Six Short Plays | Page 2

She--her father died over here when she was sixteen, and left her all alone. There was a mongrel living in the same house who married her--or pretended to. She's very pretty, Keith. He left her with a baby coming. She lost it, and nearly starved. Then another fellow took her on, and she lived with him two years, till that brute turned up again and made her go back to him. He used to beat her black and blue. He'd left her again when--I met her. She was taking anybody then. [He stops, passes his hand over his lips, looks up at KEITH, and goes on defiantly] I never met a sweeter woman, or a truer, that I swear. Woman! She's only twenty now! When I went to her last night, that devil had found her out again. He came for me--a bullying, great, hulking brute. Look! [He touches a dark mark on his forehead] I took his ugly throat, and when I let go--[He stops and his hands drop.]
KEITH. Yes?
LARRY. [In a smothered voice] Dead, Keith. I never knew till afterwards that she was hanging on to him--to h-help me. [Again he wrings his hands.]
KEITH. [In a hard, dry voice] What did you do then?
LARRY. We--we sat by it a long time.
KEITH. Well?
LARRY. Then I carried it on my back down the street, round a corner, to an archway.
KEITH. How far?
LARRY. About fifty yards.
KEITH. Was--did anyone see?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. What time?
LARRY. Three in the morning.
KEITH. And then?
LARRY. Went back to her.
KEITH. Why--in heaven's name?
LARRY. She way lonely and afraid. So was I, Keith.
KEITH. Where is this place?
LARRY. Forty-two Borrow Square, Soho.
KEITH. And the archway?
LARRY. Corner of Glove Lane.
KEITH. Good God! Why, I saw it in the paper this morning. They were talking of it in the Courts! [He snatches the evening paper from his armchair, and runs it over anal reads] Here it is again. "Body of a man was found this morning under an archway in Glove Lane. >From marks about the throat grave suspicion of foul play are entertained. The body had apparently been robbed. "My God! [Suddenly he turns] You saw this in the paper and dreamed it. D'you understand, Larry?--you dreamed it.
LARRY. [Wistfully] If only I had, Keith!
[KEITH makes a movement of his hands almost like his brother's.]
KEITH. Did you take anything from the-body?
LARRY. [Drawing au envelope from his pocket] This dropped out while we were struggling.
KEITH. [Snatching it and reading] "Patrick Walenn"--Was that his name? "Simon's Hotel, Farrier Street, London." [Stooping, he puts it in the fire] No!--that makes me----[He bends to pluck it out, stays his hand, and stamps it suddenly further in with his foot] What in God's name made you come here and tell me? Don't you know I'm--I'm within an ace of a Judgeship?
LARRY. [Simply] Yes. You must know what I ought to do. I didn't, mean to kill him, Keith. I love the girl--I love her. What shall I do?
KEITH. Love!
LARRY. [In a flash] Love!--That swinish brute! A million creatures die every day, and not one of them deserves death as he did. But but I feel it here. [Touching his heart] Such an awful clutch, Keith. Help me if you can, old man. I may be no good, but I've never hurt a fly if I could help it. [He buries his face in his hands.]
KEITH. Steady, Larry! Let's think it out. You weren't seen, you say?
LARRY. It's a dark place, and dead night.
KEITH. When did you leave the girl again?
LARRY. About seven.
KEITH. Where did you go?
LARRY. To my rooms.
KEITH. To Fitzroy Street?
LARRY. Yes.
KEITH. What have you done since?
LARRY. Sat there--thinking.
KEITH. Not been out?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. Not seen the girl?
[LARRY shakes his head.]
Will she give you away?
LARRY. Never.
KEITH. Or herself hysteria?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. Who knows of your relations with her?
LARRY. No one.
KEITH. No one?
LARRY. I don't know who should, Keith.
KEITH. Did anyone see you go in last night, when you first went to her?
LARRY. No. She lives on the ground floor. I've got keys.
KEITH. Give them to me.
LARRY takes two keys from his pocket and hands them to his brother.
LARRY. [Rising] I can't be cut off from her!
KEITH. What! A girl like that?
LARRY. [With a flash] Yes, a girl like that.
KEITH. [Moving his hand to put down old emotion] What else have you that connects you with her?
LARRY. Nothing.
KEITH. In your rooms?
[LARRY shakes his head.]
Photographs? Letters?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. Sure?
LARRY. Nothing.
KEITH. No one saw you going back to her?
[LARRY shakes his head. ] Nor leave in the morning? You can't be certain.
LARRY. I am.
KEITH. You were fortunate. Sit down again, man. I must think.
He turns to the fire and leans his elbows on the mantelpiece and his head on his hands. LARRY Sits down again obediently.
KEITH. It's all too unlikely. It's monstrous!
LARRY. [Sighing it out] Yes.
KEITH. This Walenn--was it his first reappearance after