Plays of William E. Henley and R.L. Stevenson Part 18

LAWSON. As G.o.d sees ye, laddie, are ye speaking truth?

LESLIE. Well . . . of course!

LAWSON. The haill truth?

LESLIE. All of it. Why not?

LAWSON. Man, I'd a kind o' gliff.

LESLIE. Why, what were you afraid of? Had you a suspicion?

LAWSON. Me? Me a suspicion? Ye're daft, sir; and me the Crown offeecial! . . . Eh man, I'm a' shakin' . . . And sae ye thocht ye kennt him?

LESLIE. I did that. And what's more, I've sat every night in case of his return. I promise you, Procurator, he shall not slip me twice.

Meanwhile I'm worried and put out. You understand how such a fancy will upset a man. I'm uneasy with my friends and on bad terms with my own conscience. I keep watching, spying, comparing, putting two and two together, hunting for resemblances until my head goes round. It's like a puzzle in a dream. Only yesterday I thought I had him. And who d'you think it was?

LAWSON. Wha? Wha was't? Speak, Mr. Leslie, speak. I'm an auld man; dinna forget that.

LESLIE. I name no names. It would be unjust to him; and, upon my word, it was so silly it would be unfair to me. However, here I sit, night after night. I mean him to come back; come back he shall; and I'll tell you who he was next morning.

LAWSON. Let sleeping dogs lie, Mr. Leslie; ye dinna ken what ye micht see. And then, leave him alane, he'll come nae mair. And sitting up a'

nicht . . . it's a _factum imprestabile_, as we say: a thing impossible to man. Gang ye to your bed, like a guid laddie, and sleep lang and soundly, and bonnie, bonnie dreams to ye! (_Without_.) Let sleeping dogs lie, and gang ye to your bed.

SCENE III

LESLIE

LESLIE (_calling_). In good time, never fear! (_He carefully bolts and chains the door_.) The old gentleman seems upset. What for, I wonder?

Has he had a masked visitor? Why not? It's the fas.h.i.+on. Out with the lights. (_Blows out the candles_. _The stage is only lighted by the moon through the window_.) He is sure to come one night or other. He must come. Right or wrong, I feel it in the air. Man, but I know you, I know you somewhere. That trick of the shoulders, the hang of the clothes-whose are they? Where have I seen them? And then, that single look of the eye, that one glance about the room as the window opened . . .

it is almost friendly; I have caught it over the gla.s.s's rim! If it should be . . . his? No, his it is not.

WATCHMAN (_without_). Past ten o'clock, and a fine moonlight night.

ANOTHER (_further away_). Past ten o'clock, and all's well.

LESLIE. Past ten? Ah, there's a long night before you and me, watchmen.

Heavens, what a trade! But it will be something to laugh over with Mary and . . . with him? d.a.m.n it, the delusion is too strong for me. It's a thing to be ashamed of. 'We Brodies': how she says it! 'We Brodies and our Deacon': what a pride she takes in it, and how good it sounds to me!

'Deacon of his craft, sir, Deacon of the . . .! (BRODIE, _masked_, _appears without at the window_, _which he proceeds to force_.) Ha! I knew he'd come. I was sure of it. (_He crouches near and nearer to the window_, _keeping in the shade_.) And I know you too. I swear I know you.

SCENE IV

BRODIE, LESLIE

BRODIE _enters by the window with a.s.surance and ease_, _closes it silently_, _and proceeds to traverse the room_. _As he moves_, LESLIE _leaps upon and grapples him_.

LESLIE. Take off that mask!

BRODIE. Hands off!

LESLIE. Take off the mask!

BRODIE. Leave go, by G.o.d, leave go!

LESLIE. Take it off!

BRODIE (_overpowered_). Leslie . . .

LESLIE. Ah! you know me! (_Succeeds in tearing off the mask_.) Brodie!

BRODIE (_in the moonlight_). Brodie.

LESLIE. You . . . you, Brodie, you?

BRODIE. Brodie, sir, Brodie as you see.

LESLIE. What does it mean? What does it mean, my G.o.d? Were you here before? Is this the second time? Are you a thief, man? are you a thief?

Speak, speak, or I'll kill you.

BRODIE. I am a thief.

LESLIE. And my friend, my own friend, and . . . Mary, Mary! . . .

Deacon, Deacon, for G.o.d's sake, no!

BRODIE. G.o.d help me!

LESLIE. 'We Brodies! We Brodies!'

BRODIE. Leslie-

LESLIE. Stand off! Don't touch me! You're a thief!

BRODIE. Leslie, Leslie

LESLIE. A thief's sister! Why are you here? why are you here? Tell me!

Why do you not speak? Man, I know you of old. Are you Brodie, and have nothing to say?

BRODIE. To say? Not much-G.o.d help me-and commonplace, commonplace like sin. I was honest once; I made a false step; I couldn't retrace it; and . . . that is all.

LESLIE. You have forgot the bad companions!

BRODIE. I did forget them. They were there.

LESLIE. Commonplace! Commonplace! Do you speak to me, do you reason with me, do you make excuses? You-a man found out, shamed, a liar, a thief-a man that's killed me, killed this heart in my body; and you speak! What am I to do? I hold your life in my hand; have you thought of that? What am I to do?

BRODIE. Do what you please; you have me trapped.