The Essential Plays of George Bernard Shaw (Illustrated Edition). GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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СКАЧАТЬ is an idyll a perfect idyll. We were just dwelling on it.

      SARTORIUS [slyly] Harry can follow with Blanche. She will be down directly.

      TRENCH [hastily] No. I cant face her just now.

      SARTORIUS [rallying him] Indeed! Ha, ha! [The laugh, the first they have heard from him, sets Trench’s teeth on edge. Cokane is taken aback, but instantly recovers himself.]

      COKANE Ha! ha! ha! Ho! ho!

      TRENCH But you dont understand.

      SARTORIUS Oh, I think we do, I think we do. Eh, Mr Cokane? Ha! ha!

      COKANE I should think we do. Ha! ha! ha!

      [They go out together, laughing at him. He collapses into a chair, shuddering in every nerve. Blanche appears at the door. Her face lights up when she sees that he is alone. She trips noiselessly to the back of his chair and clasps her hands over his eyes. With a convulsive start and exclamation he springs up and breaks away from her.]

      BLANCHE [astonished] Harry!

      TRENCH [with distracted politeness] I beg your pardon. I was thinking wont you sit down?

      BLANCHE [looking suspiciously at him] Is anything the matter? [She sits down slowly near the writing table. He takes Cokane’s chair.]

      TRENCH No. Oh no.

      BLANCHE Papa has not been disagreeable, I hope.

      TRENCH No: I have hardly spoken to him since I was with you. [He rises; takes up his chair; and plants it beside hers. This pleases her better. She looks at him with her most winning smile. A sort of sob breaks from him; and he catches her hands and kisses them passionately. Then, looking into her eyes with intense earnestness, he says:] Blanche: are you fond of money?

      BLANCHE [gaily] Very. Are you going to give me any?

      TRENCH [wincing] Dont make a joke of it: I’m serious. Do you know that we shall be very poor?

      BLANCHE Is that what made you look as if you had neuralgia?

      TRENCH [pleadingly] My dear: it’s no laughing matter. Do you know that I have a bare seven hundred a year to live on?

      BLANCHE How dreadful!

      TRENCH Blanche: It’s very serious indeed: I assure you it is.

      BLANCHE It would keep me rather short in my housekeeping, dearest boy, if I had nothing of my own. But papa has promised me that I shall be richer than ever when we are married.

      TRENCH We must do the best we can with seven hundred. I think we ought to be self supporting.

      BLANCHE Thats just what I mean to be, Harry. If I were to eat up half your £700, I should be making you twice as poor; but I’m going to make you twice as rich instead. [He shakes his head.] Has papa made any difficulty?

      TRENCH [rising with a sigh and taking his chair back to its former place] No, none at all. [He sits down dejectedly. When Blanche speaks again her face and voice betray the beginning of a struggle with her temper.]

      BLANCHE Harry : are you too proud to take money from my father?

      TRENCH Yes, Blanche: I am too proud.

      BLANCHE [after a pause] That is not nice to me, Harry.

      TRENCH You must bear with me, Blanche. I — , I cant explain. After all, it’s very natural.

      BLANCHE Has it occurred to you that I may be proud, too?

      TRENCH Oh, thats nonsense. No one will accuse you of marrying for money.

      BLANCHE No one would think the worse of me if I did, or of you either. [She rises and begins to walk restlessly about.] We really cannot live on seven hundred a year, Harry; and I dont think it quite fair of you to ask me merely because youre afraid of people talking.

      TRENCH It’s not that alone, Blanche.

      BLANCHE What else is it, then?

      TRENCH Nothing. I —

      BLANCHE [getting behind him, and speaking with forced playfulness as she bends over him, her hands on his shoulders] Of course it’s nothing. Now dont be absurd, Harry: be good; and listen to me: I know how to settle it. You are too proud to owe anything to me; and I am too proud to owe anything to you. You have seven hundred a year. Well, I will take just seven hundred a year from papa at first; and then we shall be quits. Now, now, Harry, you know youve not a word to say against that.

      TRENCH It’s impossible.

      BLANCHE Impossible!

      TRENCH Yes, impossible. I have resolved not to take any money from your father.

      BLANCHE But he’ll give the money to me, not to you.

      TRENCH It’s the same thing. [With an effort to be sentimental] I love you too well to see any distinction. [He puts up his hand half-heartedly: she takes it over his shoulder with equal indecision. They are both trying hard to conciliate one another.]

      BLANCHE Thats a very nice way of putting it, Harry; but I’m sure theres something I ought to know. Has papa been disagreeable?

      TRENCH No : he has been very kind to me, at least. It’s not that. It’s nothing you can guess, Blanche. It would only pain you perhaps offend you. I dont mean, of course, that we shall live always on seven hundred a year. I intend to go at my profession in earnest, and work my fingers to the bone.

      BLANCHE [playing with his fingers, still over his shoulder] But I shouldnt like you with your fingers worked to the bone, Harry. I must be told what the matter is. [He takes his hand quickly away: she flushes angrily; and her voice is no longer even an imitation of the voice of a lady as she exclaims:] I hate secrets; and I dont like to be treated as if I were a child.

      TRENCH [annoyed by her tone] Theres nothing to tell. I dont choose to trespass on your father’s generosity: thats all.

      BLANCHE You had no objection half an hour ago, when you met me in the hall, and shewed me all the letters. Your family doesnt object. Do you object?

      TRENCH [earnestly] I do not indeed. It’s only a question of money.

      BLANCHE [Imploringly, the voice softening and refining for the last time.] Harry: theres no use in our fencing in this way. Papa will never consent to my being absolutely dependent on you; and I dont like the idea of it myself. If you even mention such a thing to him you will break off the match: you will indeed.

      TRENCH [obstinately] I cant help that.

      BLANCHE [white with rage] You cant help! Oh, I’m beginning to understand. I will save you the trouble. You can tell papa that I have broken off the match; and then there will be no further difficulty.

      TRENCH [taken aback] What do you mean, Blanche? Are you offended?

      BLANCHE Offended! How dare you ask me?

      TRENCH Dare!

      BLANCHE How much more manly it СКАЧАТЬ