Three Plays by Granville-Barker - LightNovelsOnl.com
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DIMMUCK. The chaise, my lord.
CARNABY. I will conduct you.
LORD ARTHUR. Please don't risk exposure.
CARNABY. Nay, I insist.
LORD ARTHUR. Health and happiness to you both, Mr. Abud.
LORD ARTHUR _goes out, followed by_ CARNABY, _followed by_ DIMMUCK. _At that moment_ MR. SMALLPEICE _skips excitedly out of the dining-room. A ferret-like little lawyer_.
MR. SMALLPEICE. Oh . . where is Mr. Leete?
_Not seeing him_ MR. SMALLPEICE _skips as excitedly back into the dining-room_. DIMMUCK _returns and hangs up his cloak then goes towards_ ABUD, _whom he surveys_.
DIMMUCK. Sir!
_With which insult he starts for the dining-room reaching the door just in time to hold it open for_ SIR GEORGE LEETE _who comes out. He surveys_ ABUD _for a moment, then explodes_.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. d.a.m.n you . . stand in the presence of your grandfather-in-law.
ABUD _stands up_. CARNABY _returns coughing, and_ SIR GEORGE _looks him up and down_.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. I shall attend your funeral.
CARNABY. My daughter Sarah still needs me.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. I wonder at you, my son.
CARNABY. Have you any money to spare?
SIR GEORGE LEETE. No.
CARNABY. For Sarah, my housekeeper; I foresee a busy session.
ABUD _is now gingerly walking up the stairs_.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. Carnaby . . look at that.
CARNABY. Sound in wind and limb. Tread boldly, son-in-law.
ABUD _turns, stands awkwardly for a moment and then goes into the dining-room_.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. [_Relapsing into a pinch of snuff._] I'm calm.
CARNABY. Regard this marriage with a wise eye . . as an amusing little episode.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. Do you?
CARNABY. And forget its oddity. Now that the humiliation is irrevocable, is it a personal grievance to you?
SIR GEORGE LEETE. Give me a dinner a day for the rest of my life and I'll be content.
CARNABY. Lately, one by one, opinions and desires have been failing me . .
a flicker and then extinction. I shall shortly attain to being a most able critic upon life.
SIR GEORGE LEETE. Shall I tell you again? You came into this world without a conscience. That explains you and it's all that does. That such a d.a.m.nable coupling as this should be permitted by G.o.d Almighty . .
or that the law shouldn't interfere! I've said my say.
MR. SMALLPEICE _again comes out of the dining-room_.
MR. SMALLPEICE. Mr. Leete.
CARNABY. [_Ironically polite._] Mr. Smallpeice.
MR. SMALLPEICE. Mr. Crowe is proposing your health.
MR. CROWE _comes out_. _A crop-headed beefy-looking farmer of sixty._
MR. CROWE. Was.
CARNABY. There's a good enemy!
MR. CROWE. Get out of my road . . lawyer Smallpeice.
CARNABY. Leave enough of him living to attend to my business.
MR. SMALLPEICE. [_wriggling a bow at_ CARNABY.] Oh . . dear sir!
SIR GEORGE LEETE. [_Disgustedly to_ MR. SMALLPEICE.] You!
MR. SMALLPEICE. Employed in a small matter . . as yet.
CARNABY. [_To_ CROWE.] I hope you spoke your mind of me.
MR. CROWE. Not behind your back, sir.
MRS. GEORGE LEETE _leads_ LADY LEETE _from the dining-room_. LADY LEETE _is a very old, blind and decrepit woman_. DOLLY _is a buxom young mother; whose attire borders on the gaudy_.
CARNABY. [_With some tenderness._] Well . . Mother . . dear?
MR. CROWE. [_b.u.mptiously to_ SIR GEORGE LEETE.] Did my speech offend you, my lord?
SIR GEORGE LEETE. [_Sulkily._] I'm a baronet.
LADY LEETE. Who's this here?
CARNABY. Carnaby.
