The Woman in White (Play)

Wilkie Collins


The Woman in White (Play) Page 04

I thought I heard some one cry out in the vestry.

Pesca. And I too! Let us listen again.

(A momentary pause.)

[16]Wal. Ought we to interfere?

Pesca. Is it any business of ours?

Wal. (imposing silence on PESCA). Hush!

Mrs. C. (imposing silence on SIR PERCIVAL). Hush!

THE CURTAIN FALLS. THE END OF THE PROLOGUE

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[17]PERSONS REPRESENTED IN THE DRAMA.

SIR PERCIVAL GLYDE. COUNT FOSCO. WALTER HARTRIGHT. PROFESSOR PESCA. MR. KYRLE PHILIP. Two Strangers, Members of a Secret Society. Two Men, Attendants at a Lunatic Asylum. Servants.

LAURA FAIRLIE. MARIAN HALCOMBE. ANNE CATHERICK. COUNTESS FOSCO. The Matron at the Lunatic Asylum.

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[18]

ACT I. DATE: June 30, 1862. PLACE: Limmeridge Park, Cumberland.

The action takes place, towards evening, in an ornamental summer-house, called "The Swiss Chalet," in Limmeridge Park.

The stage represents the interior of the chalet. A closed door on the left in supposed to lead into a second room. At the back, a larger door (open), and a large open window (on the right of the door), disclose a view of the park, closed by the trees in the distance. The red glow of sunset is over the scene. Two small tables with sketching materials on them, and a few chairs, form the furniture of the chalet.

At the rise of the curtain, WALTER HARTRIGHT and MARIAN HALCOMBE are discovered. WALTER is about to leave the chalet by the door at the back. MARIAN, appearing at the door on the left, stops him.

Mar. Wait a moment.

Wal. (turning round at the door). Pardon me, Miss Halcombe. Miss Fairlie has gone on to the house.

Mar. I wish to speak to you before you join Miss Fairlie. (She seats herself at a table in the centre, and signs to WALTER to take a chair on the opposite side.) Mr. Hartright, you have been staying with us at Limmeridge for three months----

Wal. The three happiest months of my life!

Mar. In the course of your residence with us, I have come to feel a strong friendly regard for you. I believe you to be a gentleman, in the highest and best sense of the word. In that belief I am about to appeal to your honour, and to your good sense. You have attempted to keep a secret from me. I have discovered your secret!

[19]Wal. (starting). Miss Halcombe!

Mar. You have allowed yourself to form an attachment--a serious and devoted attachment, I am afraid--to Laura Fairlie. (WALTER attempts to speak. She stops him.) I don't ask you to make any confession; I don't put you on your defence. You have taken no underhand advantage; you have not spoken to Laura in secret. Shake hands; I have given you pain; I am going to give you more; shake hands first, with your friend, Marian Halcombe. (She gives him her hand across the table.) Plainness is kindness, Mr. Hartright, in such a case as this. You must leave Limmeridge House.

Wal. (bitterly). I understand, Miss Halcombe. When a drawing-master is hired to teach a young lady, he is expected to leave his heart, where he leaves his hat--in the hall.

Mar. (looking at him with sincere pity). Poor fellow! poor fellow!

Wal. (recovering himself). I beg your pardon! I am not as ungrateful as I seem; I am not indeed! When must I go?

Mar. Let me tell you first, why you must go. What I have just said to you, I must have said if you had been a member of one of the greatest families in England. You must leave us, not because you are a teacher of drawing--(she pauses for a moment. WALTER eagerly waits for the next words)--but because Laura Fairlie is engaged to be married.

Wal. (thunderstruck). Engaged to be married!!!

(His head sinks on his breast, he can say no more. MARIAN rises and lays her hand on his shoulder.)

Mar. Crush it! Don't shrink under it like a woman. Tear it out! trample it under foot like a man! (WALTER lifts his head, electrified by her words.) Are you yourself again?

Wal. (rising). Enough myself to own that you are right. One question before I go. Has she been long engaged?

Mar. For nearly two years.

Wal. (hesitatingly). Marriage engagements are not always engagements of love. Does she----(Checking himself.) No! I have no right to ask that.

[20]Mar. I understand you. Laura has consented to the engagement. She is bound by honour (if not by love) to keep her word. She was heart-free at the time. The parents on either side wished it. Her father appealed to her on his deathbed. Ask me no more! The marriage is to take place in a month from this. We expect Sir Percival Glyde----

Wal. (interrupting her). The man who is to marry her?

Mar. Do you know him?

Wal. I hear his name now for the first time.

Mar. (continuing). We expect Sir Percival Glyde and his friend, Count Fosco, here this evening. Judge for yourself of the necessity for your departure, for Laura's sake.

Wal. (turning to the door). I will go, Miss Halcombe. (He pauses, struggling with his emotion.) How can I excuse my departure to her? She expects me at the house. She will be surprised--offended--oh, Miss Halcombe, one last word, one last look from her, to take away with me into the empty world!

Mar. No! For your own sake go at once, and leave it to me to find your excuse. Hush! footsteps outside! She is coming back to look for you. (LAURA FAIRLIE appears at the door at the back.) Mind! I trust you!

(WALTER reassures her by a gesture. She withdraws to one side of the room, at the back. LAURA advances to WALTER.)

Laura. Has anything happened, Mr. Hartright? What is keeping you here?

Wal (restraining himself). My own reluctance, Miss Fairlie, to say the hardest of all hard words--farewell!

Laura (approaching nearer to him). Farewell?

Wal. (with his eyes on the ground). I ought to have told you before this. The truth is, I have been so happy here----

Laura. You don't mean that you are going away?

Wal. (more and more constrainedly). A message from London; a necessity, to which I am obliged--instantly obliged--to submit.

Laura. To-morrow?

Wal. To-day--at once.

Laura (startled and distressed). So suddenly! Without [21]even one poor little minute to spare! (She turns to MARIAN.) Marian! have you heard this? (MARIAN answers by a sign in the affirmative. LAURA turns once more to WALTER.) Are you to be long away? Are you not coming back?

Wal. I am afraid there is no hope of my coming back.

Laura (to herself). What does he mean? (She appeals again to MARIAN.) Marian!

Mar. (remaining at the back). Mr. Hartright has no alternative but to leave us.

Laura (to MARIAN). Why?

Mar. My dear Laura, there is no time to tell you why! The evening is drawing on. There is nobody at the house to receive Sir Percival----

Laura (with an expression of pain). Say no more! (To herself.) Marian has told him! (She looks towards WALTER.) How can I comfort him? how can I help him to bear it? (She goes to the side table, takes from it a little pocket sketching-book, and returns to WALTER.) I am very sorry, Mr.

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