If | Page 6

Well, what?
MARY
I don't like it. JOHN
O, Mary, I have so longed to catch that infernal train. Just think of it,
annoyed on and off for ten years by the eight-fifteen.
MARY
I'd rather you didn't, John.
JOHN
But why? MARY
O, John, suppose there's a railway accident? You might be killed, and
we should never meet.
JOHN
There wasn't.
MARY
There wasn't, John? What do you mean?
JOHN
There wasn't an accident to the eight-fifteen. It got safely to London
just ten years ago.
MARY
Why, nor there was.
JOHN
You see how groundless your fears are. I shall catch that train, and all
the rest will happen the same as before. Just think Mary, all those old
days again. I wish I could take you with me. But you soon will be. But
just think of the old days coming back again. Hampton Court again and
Kew, and Richmond Park again with all the May. And that bun you
bought, and the corked ginger-beer, and those birds singing and the 'bus
past Isleworth. O, Mary, you wouldn't grudge me that?
MARY
Well, well then all right, John.
JOHN
And you will remember there wasn't an accident, won't you?
MARY [resignedly, sadly]
O, yes, John. And you won't try to get rich or do anything silly, will
you?

JOHN
No, Mary. I only want to catch that train. I'm content with the rest. The
same things must happen, and they must lead me the same way, to you,
Mary. Good night, now, dear.
MARY
Good night? JOHN
I shall stay here on the sofa holding the crystal and thinking. Then I'll
have a biscuit and start at seven.
MARY
Thinking, John? What about?
JOHN
Getting it clear in my mind what I want to do. That one thing and the
rest the same. There must be no mistakes.
MARY [sadly]
Good night, John.
JOHN
Have supper ready at eleven.
MARY
Very well, John. [Exit.]
JOHN [on the sofa, after a moment or two]
I'll catch that infernal train in spite of him.
[He takes the crystal and closes it up in the palm of his left hand.]
I wish to go back ten years, two weeks and a day, at, at--8.10 a.m.
to-morrow; 8.10 a.m. to-morrow, 8.10.
[Re-enter MARY in doorway.]
MARY
John! John! You are sure he did get his fifty pounds?
JOHN
Yes. Didn't he come to thank me for the money?
MARY
You are sure it wasn't ten shillings?
JOHN
Cater paid him, I didn't.
MARY
Are you sure that Cater didn't give him ten shillings?
JOHN
It's the sort of silly thing Cater would have done!

MARY
O, John!
JOHN
Hmm.
Curtain
SCENE 3
Scene: As in Act I, Scene 1. Time. Ten years ago.
BERT 'Ow goes it, Bill?
BILL Goes it? 'Ow d'yer think it goes?
BERT I don't know, Bill. 'Ow is it?
BILL
Bloody.
BERT
Why, what's wrong?
BILL
Wrong? Nothing ain't wrong.
BERT
What's up, then?
BILL
Nothing ain't right.
BERT
Why, wot's the worry?
BILL
Wot's the worry? They don't give you better wages nor a dog, and then
they thinks they can talk at yer and talk at yer, and say wot they likes,
like.
BERT
Why? You been on the carpet, Bill?
BILL
Ain't I! Proper.
BERT
Why? Wot about, Bill?
BILL
Wot about? I'll tell yer. Just coz I let a lidy get into a train. That's wot
about. Said I ought to 'av stopped 'er. Thought the train was moving.
Thought it was dangerous. Thought I tried to murder 'er, I suppose.
BERT

Wot? The other day?
BILL
Yes.
BERT?
Tuesday?
BILL
Yes.
BERT
Why? The one that dropped her bag?
BILL
Yes. Drops 'er bag. Writes to the company. They writes back she
shouldn't 'av got in. She writes back she should. Then they gets on to
me. Any more of it and I'll. . .
BERT
I wouldn't, Bill; don't you.
BILL
I will.
BERT
Don't you, Bill. You've got your family to consider.
BILL
Well, anyway, I won't let any more of them passengers go jumping into
trains any more, not when they're moving, I won't. When the train gets
in, doors shut. That's the rule, and they'll have to abide by it.
[Enter JOHN BEAL.]
BILL [touching his hat] Good morning, sir.
[JOHN does not answer, but walks to the door between them.]
Carry your bag, sir?
JOHN Go to hell!
[Exit through door.]
BILL
Ullo.
BERT
Somebody's been getting at 'im.
BILL
Well, I never did. Why, I knows the young feller.
BERT
Pleasant spoken, ain't 'e, as a rule?

BILL
Never knew 'im like this.
BERT
You ain't bin sayin' nothing to 'im, 'ave yer?
BILL
Never in my life.
BERT
Well, I never.
BILL
'Ad some trouble o' some kind.