The Man from Home by Harry Leon Wilson (book series to read .TXT) 📕
- Author: Harry Leon Wilson
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[almost in tears]
You're bullying me! I don't see why you talk so brutally to me.
[sadly and earnestly]
Do you think I'd do it for anything but you?
[angrily]
You are odious! Insufferable!
[humbly]
Don't you think I know you despise me?
I do not despise you; if I had stayed at home, and grown up there, I should probably have been a provincial young woman playing "Sweet Genevieve" for you to-night. But my life has not been that, and you have humiliated me from the moment of your arrival here. You have made me ashamed both of you and of myself. And now you have some preposterous plan which will shame me again, humiliate both of us once more, before my friends, these gentlefolk.
[A loud noise without. LADY CREECH'S voice is heard shouting.][pg 142]
[dryly]
I think the gentlefolk are here.
[The upper doors up centre are thrown open; LADY CREECH hurriedly enters, with MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY and HORACE, followed by ALMERIC.]
My dear child, what are you doing in this dreadful place with this dreadful person?
My dear, les convenances!
Ethel, I'm extremely surprised; come away at once!
Oh, I say, you know, really, Miss Ethel! You can't stay here, you know, can you?
I'm her guardian; she's here by my authority, she'll stay by my authority.
[LORD HAWCASTLE appears in the open doors and bows sardonically to PIKE.]
[suavely]
Ah, good-evening, Mr. Pike!
Lord Hawcastle, will you insist upon Ethel's leaving? It's quite on the cards we shall have a disagreeable scene here.
[smiling]
I see no occasion for it; we're here simply for Mr. Pike's answer. He knows where we stand and we know where he stands.[pg 143]
[with a grim smile]
I reckon you're right so far.
[continuing]
And his answer will be yes.
[with quiet emphasis]
But you're wrong there!
[to HORACE, with sudden seriousness]
Perhaps you are right, Mr. Granger-Simpson. Painful things may be done. Better the young lady were spared them. Take your sister away.
[He motions HORACE toward the door.]
For God's sake do—it may be quite rowdy.
[to ETHEL at the same time]
My dear, you positively must!
Ethel, I command you!
[ETHEL, troubled, half rises as if to go]
[imperiously, to ETHEL]
You stay right where you are!
[angrily]
Oh, I say!
Oh, the lynching ruffian!
Ethel, do you mean to let this fellow dictate to you?[pg 144]
[breathlessly and loudly, as if resistance were hopeless]
But—he says I must!
[She sinks back into her chair.]
[to HAWCASTLE]
You're here for an answer, you say?
[on the defensive]
Yes!
An answer to what?
[painfully resuming his suavity]
An answer to our request that you accede to the wishes of that young lady.
And if I don't, what are you going to do?
Ethel, you must go!
This man is an Apache!
[simultaneously]
Barbarian!
[to HAWCASTLE]
I'll leave it to you to tell her.
A gentleman would spare her that.
I won't! Speak out! Why do you come here sure of the answer you want?
[intensely annoyed]
Tut, tut!
Don't mumble your words!
I'll make it even plainer than you like.
I protest against this!
Throw the rotter out of the window!
[particularly addressing ETHEL]
This afternoon I tried to help a poor devil—a broken-down [pg 145] Russian running away from Siberia, where he'd been for nine years.
[She rises; her eyes eagerly meet his.]
A poor weak thing, hounded like you've seen a rat in the gutter by dogs and bootblacks. Some of your friends here saw us bring him into this apartment; they know we've got him here now. If I don't agree to hand over you and seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars of the money John Simpson made, it means that the man I have tried to help goes back to rot in Siberia and I go to an Italian jail for two years, or as much longer as they can make it.
[violently]
Nonsense!
[stepping toward PIKE, indignantly]
I knew that you had only a further humiliation in store for me—
[following her and trying to interrupt]
But my dear—
[with dignity]
No—you need make no denial for yourselves.
[To PIKE, haughtily.]
Do you think I would believe that an English noble would stoop—
[with passionate indignation]
Stoop! Why, ten years ago in St. Petersburg there was a poor revolutionist who, in his crazy patriotism, took government [pg 146] money for the cause he believed in. He made the mistake of keeping that money in his house, when this man
[pointing at HAWCASTLE]
knew it was there. He also made the mistake of having a wife that this man coveted and stole—as he coveted and stole the money. Oh, he made a good job of it! Don't think that to-night is the first time he has given information to the police. He did it then, and the husband went to Siberia—
[staggered and enraged]
A dastardly slander!
[in a ringing voice]
—and he'll do it again to-night. I go to an Italian jail
[he suddenly swings his outstretched hand to point to MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY, continuing without pause]
and, by the living God, that same poor devil of a husband goes back to Siberia!
[MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY, with an ejaculation of horror and fright, staggers back.]
[in extreme agitation]
It's a ghastly lie!
You came for your answer. Here it is.
[Calls sharply.]
Ivanoff!
[IVANOFF appears in the doorway on the right. He advances, lifts both [pg 147] clinched fists above MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY'S head.]
[MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY, with a shuddering cry, falls on her knees in an attitude of fright and abasement.]
Ivan!—oh, Mother of God!—Ivan! Don't kill me—
[IVANOFF shudders with weakness, trembles violently, collapses into chair, she still at his feet. IVANOFF sobbing.]
[starting toward her in extreme agitation]
Hélène!
[sternly to HORACE]
You keep back, she's his wife.
[Pointing to HAWCASTLE.]
And there stands his best friend!
It's a lie! I never saw the man before in my life.
[grimly, with a gesture toward MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY]
The lady seems to recognize him.
Almeric, go for the police. Call them quickly!
[His voice loud and hoarse.]
[springs to her feet, protesting]
No—no—I can't![pg 148]
[with his hand on IVANOFF'S shoulder]
Call them in—we're ready.
[To ETHEL.]
But I want you always to remember that I considered it cheap at the price.
[ETHEL, in an agony of shame, turns from him. At same time MADAME DE CHAMPIGNY, never taking her eyes from IVANOFF'S face, and showing great fear, moves back near HAWCASTLE.]
[opening the upper doors and calling]
Tell that officer to bring his men in here!
[VASILI enters briskly from the hall.]
[RIBIERE enters immediately after from the same direction.]
[in a loud, clear voice]
There will be no arrests to-night, my friends.
[violently, to ALMERIC]
Do as I say! This man
[meaning VASILI]
goes, too.
[curtly]
The officer is not there, the carabiniere have been withdrawn.
[To PIKE, gravely and rapidly.]
For your sake I have relinquished my incognito.
[To HAWCASTLE.]
The man Ivanoff is in my custody.
"IVAN! DON'T KILL ME!"
"IVAN! DON'T KILL ME!"
[pg 149][violently]
By whose authority? Do you know that you are speaking to the Earl of Hawcastle?
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