How many years' experience have you had in flogging my slaves? (LEYRAC R. C.)
WOLF. Four years!
WEST. (gives WOLF cane). Could you flog a slave with that cane?
WOLF (lays blow right and left with cane, making it whistle in the air). Yes!
WEST (points to LEYRAC) Seize that man! (confusion. WOMEN stand back affrighted.)
VOICES. No, no! the French gentleman!
WEST. Who calls him a French gentleman? He is a slave!
LEY. What?
ALL. Oh! (emotion.)
WEST. (to LEYRAC, tauntingly) The wind on the leaves of the roof last night was I! (LEYRAC falls back confounded) Ha! you see! he cannot deny it! (murmurs. The PLANTERS fall away from LEYRAC and side with WESTCRAFT) Stand back! would you break the laws? You know what is the penalty when a white man is struck by a slave. (WOLF gets three or four NEGROES to prepare to rush on LEYRAC.)
LEY. (fiercely). Wolf! if you want to see a coward, look at your master.
WOLF. Ha, ha! now, then, boys! (they seize LEYRAC, struggle. Hurried music.)
WEST. (laughing). Seize him up! That's right! Bear him to the whipping post. (LEYRAC kneels to him.
Enter, R. U. E., down C., MISS MILBURN. Her hat falls off. She puts aside WOLF and SLAVES as they drag LEYRAC up C. MISS M. Hold! (embraces LEYRAC, who is kneeling, exhausted.)
WEST. Are you mad! you are touching him?
MISS M. I am touching him.
WEST. You see the people around you?
MISS M. (scornfully). I see the people.
WEST. He is a slave!
MISS M. (with great force). I love him. (NEGROES and the foreign merchants cheer. Hurrah! The PLANTERS silence the NEGROES. ALL form picture.)
SLOW CURTAIN
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ACT III. SCENE I.--Interior in 3rd grooves. Gas down in house and on stage, except U. E. and L. 1 R., off stage.
(Voice of PLATO R. U. corner). Dis am de winder ob Massa Brentwood's room, sah.
(Voice of DAVID, same). Place the steps. Now, stand out of the way. (hammers on shutters, opens them. Cobwebs fall and are torn apart. Gas gradually on, quarter turn. DAVID opens window sash Gas on, half-turn.)
DAVID enters by window and stands R. C., a little up, looking round as if puzzled by the darkness after the sun light. Gas up full in house and on stage.
DAVID. If every house-breaker felt as I do at present, the ancient and honorable profession of house-breaking would be at a discount. The foul air is fighting bravely with the damp oppression of the death-room. Mr. Plato. (at C.)
PLATO (shows his head at window, as if he were on ladder there). Yis, Misser Michaelmas.
DAVID. You found the tools? Where is that measuring rule that we borrowed of the carpenter as we came along?
PLATO (gives rule, putting his arm into room with great caution). Here am de rule, sah.
DAVID. Thank you. Are you not coming in, Mr. Plato?
PLATO (in fright). N-n-no, tank you, sah!
DAVID. There's nothing here but the things just as they were left when it was closed up. What are your objections to coming in?
PLATO. Coming into dat room, sah! I hab reasons ob my own. You see dis nose on my face? (taps nose)
DAVID. Well, it is rather flat, but still it is a nose. What then?
PLATO. What den, sah? A good deal, den, sah. Do you smell nuffin, Mr. Michaelmas?
DAVID. I can't sniffle like that, but I can only notice the smell of a room that has not been aired for years.
PLATO. You call dat de 'mell ob a room dat hab not been aired for yeah, sah?
DAVID. That's all. What do you call it?
PLATO (solemnly). I call dat de 'mell ob a ghose, sah!
DAVID. A ghost's smell! ha, ha!
PLATO. An' my nose hab strong objections to dat 'mell. I present my compliments to Massa Brentwood, and beg to leab him alone wid you, sah. Good-morning, Misser Michaelmas!
DAVID. Good-morning. (PLATO disappears) It seems the blacks have a host of virtues, amongst which is a delicate instinct for a ghost. Where is that paper? (gets paper from pocket) "My room in the old wing," So far, so good. "Six along and three across." A matter of measurement. Suppose (hesitates) I begin with the bed? (goes to bed, measures its length with rule.)
PLATO (head appears at window. Misser Michaelmas!
DAVID. Well, my friend with the delicate nose, (continues his measuring) what now?
PLATO. I present my compliments, and beg to add a lilly posescript.
DAVID. Well?
PLATO. S'pose you find any money in dat room?
DAVID. Money?
PLATO. I goes shares, sah, wid you, sah. Misser Michaelmas, I beg to wish you good-morning, (disappears.)
DAVID (impatiently). Oh, good-morning. (music, mysterious) Another talent of Mr. Plato's--a keen eye for the main chance. (shakes his head) No, it is clear Mr. Brentwood has not confided his secret to his bed. Stop! I'll try the floor. (goes R.) I have been measuring in feet--now I will measure in yards. (measures stage across from R.) Four--six--twelve--fourteen--confound it! (L. C.) it comes just in the middle of a board. Well, three across. (measures down from flat) Here is the point. The board is loose. (lifts board a little, stamps on the floor) Ugh! plenty of crawling creatures, at all events--spiders, centipedes, and such odd things--but not a line of written paper. I will try some other plan.
PLATO (shows his head as before). Misser Michaelmas!
DAVID. You, again? If you keep climbing up and down those steps much more, you'll convert them into a treadmill. What business has prompted you now?
PLATO. I present my compliments, and beg to offer another lilly posescript.
DAVID. Your conversation is like young ladies' letters, all postscripts.
PLATO. Why should two genblemen dispute about de money? I say, sah, you give me a dirty, lilly ten pounds down, and you hab all you git.
DAVID. I present, my compliments, and I beg to decline your offer. Good-morning, Mr. Plato.
PLATO (disgusted). De drefful greediness ob de white man am somefin' awful to behold. Mr. Michaelmas! Mr. Michaelmas! you are not going to lose a fortune for de sake of a lilly trumpetry ten poun' note? Don't you do it, sah! you'll git 'nuff money to pay off all de debts on you' estate.