usual cigarette._ HUBERT _sits at the table._
DAN (_hanging up her rug in the hall_): Back home again.--I put your gloves away----
MRS. BRAMSON (_as he wheels her in_): I feel dead. (_To_ HUBERT) Oh, it's you.... I feel dead.
DAN (_sitting beside her on the sofa, full of high spirits_): Don't you be a silly old 'oman, you look as pretty as a picture-- strawberries and cream in your face, and not a day over forty; and when I've made you a nice cup of tea you'll be twenty-five in the sun and eighteen with your back to the light, so you think yourself lucky!
MRS. BRAMSON (_as he digs her in the side_): Oh, Danny, you are a terror! (_To the others_) He's been at me like this all the way. I must say it keeps me alive.
DAN (_as she hands him her hat and cape_): But you feel dead. I get you.
MRS. BRAMSON (_kittenish_): Oh, you caution! You'll be the death of me!
DAN (_wagging his finger at her_): Ah-ha! (_Hanging up her things in the hall_) Now what'd you like a drop of in your tea--gin, whisky, liqueur, brandy, or a nice dollop of sailor's rum, eh?
MRS. BRAMSON: Just listen to him! Now don't make me laugh, dear, because there's always my heart.
DAN (_sitting beside her again_): You've lost your heart, you know you have, to the little feller that pushes your pram--you know you have!
MRS. BRAMSON (_laughing shrilly_): Pram! Well! (_Her laugh cut short_) It's wicked to laugh, with this--this thing all round us.
DAN (_sobering portentously_): I forgot. (_As she s.h.i.+vers_) Not in a draught, are you? (_Shutting the front door and coming down to_ HUBERT) D'you remember, Mr. Laurie, me pulling your leg about you havin' done it? Funniest thing out!... Talk about laugh!
MRS. BRAMSON (_fondly_): Tttt!...
DAN (_a glint of mischief in his eyes_): I think I better get the tea before I get into hot water.
_He goes towards the kitchen._
OLIVIA: Mrs. Terence is getting the tea.
DAN (_at the door_): She don't make tea like me. I'm an old sailor, Miss Grayne. Don't you forget that.
_He goes into the kitchen._
OLIVIA: I'm not interested, I'm afraid.
MRS. BRAMSON (_wheeling herself to the front of the table_): Look here, Olivia, you're downright rude to that boy, and if there's one thing that never gets a woman anywhere, it's rudeness. What have you got against him?
HUBERT: Surely he's got more to say for himself to-day than when I met him before?
MRS. BRAMSON: Oh, he's been in rare spirits all day.
HUBERT: Johnny Walker, judging by the whiff of breath I got just now.
MRS. BRAMSON: Meaning whisky?
HUBERT: Yes.
OLIVIA: I've never heard you make a joke before, Hubert.
HUBERT: Didn't realise it was one till I'd said it. Sorry.
MRS. BRAMSON: It's not a joke; it's a libel.
_A knock at the front door._
Come in.
NURSE LIBBY _enters from the front door._
The boy's a teetotaller.
HUBERT: Sorry; my mistake.
NURSE: Good afternoon. Shall I wait for you in your bedroom?
MRS. BRAMSON: Yes. I feel absolutely dead.
NURSE (_turning at the bedroom, eagerly_): Anything new _re_ the murder?
HUBERT: I believe her head was cut off at one stroke.
NURSE (_brightly_): Oh, poor thing....
_She goes into the bedroom_. DAN _returns from the kitchen, carrying a tray of tea and cakes._
DAN: There you are, fresh as a daisy.--Three lumps, as per usual, and some of the cakes you like----
MRS. BRAMSON (_as he pours out her tea_): Thank you, dear.... Let me smell your breath. (_After smelling it_) Clean as a whistle.
Smells of peppermints.
OLIVIA: Yes. There were some in the kitchen.
HUBERT: Oh.