East of Suez: A Play in Seven Scenes. Maugham William Somerset

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СКАЧАТЬ She's just coming.

      George. I bet she's powdering her nose.

      Daisy. Here I am.

      [Daisy enters. She is an extremely pretty woman, beautifully, perhaps a little showily, dressed. She has a pale, very clear, slightly sallow skin, and beautiful dark eyes. There is only the very faintest suspicion in them of the Chinese slant. Her hair is abundant and black.

      Harry. This is George Conway, Daisy.

      [George stares at her. At first he is not quite sure that he recognizes her, then suddenly he does, but only the slightest movement of the eyes betrays him.

      Daisy. How do you do. I told Harry I had an idea I must have met you somewhere. I don't think I have after all.

      Harry. George flatters himself he's not easily forgotten.

      Daisy. But I've heard so much about you from Harry that I feel as though we were old friends.

      George. It's very kind of you to say so.

      Harry. Supposing you poured out the tea, Daisy.

      George. I'm dying for a cup.

      [She sits down and proceeds to do so.

      Daisy. Harry is very anxious that you should like me.

      Harry. George and I have known one another since we were kids. His people and mine live quite close to one another at home.

      Daisy. But I'm not blaming you. I'm only wondering how I shall ingratiate myself with him.

      Harry. He looks rather severe, but he isn't really. I think you've only got to be your natural charming self.

      Daisy. Have you told him about the house?

      Harry. No. [To George.] You know the temple the Harrisons used to have. We've taken that.

      George. Oh, it's a ripping place. But won't you find it rather a nuisance to have those old monks on the top of you all the time?

      Harry. Oh, I don't think so. Our part is quite separate, you know, and the Harrisons made it very comfortable.

      [Harold Knox comes in. He has changed into tennis things.

      Knox. I say, Harry … [He sees Daisy.] Oh, I beg your pardon.

      Harry. Mr. Knox – Mrs. Rathbone.

      [Knox gives her a curt nod, but she holds out her hand affably. He takes it.

      Daisy. How do you do.

      Knox. I'm sorry to disturb you, Harry, but old Ku Faung Min is downstairs and wants to see you.

      Harry. Tell him to go to blazes. The office is closed.

      Knox. He's going to Hankow to-night and he says he must see you before he goes. He's got some big order to give.

      Harry. Oh, curse him. I know what he is. He'll keep me talking for half an hour. D'you mind if I leave you?

      Daisy. Of course not. It'll give me a chance of making Mr. Conway's acquaintance.

      Harry. I'll get rid of him as quickly as I can.

      [He goes out accompanied by Knox.

      Knox. [As he goes.] Good-bye.

      [George looks at Daisy for a moment. She smiles at him. There is a silence.

      George. Why didn't you warn me that it was you I was going to meet?

      Daisy. I didn't know what you'd say about me to Harry if you knew.

      George. It was rather a risk, wasn't it? Supposing I'd blurted out the truth.

      Daisy. I trusted to your diplomatic training. Besides, I'd prepared for it. I told him I thought I'd met you.

      George. Harry and I have been pals all our lives. I brought him out to China and I got him his job. When he had cholera he would have died if I hadn't pulled him through.

      Daisy. I know. And in return he worships the ground you tread on. I've never known one man think so much of another as he does of you.

      George. All that's rot, of course. Sometimes I don't know how I'm going to live up to the good opinion Harry has of me. But when you've done so much for a pal as I have for him it gives you an awful sense of responsibility towards him.

      Daisy. What do you mean by that?

      [A short pause.

      George. I'm not going to let you marry him.

      Daisy. He's so much in love with me that he doesn't know what to do with himself.

      George. I know he is. But if you were in love with him you wouldn't be so sure of it.

      Daisy. [With a sudden change of tone.] Why not? I was sure of your love. And God knows I was in love with you.

      [George makes a gesture of dismay. He is taken aback for a moment, but he quickly recovers.

      George. You don't know what sort of a man Harry is. He's not like the fellows you've been used to. He's never knocked around as most of us do. He's always been as straight as a die.

      Daisy. I know.

      George. Have mercy on him. Even if there were nothing else against you he's not the sort of chap for you to marry. He's awfully English.

      Daisy. If he doesn't mind marrying a Eurasian I really don't see what business it is of yours.

      George. But you know very well that that isn't the only thing against you.

      Daisy. I haven't an idea what you mean.

      George. Haven't you? You forget the war. When we heard there was a very pretty young woman, apparently with plenty of money, living at the Hong Kong Hotel on very familiar terms with a lot of naval fellows, it became our business to make enquiries. I think I know everything there is against you.

      Daisy. Have you any right to make use of information you've acquired officially?

      George. Don't be a fool, Daisy.

      Daisy. [Passionately.] Tell him then. You'll break his heart. You'll make him utterly wretched. But he'll marry me all the same. When a man's as much in love as he is he'll forgive everything.

      George. I think it's horrible. If you loved him you couldn't marry him. It's heartless.

      Daisy. [Violently.] How dare you say that? You. You. You know what I am. Yes, it's all true. I don't know what you know but it can't be worse than the truth. And whose fault is it? Yours. If I'm rotten it's you who made me rotten.

      George. I? No. You've got no right to say that. It's cruel. It's infamous.

      Daisy. I've touched you at last, have I? Because you know it's true. Don't you remember when I first came to Chung-king? I was seventeen. My father had sent me to England to school when СКАЧАТЬ