Five Little Plays | Page 6

[_She shrinks back, in alarm, towards the fire._] Your name! Wait a bit,
I'll tell you! [_He takes a step towards her--she crouches in terror
against the wall._] You shall hear what your name is! Just now I'm
dealing with _him._ [He swings round to WALTER.] You there, you
skunk and thief! You, you lying hound! I was your best friend. So
you've taken my wife, have you? And now mean to go off and marry
this girl. That's it? Oh, it's so simple! Here--come here--sit down. Sit
down, I tell you. Here, in this chair. Shall I have to drag you to it? I
want to keep my hands off you. Here. [WALTER _has moved slowly
towards him._ HECTOR _has banged down a chair behind the centre

table,_ WALTER _sits in it_--HECTOR speaks over his shoulder to
BETTY.] And you--fetch pen and ink and paper--
BETTY. [_In abject panic._] Hector--
HECTOR. [_Turning fiercely and scowling at her._] If you speak to me
I'll brain you too. Just you go in there and fetch the things. D'you hear?
Go. [_She moves into the other room._ HECTOR swings round to
WALTER.] As for you, you're a scoundrel. A rogue, a thief, a liar, a
traitor. Of the very worst kind, the blackest. Not an ordinary case of a
husband and wife--I trusted you--you were my best friend. You spawn,
you thing of the gutter, you foul-hearted, damnable slug!
[BETTY _comes back, dragging her feet, carrying paper and envelopes
and a stylograph--she puts them on the table._
HECTOR. Not that stylograph--that's mine--his dirty hands shan't touch
it--I could never use it again. Fetch your pen--yours--you belong to him,
don't you? Go in and fetch it. D'you hear?
[BETTY _goes into the inner room again._
HECTOR. My wife. And you the man I've done more for than for any
one else in the world. The man I cared for, you low dog. Used my
house--came here because it was dull at the Club--and took my wife? I
don't know why I don't kill you. I've the right. But I won't. You shall
pay for it, my fine fellow--you are going to pay--now.
[BETTY _brings a pen and an inkstand; she places them on the table;_
HECTOR seizes them and pushes them in front of WALTER. BETTY
_slinks to the other side of the room, and stands by the sofa._
HECTOR. [To WALTER.] Now you write. You hear? You write what
I dictate. Word for word. What's the old brute's name?
WALTER. Whose?
HECTOR. Whose! Her father, the sealing-wax man, old Gillingham?
WALTER. [_Staring._] Gillingham?
HECTOR. Gillingham. Yes. What is it?
WALTER. You want me to write to him?
HECTOR. [_Nodding._] To him. Who else? A confession? I've had
that. His name?
WALTER. [_Dropping the pen and half rising._] I won't--
HECTOR. [_Springing upon him in a mad fury, and forcing him back
into the chair._] You won't, you dog! You dare say that--to me! By
Heaven, you will! You'll lick the dust off this floor, if I tell you! You'll

go on your hands and knees, and crawl! Sit down, you! Sit down and
take up your filthy pen. So. [_Thoroughly cowed,_ WALTER _has
taken up the pen again._] And now--his name. Don't make me ask you
again, I tell you, don't. What is it?
WALTER. Richard.
HECTOR. Very well, Richard. So write that down. To Richard
Gillingham. I have to-day proposed to your daughter, and she has
accepted me. Got that? She has accepted me. But I can't marry
her--can't marry her--because I have seduced the wife of my friend
Hector Allen--
WALTER. [_Appealingly, dropping his pen._] Hector!
HECTOR. [Frantically gripping WALTER _by the throat, till he takes
up his pen again._] The wife of my friend Hector Allen--write it--and
plainly, you hound, plainly--so--and because I am taking the woman
away with me to-night.
BETTY. [_With a loud cry._] Hector!
HECTOR. [_Over his shoulder, watching_ WALTER _write._] Silence,
over there, you! Hold your tongue! Go into your room and put on your
things--we've done with you here! Take what you want--I don't
care--you don't show your face here again. And you--[he taps his
clenched hand against WALTER'S _arm_] write. What are you
stopping for? How far have you got? [He peers over WALTER'S
_shoulder._] Because--I--am--taking--
the--woman--away--with--me--to-night.
BETTY. [_Beside herself, wringing her hands._] Hector, Hector--
HECTOR. [_Savagely, as he makes a half-turn towards her._] You still
there? Wait a bit. I'll come to you, when I've finished with him. If you
haven't gone and put on your things, you shall go off without them. Into
the street. You'll find other women there like you. [He turns back to
WALTER.] Here, you, have you written? [He looks over WALTER'S
_shoulder._] Go on--I'm getting impatient. Go on, I tell you.
I--am--taking--the--
[WALTER _is slowly writing down the