The Complete Works of J. M. Barrie (With Illustrations). James Matthew Barrie

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ I never go to the office again, and if I don't go to the office again you and I starve, and our children will be thrown into the streets.

      (The children blanch as they grasp the gravity of the situation.)

      MRS. DARLING. Let me try, dear.

      (In a terrible silence their progeny cluster round them. Will she succeed? Their fate depends on it. She fails—no, she succeeds. In another moment they are wildly gay, romping round the room on each other's shoulders. Father is even a better horse than mother. MICHAEL is dropped upon his bed, WENDY retires to prepare for hers, JOHN runs from NANA, who has reappeared with the bath towel.)

      JOHN (rebellious). I won't be bathed. You needn't think it.

      MR. DARLING (in the grand manner). Go and be bathed at once, sir.

      (With bent head JOHN follows NANA into the bathroom. MR. DARLING swells.)

      MICHAEL (as he is put between the sheets). Mother, how did you get to know me?

      MR. DARLING. A little less noise there.

      MICHAEL (growing solemn). At what time was I born, mother?

      MRS. DARLING. At two o'clock in the night-time, dearest.

      MICHAEL. Oh, mother, I hope I didn't wake you.

      MRS. DARLING. They are rather sweet, don't you think,George?

      MR. DARLING (doting). There is not their equal on earth, and they are ours, ours!

      (Unfortunately NANA has come from the bathroom for a sponge and she collides with his trousers) the first pair he has ever had with braid on them.)

      MR. DARLING. Mary, it is too bad; just look at this; covered with hairs. Clumsy, clumsy!

      (NANA goes, a drooping figure.)

      MRS. DARLING. Let me brush you, dear.

      (Once more she is successful. They are now by the fire, and MICHAEL is in bed doing idiotic things with a teddy bear.)

      MR. DARLING (depressed). I sometimes think, Mary, that it is a mistake to have a dog for a nurse.

      MRS. DARLING. George, Nana is a treasure.

      MR. DARLING. No doubt; but I have an uneasy feeling at times that she looks upon the children as puppies.

      MRS. DARLING (rather faintly). Oh no, dear one, I am sure she knows they have souls.

      MR. DARLING (profoundly). I wonder, I wonder.

      (The opportunity has come for her to tell him of something that is on her mind.)

      MRS. DARLING. George, we must keep Nana. I will tell you why. (Her seriousness impresses him.) My dear, when I came into this room to-night I saw a face at the window.

      MR. DARLING (incredulous). A face at the window, three floors up? Pooh!

      MRS. DARLING. It was the face of a little boy; he was trying to get in. George, this is not the first time I have seen that boy.

      MR. DARLING (beginning to think that this may be a man's job). Oho!

      MRS. DARLING (making sure that MICHAEL does not hear). The first time was a week ago. It was Nana's night out, and I had been drowsing here by the fire when suddenly I felt a draught, as if the window were open. I looked round and I saw that boy—in the room.

      MR. DARLING. In the room?

      MRS. DARLING. I screamed. Just then Nana came back and she at once sprang at him. The boy leapt for the window. She pulled down the sash quickly, but was too late to catch him.

      MR. DARLING (who knows he would not have been too late). I thought so!

      MRS. DARLING. Wait. The boy escaped, but his shadow had not time to get out; down came the window and cut it clean off.

      MR. DARLING (heavily). Mary, Mary, why didn't you keep that shadow?

      MRS. DARLING (scoring). I did. I rolled it up, George; and here it is.

      (She produces it from a drawer. They unroll and examine the flimsy thing, which is not more material than a puff of smoke, and if let go would probably float into the ceiling without discolouring it. Yet it has human shape. As they nod their heads over it they present the most satisfying picture on earth, two happy parents conspiring cosily by the fire for the good of their children.)

      MR. DARLING. It is nobody I know, but he does look ascoundrel.

      MRS. DARLING. I think he comes back to get his shadow,George.

      MR. DARLING (meaning that the miscreant has now a father to deal with). I dare say. (He sees himself telling the story to the other stools at the office.) There is money in this, my love. I shall take it to the British Museum to-morrow and have it priced.

      (The shadow is rolled up and replaced in the drawer.)

      MRS. DARLING (like a guilty person). George, I have not told you all; I am afraid to.

      MR. DARLING (who knows exactly the right moment to treat a woman as a beloved child). Cowardy, cowardy custard.

      MRS. DARLING (pouting). No, I 'm not.

      MR. DARLING. Oh yes, you are.

      MRS. DARLING. George, I 'm not.

      MR. DARLING. Then why not tell? (Thus cleverly soothed she goes on.)

      MRS. DARLING. The boy was not alone that first time. He was accompanied by—I don't know how to describe it; by a ball of light, not as big as my fist, but it darted about the room like a living thing.

      MR. DARLING (though open-minded). That is very unusual. It escaped with the boy?

      MRS. DARLING. Yes. (Sliding her hand into his.) George, what can all this mean?

      MR. DARLING (ever ready). What indeed!

      (This intimate scene is broken by the return of NANA with a bottle in her mouth.)

      MRS. DARLING (at once dissembling). What is that, Nana? Ah, of course; Michael, it is your medicine.

      MICHAEL (promptly). Won't take it.

      MR. DARLING (recalling his youth). Be a man, Michael.

      MICHAEL. Won't.

      MRS. DARLING (weakly). I'll get you a lovely chocky to take after it. (She leaves the room, though her husband calls after her.)

      MR. DARLING. Mary, don't pamper him. When I was your age, Michael, I took medicine without a murmur. I said 'Thank you, kind parents, for giving me bottles to make me well.'

      (WENDY, who has appeared in her nightgown, hears this and believes.)

      WENDY. That medicine you sometimes take is much nastier, isn't it, father?

      MR. DARLING (valuing her support). СКАЧАТЬ