The Man from Home Part 11

PIKE [smiling]. Pshaw!

ETHEL. It was unworthy of me, unworthy of the higher and n.o.bler things that life calls me to live up to [proudly]--that I _shall_ live up to.

The money means nothing to me--I am not thinking of that. It is merely a necessary form.

PIKE. Have you talked with Mr. St. Aubyn about this settlement--this present you want to make him?

ETHEL. Not with him.

PIKE [amused]. I thought not! You'll see--he wouldn't take it if I'd let you give it to him. A fine man like that wants to make his own way, of course. Mighty few men like to have fun poked at 'em about livin' on their wife's money.

ETHEL [despairingly]. Oh, I _can't_ make you understand! A settlement isn't a gift.

PIKE [as if humoring her]. How'd you happen to decide that just a hundred and fifty thousand pounds was what you wanted to give him?

ETHEL. It was Mr. St. Aubyn's father who fixed the amount.

PIKE. His _father_? What's _he_ got to do with it?

ETHEL. He is the Earl of Hawcastle, the head of the ancient house.

PIKE. And he asks you for your property--asks you for it in so many words?

ETHEL. As a _settlement_!

PIKE [aghast]. And your young man _knows_ it?

ETHEL. I tell you I have not discussed it with Mr. St. Aubyn.

PIKE [emphatically]. I reckon not! Well, sir, do you know what's the first thing Mr. St. Aubyn will do when he hears his father's made such a proposition to you? He'll take the old man out in the back lot and give him a thras.h.i.+ng he won't forget to the day of his death!

[The roll of drums is heard, distant, as if sounding below the cliff; bugle sounds at the same time.]

[MARIANO and MICHELE run hurriedly from the hotel and lean over bal.u.s.trade at back, as if watching something below the cliff.]

[RIBIERE enters quickly with them, takes one quick glance in same direction, and hurries off.]

[PIKE and ETHEL, surprised, turn to look.]

MARIANO [calling to ETHEL as he enters]. A bandit of Russia, Mademoiselle! The soldiers think he hide in a grotto under the cliff!

[ALMERIC comes on rapidly from the hotel, carrying a shot-gun.]

ALMERIC [enthusiastically, as he enters]. Oh, I _say_, fair sport, by Jove! Fair sport!

PIKE [to ETHEL, indicating ALMERIC, chuckling]. I saw _him_ on the road here--what's he meant for?

ALMERIC. Think I'll have a chance to pot the beggar, Michele?

[He joins MICHELE at bal.u.s.trade.]

MICHELE. No, Signore, there are two companies of carabiniere.

[PIKE, delighted, chuckles aloud.]

ETHEL [angry, calling]. Almeric!

ALMERIC [turning]. Hallo!

ETHEL [frigidly]. I wish to present my guardian to you. [To PIKE.]

_This_ is Mr. St. Aubyn.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _THIS_ IS MR. ST. AUBYN]

ALMERIC [coming down]. Hallo, though! It's the donkey man, isn't it? How very odd! You'll have to see the Governor and our solicitor about the settlement. I've some important business here. The police are chasing a bally convict chap under the cliffs over yonder, so you'll have to excuse me. I'll have to be toddling.

[Goes up to terrace wall overlooking cliffs.]

You know there's nothing like a little convict shooting to break the blooming monotony--what?

[The bugle sounds. ALMERIC turns and rushes off.]

Wait for me, you fellows! Don't hurt him till _I_ get there!

[His voice dies away in the distance.]

PIKE [turning to ETHEL with slow horror]. _Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for_--How much do they charge over here for a _real_ man?

[She is unable to meet his eye. She turns, with flaming cheeks, and runs into the hotel. He stands staring after her, incredulous, dumfounded, in a frozen att.i.tude.]

END OF THE FIRST ACT

THE SECOND ACT

Scene: Entrance garden of the hotel.

In the distance are seen the green slopes of vineyards, a ruined castle, and olive orchards leading up the mountainside.

An old stone wall seven feet high runs across the rear of the stage.

This wall is almost covered with vines, showing autumn tints, crowning the crest of the wall and hanging from it in profusion. There is a broad green gate of the Southern Italian type, closed. A white-columned pergola runs obliquely down from the wall on the right. The top of the pergola is an awning formed by a skeleton of green-painted wooden strips thickly covered by entwining lemon branches bearing ripening lemons.

Between the columns of the pergola are glimpses of a formal Italian garden: flowers, hedges, and a broad flat marble vase on a slender pedestal, etc. On the left a two-story wing of the hotel meets the wall at the back and runs square across to the left; a lemon grove lies to the left also. The wall of the hotel facing the audience shows open double doors, with windows up-stairs and below, all with lowered awnings. There is a marble bench at the left among shrubberies; an open touring-car upon the right under the awning formed by the overhang of the pergola; a bag of tools, open, on the stage near by, the floor boards of the car removed, the ap.r.o.n lifted.

As the curtain rises, PIKE, in his s.h.i.+rt-sleeves, his hands dirty, and wearing a workman's long blouse b.u.t.toned at neck, is bending over the engine, working and singing, at intervals whistling "The Blue and the Gray." His hat, duster, and cuffs are on the rear seat of the tonneau.

[Enter HORACE from the garden. He is flushed and angry; controls himself with an effort, trying to speak politely.]