The Admirable Bashville Part 8

_Enter_ CASHEL

CASHEL. Sanctuary!

The law is on my track. What! Lydia here!

LYDIA. Ay: Lydia here. Hast thou done murder, then, That in so horrible a guise thou comest?

CASHEL. Murder! I would I had. Yon cannibal Hath forty thousand lives; and I have ta'en But thousands thirty-nine. I tell thee, Lydia, On the impenetrable sarcolobe That holds his seedling brain these fists have pounded By Shrewsb'ry clock an hour. This bruised gra.s.s And caked mud adhering to my form I have acquired in rolling on the sod Clinched in his grip. This scanty reefer coat For decency s.n.a.t.c.hed up as fast I fled When the police arrived, belongs to Mellish.

'Tis all too short; hence my display of rib And forearm mother-naked. Be not wroth Because I seem to wink at you: by Heaven, 'Twas Paradise that plugged me in the eye Which I perforce keep closing. Pity me, My training wasted and my blows unpaid, Sans stakes, sans victory, sans everything I had hoped to win. Oh, I could sit me down And weep for bitterness.

LYDIA. Thou wretch, begone.

CASHEL. Begone!

LYDIA. I say begone. Oh, tiger's heart Wrapped in a young man's hide, canst thou not live In love with Nature and at peace with Man?

Must thou, although thy hands were never made To blacken others' eyes, still batter at The image of Divinity? I loathe thee.

Hence from my house and never see me more.

CASHEL. I go. The meanest lad on thy estate Would not betray me thus. But 'tis no matter. [_He opens the door._ Ha! the police. I'm lost. [_He shuts the door again._ Now shalt thou see My last fight fought. Exhausted as I am, To capture me will cost the coppers dear.

Come one, come all!

LYDIA. Oh, hide thee, I implore: I cannot see thee hunted down like this.

There is my room. Conceal thyself therein.

Quick, I command. [_He goes into the room._ With horror I foresee, Lydia, that never lied, must lie for thee.

_Enter_ POLICEMAN, _with_ PARADISE _and_ MELLISH _in custody_, BASHVILLE, _constable_s, _and others_

POLICEMAN. Keep back your bruised prisoner lest he shock This wellbred lady's nerves. Your pardon, ma'am; But have you seen by chance the other one?

In this direction he was seen to run.

LYDIA. A man came here anon with b.l.o.o.d.y hands And aspect that did turn my soul to snow.

POLICEMAN. 'Twas he. What said he?

LYDIA. Begged for sanctuary.

I bade the man begone.

POLICEMAN. Most properly.

Saw you which way he went?

LYDIA. I cannot tell.

PARADISE. He seen me coming; and he done a bunk.

POLICEMAN. Peace, there. Excuse his damaged features, lady: He's Paradise; and this one's Byron's trainer, Mellish.

MELLISH. Injurious copper, in thy teeth I hurl the lie. I am no trainer, I.

My father, a respected missionary, Apprenticed me at fourteen years of age T' the poetry writing. To these woods I came With Nature to commune. My revery Was by a sound of blows rudely dispelled.

Mindful of what my sainted parent taught, I rushed to play the peacemaker, when lo!

These minions of the law laid hands on me.

BASHVILLE. A lovely woman, with distracted cries, In most resplendent fas.h.i.+onable frock, Approaches like a wounded antelope.

_Enter_ ADELAIDE GISBORNE

ADELAIDE. Where is my Cashel? Hath he been arrested?

POLICEMAN. I would I had thy Cashel by the collar: He hath escaped me.

ADELAIDE. Praises be for ever!

LYDIA. Why dost thou call the missing man _thy_ Cashel?

ADELAIDE. He is mine only son.

ALL. Thy son!

ADELAIDE. My son.

LYDIA. I thought his mother hardly would have known him, So crushed his countenance.

ADELAIDE. A ribald peer, Lord Worthington by name, this morning came With honeyed words beseeching me to mount His four-in-hand, and to the country hie To see some English sport. Being by nature Frank as a child, I fell into the snare, But took so long to dress that the design Failed of its full effect; for not until The final round we reached the horrid scene.

Be silent all; for now I do approach My tragedy's catastrophe. Know, then, That Heaven did bless me with an only son, A boy devoted to his doting mother----

POLICEMAN. Hark! did you hear an oath from yonder room?

ADELAIDE. Respect a broken-hearted mother's grief, And do not interrupt me in my scene.

Ten years ago my darling disappeared (Ten dreary twelvemonths of continuous tears, Tears that have left me prematurely aged; For I am younger far than I appear).

Judge of my anguish when to-day I saw Stripped to the waist, and fighting like a demon With one who, whatsoe'er his humble virtues, Was clearly not a gentleman, my son!

ALL. O strange event! O pa.s.sing tearful tale!

ADELAIDE. I thank you from the bottom of my heart For the reception you have given my woe; And now I ask, where is my wretched son?

He must at once come home with me, and quit A course of life that cannot be allowed.

_Enter_ CASHEL

CASHEL. Policeman: I do yield me to the law.

LYDIA. Oh, no.

ADELAIDE. My son!

CASHEL. My mother! Do not kiss me.

My visage is too sore.

POLICEMAN. The lady hid him.

This is a regular plant. You cannot be Up to that s.e.x. [_To_ CASHEL] You come along with me.