One Day More | Page 6

pretty tomorrow notion? I've a
hungry chum in London--waiting for me.
Bessie (Defending herself). Why should I make the poor old friendless
man miserable? I thought you were far away. I thought you were dead.
I didn't know but you had never been born. I... I... (_Harry turns to her.
She desperately.) It was easier to believe it myself. (Carried away_.)
And after all it's true. It's come to pass. This is the to-morrow we've
been waiting for.
Harry (Half perfunctorily). Aye. Anybody can see that your heart is as
soft as your voice.
Bessie (As if unable to keep back the words). I didn't think you would
have noticed my voice.
Harry (Already inattentive). H'm. Dashed scrape. This is a queer
to-morrow, without any sort of today, as far as I can see. (Resolutely.) I
must try the door.
Bessie. Well--try, then.

Harry (From gate looking over shoulder at Bessie). He ain't likely to
fly out at me, is he? I would be afraid of laying my hands on him. The
chaps are always telling me I don't know my own strength.
Bessie (In front). He's the most harmless creature that ever. ..
Harry. You wouldn't say so if you had seen him walloping me with a
hard leather strap. (Walking up garden.) I haven't forgotten it in sixteen
long years. (Rat-tat-tat twice.) Hullo, Dad. (_Bessie intensely expectant.
Rat-tat-tat_.) Hullo, Dad--let me in. I am your own Harry. Straight.
Your son Harry come back home--a day too soon.
(Window above rumbles up.)
Capt. H. (Seen leaning out, aiming with spade). Aha! Bessie
(Warningly). Look out, Harry! (Spade falls.) Are you hurt? (_Window
rumbles down.) Harry (In the distance_). Only grazed my hat.
Bessie. Thank God! (Intensely.) What'll he do now?
Harry (Comes forward, slamming gate behind him). Just like old times.
Nearly licked the life out of me for wanting to go away, and now I
come back he shies a confounded old shovel at my head. (_Fumes.
Laughs a little_). I wouldn't care, only poor little Ginger--Ginger's my
chum up in London--he will starve while I walk back all the way from
here. (Faces Bessie blankly.) I spent my last twopence on a shave. ...
Out of respect for the old man.
Bessie. I think, if you let me, I could manage to talk him round in a
week, maybe.
(A muffled periodical bellowing had been heard faintly for some time.)
Harry (On the alert). What's this? Who's making this row? Hark!
Bessie, Bessie. It's in your house, I believe.
Bessie (Without stirring, drearily). It's for me.
Harry (Discreetly, whispering). Good voice for a ship's deck in a squall.

Your husband? (Steps out of lamplight.)
Bessie. No. My father. He's blind. (Pause). I'm not married.
(Bellowings grow louder.)
Harry. Oh, I say. What's up? Who's murdering him?
Bessie (Calmly). I expect he's finished his tea. (_Bellowing continues
regularly_.)
Harry. Hadn't you better see to it? You'll have the whole town coming
out here presently. (Bessie moves off.) I say! (Bessie stops.) Couldn't
you scare up some bread and butter for me from that tea? I'm hungry.
Had no breakfast.
Bessie (_Starts off at the word "hungry," dropping to the ground the
white woollen shawl_). I won't be a minute. Don't go away.
Harry (_Alone; picks up shawl absently, and, looking at it spread out in
his hands, pronounces slowly). A--dam'--silly--scrape. (Pause. Throws
shawl on arm. Strolls up and down. Mutters._) No money to get back.
(Louder.) Silly little Ginger'll think I've got hold of the pieces and
given an old shipmate the go by. One good shove--(_Makes motion of
bursting in door with his shoulders_)--would burst that door in--I bet.
(Looks about.) I wonder where the nearest bobby is! No. They would
want to bundle me neck and crop into chokey. (Shudders.) Perhaps. It
makes me dog sick to think of being locked up. Haven't got the nerve.
Not for prison. (Leans against lamp-post.) And not a cent for my fare. I
wonder if that girl now...
Bessie (Coming hastily forward, plate with bread and meat in hand). I
didn't take time to get anything else....
Harry (Begins to eat). You're not standing treat to a beggar. My dad is a
rich man--you know.
Bessie (Plate in hand). You resemble your father.

Harry. I was the very image of him in face from a boy--(Eats)--and
that's about as far as it goes. He was always one of your domestic
characters. He looked sick when he had to go to sea for a fortnight's trip.
(Laughs.) He was all for house and home.
Bessie. And you? Have you never wished for a home? (_Goes off with
empty plate and puts it down hastily on Carvil's bench--out of sight_.)
Harry (Left in front). Home! If I found myself shut up in what the