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

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СКАЧАТЬ you. Well, you wouldn’t — (Crampton tries to protest; but Bohun will not have it on any terms.) No, you wouldn’t: you think you would; but I know better than you. You’d want this young lady here to give up dressing like a stage columbine in the evening and like a fashionable columbine in the morning. Well, she won’t — never. She thinks she will; but —

      DOLLY (interrupting him). No I don’t. (Resolutely.) I’ll n e v e r give up dressing prettily. Never. As Gloria said to that man in Madeira, never, never, never while grass grows or water runs.

      VALENTINE (rising in the wildest agitation). What! What! (Beginning to speak very fast.) When did she say that? Who did she say that to?

      BOHUN (throwing himself back with massive, pitying remonstrance). Mr. Valentine —

      VALENTINE (pepperily). Don’t you interrupt me, sir: this is something really serious. I i n s i s t on knowing who Miss Clandon said that to.

      DOLLY. Perhaps Phil remembers. Which was it, Phil? number three or number five?

      VALENTINE. Number five!!!

      PHILIP. Courage, Valentine. It wasn’t number five: it was only a tame naval lieutenant that was always on hand — the most patient and harmless of mortals.

      GLORIA (coldly). What are we discussing now, pray?

      VALENTINE (very red). Excuse me: I am sorry I interrupted. I shall intrude no further, Mrs. Clandon. (He bows to Mrs. Clandon and marches away into the garden, boiling with suppressed rage.)

      DOLLY. Hmhm!

      PHILIP. Ahah!

      GLORIA. Please go on, Mr. Bohun.

      DOLLY (striking in as Bohun, frowning formidably, collects himself for a fresh grapple with the case). You’re going to bully us, Mr. Bohun.

      BOHUN. I —

      DOLLY (interrupting him). Oh, yes, you are: you think you’re not; but you are. I know by your eyebrows.

      BOHUN (capitulating). Mrs. Clandon: these are clever children — clear headed, well brought up children. I make that admission deliberately. Can you, in return, point out to me any way of inducting them to hold their tongues?

      MRS. CLANDON. Dolly, dearest — !

      PHILIP. Our old failing, Dolly. Silence! (Dolly holds her mouth.)

      MRS. CLANDON. Now, Mr. Bohun, before they begin again —

      WAITER (softer). Be quick, sir: be quick.

      DOLLY (beaming at him). Dear William!

      PHILIP. Sh!

      BOHUN (unexpectedly beginning by hurling a question straight at Dolly). Have you any intention of getting married?

      DOLLY. I! Well, Finch calls me by my Christian name.

      McCOMAS. I will not have this. Mr. Bohun: I use the young lady’s Christian name naturally as an old friend of her mother’s.

      DOLLY. Yes, you call me Dolly as an old friend of my mother’s. But what about Dorothee-ee-a? (McComas rises indignantly.)

      CRAMPTON (anxiously, rising to restrain him). Keep your temper, McComas. Don’t let us quarrel. Be patient.

      McCOMAS. I will not be patient. You are shewing the most wretched weakness of character, Crampton. I say this is monstrous.

      DOLLY. Mr. Bohun: please bully Finch for us.

      BOHUN. I will. McComas: you’re making yourself ridiculous. Sit down.

      McCOMAS. I —

      BOHUN (waving him down imperiously). No: sit down, sit down. (McComas sits down sulkily; and Crampton, much relieved, follows his example.)

      DOLLY (to Bohun, meekly). Thank you.

      BOHUN. Now, listen to me, all of you. I give no opinion, McComas, as to how far you may or may not have committed yourself in the direction indicated by this young lady. (McComas is about to protest.) No: don’t interrupt me: if she doesn’t marry you she will marry somebody else. That is the solution of the difficulty as to her not bearing her father’s name. The other lady intends to get married.

      GLORIA (flushing). Mr. Bohun!

      BOHUN. Oh, yes, you do: you don’t know it; but you do.

      GLORIA (rising). Stop. I warn you, Mr. Bohun, not to answer for my intentions.

      BOHUN (rising). It’s no use, Miss Clandon: you can’t put me down. I tell you your name will soon be neither Clandon nor Crampton; and I could tell you what it will be if I chose. (He goes to the other end of the table, where he unrolls his domino, and puts the false nose on the table. When he moves they all rise; and Phil goes to the window. Bohun, with a gesture, summons the waiter to help him in robing.) Mr. Crampton: your notion of going to law is all nonsense: your children will be of age before you could get the point decided. (Allowing the waiter to put the domino on his shoulders.) You can do nothing but make a friendly arrangement. If you want your family more than they want you, you’ll get the worse of the arrangement: if they want you more than you want them, you’ll get the better of it. (He shakes the domino into becoming folds and takes up the false nose. Dolly gazes admiringly at him.) The strength of their position lies in their being very agreeable people personally. The strength of your position lies in your income. (He claps on the false nose, and is again grotesquely transfigured.)

      DOLLY (running to him). Oh, now you look quite like a human being. Mayn’t I have just one dance with you? C a n you dance? (Phil, resuming his part of harlequin, waves his hat as if casting a spell on them.)

      BOHUN (thunderously). Yes: you think I can’t; but I can. Come along. (He seizes her and dances off with her through the window in a most powerful manner, but with studied propriety and grace. The waiter is meanwhile busy putting the chairs back in their customary places.)

      PHILIP. “On with the dance: let joy be unconfined.” William!

      WAITER. Yes, sir.

      PHILIP. Can you procure a couple of dominos and false noses for my father and Mr. McComas?

      McCOMAS. Most certainly not. I protest —

      CRAMPTON. No, no. What harm will it do, just for once, McComas? Don’t let us be spoilsports.

      McCOMAS. Crampton: you are not the man I took you for. (Pointedly.) Bullies are always cowards. (He goes disgustedly towards the window.)

      CRAMPTON (following him). Well, never mind. We must indulge them a little. Can you get us something to wear, waiter?

      WAITER. Certainly, sir. (He precedes them to the window, and stands aside there to let them pass out before him.) This way, sir. Dominos and noses, sir?

      McCOMAS (angrily, on his way out). I shall wear my own nose.

      WAITER (suavely). Oh, dear, yes, sir: the false one will fit over it quite easily, sir: plenty of room, sir, plenty of room. (He goes out after McComas.)

      CRAMPTON СКАЧАТЬ