LEY. There, there, that will do. My mother last night gave me this pocket-book (shows book) as the only relic of my father. There is only in it this paper, which mentions a letter in duplicate, the original probably destroyed.
DAVID. But the copy is in existence!
LEY. That is just possible. (gives pocket-book.)
DAVID. (reads paper). "The duplicate letter to the Provost-Marshal."--"In a safe hiding place"--oh, here comes the clue--"my room--six along and three across." Hem! it is not easy for a stranger to discover it from this.
LEY. The document must have been of importance to my poor mother, and, therefore, perhaps of some to me. I believe you enjoy quite a popularity among the negroes of this island?
DAVID. Well, yes, sir, that I do. There is that Mr. Plato who has quite patronized me.
LEY. Some of the people who were about my father when he died may know something. Take the pocket-book and do your best with it.
DAVID. I believe I can find the very man.
LEY. I give you full leave to spare no expense.
DAVID. I will interrogate all the old servants. Ah! I have something to live for now. A chance to serve my slave--I begin to feel as if he were my master again.
LEY. One question before you go. Is all prepared for my mother's burial?
DAVID. I regret to say, sir, that there I have done nothing.
LEY. What! nothing. You know I could not move in the matter without risking the revelation of my parentage, and yet--yet you have done nothing.
DAVID. It is not my fault, sir. Another had arranged for all the funeral, whom no one knows.
LEY. No one knows?
DAVID. No one can guess.
LEY. (aside). I can! Oh, Emily! But I must not think of that now!
DAVID (to R.). I hear somebody coming up the stairs. Do you expect anybody, sir?
LEY. Ah! yes.
Enter, R. D., WOLF, remaining by the entrance, sullenly. LEY. It is one of Westcraft's seconds. (turns, and sees WOLF, and is surprised.)
WOLF. Is not one of you the Count de Leyrac?
LEY. That is my name. You are Mr. Westcraft's servant?
WOLF. I am Mr. Westcraft's slave.
LEY. Ah! you come to me from his friends?
WOLF. No! I come to you from master himself.
DAVID How dare you speak to the Count in that manner?
LEY. Michaelmas, keep quiet.
DAVID. I ask your pardon, sir, but the impudence of this yellow scamp was too much for me.
LEY. Keep your reproof to yourself, and leave me to speak with this messenger for me. Come in. (WOLF steps a little forward) Go, Michaelmas. (exit, DAVID, R. D.) Well, you bring me a message from your master?
WOLF. Yes. About your cane.
LEY. About my cane. (puzzled) Oh! I remember now. I left it at Miss Milburn's this morning. Where is it?
WOLF. Waiting for you in the market place.
LEY. Again! (nearer to WOLF, eyeing him steadily) Is this insolence of yours assumed, or don't you know any better? I will give you the benefit of the doubt: you don't know any better.
WOLF. (curtly). Thank you.
LEY. Answer this question civilly, if you can. Did your master tell you to say this? Yes or no?
WOLF. Yes!
LEY. Mr. Westcraft told you to tell me what you have repeated to me?
WOLF. Yes!
LEY. Very well. Mr. Westcraft wants another lesson--Mr. Westcraft shall have it! Where shall I find your master?
WOLF. Where you will find your cane.
LEY. (going R.). You shall feel my cane over your back .
WOLF. Shall I?
[Exit, LEYRAC, R. D., and WOLF same, defiantly.
Scene changes to SCENE III.--Market-place in 5th grooves. Very brightly lighted.
Discover NEGROES, at stalls, crossing with baskets, dancing, speechifying, and PLANTERS' WIVES making purchases and promenading. Introduce ballet by SLAVE GIRLS and grotesque dance by COMIC NEGRO. SLAVES, with baskets, crossing stage several times, calling: Aguadiente! quien bebe? Watermillions! Mangoes--who'll hab de berry best mangoes? Lively music. Small WHITE BOY enters L., and deliberately knocks down two LITTLE BLACKS in his path, and struts up C. They grin and resume playing, as if it were a matter of course.
Enter, R. U. E., and comes down C., WESTCRAFT, looking at his watch impatiently. Cease music. WEST. The hour is nearly up, and yet no signs of the Frenchman and Wolf. Here! some of you! look along the road and see if you can see anything of Wolf. (aside) If Miss Milburn thinks she can throw me over for another man, Miss Milburn will find out her mistake, and, what's more, if her walk this morning extends to the market-place, she will find it out here. (goes up C., and saunters off R. U. E.)
Enter, R. 1 E., MISS MILBURN. MISS M. (R. C. front). He surely will come back this way. I must see him once more. Oh! there is his man Michaelmas.
Enter, L.1 E., DAVID. Mr. Michaelmas, where is your master?
DAVID. I left him at the hotel, miss.
MISS M. Is he alone there?
DAVID. Yes, except that he had Mr. Westcraft's servant with him.
MISS M. Mr. Westcraft's servant? (aside) What can he want with him. (aloud) Do you think he would come out this way?
DAVID. I can't say, miss
MISS M. Well, I'll wait for him here. (takes a few steps to and fro impatiently) No! I'll go there to find him. (aside) I must see him! even if I have to meet Mr. Westcraft himself. I'll go there first, anything is better than this suspense! (off R.1 E.)
DAVID. Ha! There's something wrong there! (C.) The young lady don't seem to know her own mind for two minutes together. In the time when I was a gentleman I should have asked if I could not be of some assistance to her, but now that I am a servant, I hold my tongue and mind my own business. Well, if I have got a few minutes before me, I had better run over the task I have set to myself. (produces letter) "Duplicate letter to the Provost-Marshal"--"my room"--that is evidently the room in which he slept--"six along and three across." The puzzle lies in those last few words. Taking inches it might be a chest--taking feet, it might mean a room.
Enter by steps up C., PLATO, enthusiastically received by the NEGROES, as he comes down C. DAVID.