The Unforseen Return | Page 5

as
possible. I have no happy moments except those I pass with her.
Lucy: You two are made for each other. When you're not around she's
bored to death. She won't delay I promise you.
(Exit Lucy)
Roger: Well, sir! You're really going to get married? Very soon you

will have finished your love affair and your money. Not the best way to
finish the business. But if you are going to do it so be it. What will we
tell your father when he returns from his business trip to Spain?
Edward: You always have inopportune thoughts. Look my friend: frolic
in the present, have no regret for the past; and don't whatever you do
read irritating portents in the future. That's the secret of happiness. By
the way, haven't you received any money for me in the past few days?
Roger: In the last three weeks I've obtained a half year's rent on the
farm in advance. In return you've given Farmer Small a quittance for
the entire year.
Edward: Excellent!
Roger: Last week I received 1,800 pounds for those two paintings your
father refused to sell for thirty thousand.
Edward: Fine!
Roger: Fine! Also, I got 200 pounds for that tapestry your father
purchased for five thousand two years ago.
Edward: Better!
Roger: Yes, yes, we've had a real white sale during his absence haven't
we?
Edward: It's a little nourishment that we must take sometimes; and we
will work together on more nourishment in the future.
Roger: Work by yourself because I have a bad conscience about being
the instrument of your ruin. It's with my help you've been able to
dissipate 10,000 pounds, not to mention another ten thousand you owe
here and there to usurers and money lenders, who are just waiting to
fall on us and gobble everything up when the day comes to pay them
back.
Edward: The one who disturbs me the most and causes me the most
embarrassment is this Mr. Andre. He persecutes me and I only owe him
a hundred pounds!
Roger: He isn't only after that. You also gave him a promissory note for
500 pounds. Four days ago he took out a judgement on the note. And it
won't be pleasant if you spend your wedding night in jail.
Edward: (calmly) We will find a way to deal with him.
Roger: What way? We have no cash at all. All your income is taken in
advance and spent as received. The townhouse furniture has been sold
for a song--we've cut down the timber at the country house under the

pretext of using it for fuel. As for me, I swear to you that I see no way
out.
Edward: If my father can be kept from returning another five or six
months I will have plenty of time to repair by my economy the
expensive disorders of my youth.
Roger: Assuredly. And your esteemed father, for his part--hasn't he
worked hard to amass all this wealth?
Edward: Without a doubt.
Roger: It's better that you practice this foolishness while he's still alive.
After he's dead he won't be in a position to straighten things out.
Edward; You're right, Roger.
Roger: Sir, you're not so bad that you can't, at least, speak well. Your
father will have made a huge profit from his trip--and you will have
made a huge expenditure in his absence. Of what can he complain
when he returns? It will be as if he had never gone, and at worst it will
be his fault for having been so foolish as to make the trip.
Edward: You're really talking some sense today, Roger.
Roger: Between you and me, your father is not very bright. I've led him
by the nose and you know it. I can make him believe anything I want to.
And when he comes back this time I think I still have power enough to
pull you out of this sorry mess. Let's go sir. Good cheer and a warm fire.
Courage returns to me. How many for dinner tonight?
Edward: Five or six.
Roger: And your dear friend the self styled Squire who has helped you
to gobble up so much of your wealth so stylishly--will he be here?
Edward: He promised me he would, but here is the charming Belinda
and her cousin--
(Enter Belinda, Clarissa and Lucy)
Belinda: The precautions you make me take, Edward, can only be
justified by the success they are having--and I will be entirely lost in
worldliness if our marriage doesn't end all the pleasure parties I'm used
to.
Edward: I have never had any other sentiments, pretty Belinda--and
here is your friend who can bear witness to it.
Clarissa: I guarantee the goodness of your heart if you must take this
moment to