Complete Poems and Plays (85 page)

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
Oh, I forgot. It’s Gertrude’s quiet hour.

I’ve been giving her lessons in recollection.

But she shouldn’t be singing.

L
UCASTA
.
                                     Well, what shall I do?

E
GGERSON
.
Let me go down and explain to Mrs. Guzzard

And then bring her up.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
                      No, I want you here, Eggerson.

Will you show her up, Lucasta?

L
UCASTA
.
                                       I’ll make B. do it.

[
Exit
L
UCASTA
]

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
I wish you could arrange the servants’ time-table better.

This is a most unfortunate beginning.

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
She’s been making progress, under my direction;

But she shouldn’t have been singing.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
                                            Well, are we ready?

[
A
quiet
knock.
Enter
K
AGHAN
,
escorting
M
RS
. G
UZZARD
.
Exit
K
AGHAN
]

Good morning, Mrs. Guzzard. I must apologise:

I’m afraid there has been some domestic incompetence.

You should have been announced.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
                                  I believe I was punctual.

But I didn’t mind waiting in the least, Sir Claude.

I know that you are always much engaged.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
First, let me introduce you to my wife.

Lady Elizabeth Mulhammer.

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH.
                       Good morning, Mrs. Guzzard.

You don’t know me, but I know about you:

We have more in common than you are aware of.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
I suppose you mean Colby?

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
                                              Yes. To do with Colby.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
Elizabeth, you know we are to leave that to Eggerson.

This is Mr. Eggerson, Mrs. Guzzard:

My confidential clerk. That is to say,

Colby’s predecessor, who recently retired.

Now he lives … in the country. But he knows the whole story:

He’s been in my confidence — and I may say, my friend —

For very many years. So I asked him to be present.

I hope you don’t mind?

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
                  Why should I mind?

I have heard about Mr. Eggerson from Colby.

I am very happy to make his acquaintance.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
And I thought he might … conduct the proceedings:

He’s the very soul of tact and discretion.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
Certainly, Sir Claude, if that is what you wish.

But is the subject of this meeting —

I suppose to do with Colby — so very confidential?

E
GGERSON
.
Yes, that is what I should call it, Mrs. Guzzard.

I take it, Sir Claude, I should open the discussion?

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
If you please, Eggerson.

E
GGERSON
.
                                               Then let’s make a start.

The question has to do, as you surmised, with Mr. Simpkins.

It also concerns a problem of paternity.

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
Or of maternity.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
                                         Don’t interrupt, Elizabeth.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
I don’t understand you.

E
GGERSON
.
                                                  It’s this way, Mrs. Guzzard.

It is only recently that Lady Elizabeth

Heard your name mentioned, by Mr. Simpkins.

She was struck by your name and your living in Teddington.

And now we must go back, many years:

Well, not so many years — when you get to my age

The past and the future both seem very brief —

But long enough ago for the question to be possible.

Lady Elizabeth, before her marriage

Had a child …

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
A son.

E
GGERSON
.
                         Had a son

Whom she could not, in the circumstances, acknowledge.

That happens not infrequently, Mrs. Guzzard.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
So I am aware. I have known it to happen.

E
GGERSON
.
— Who was taken charge of by the father.

That is to say, placed out to be cared for

Till further notice by a foster-mother.

Unfortunately, the father died suddenly …

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
He was run over. By a rhinoceros

In Tanganyika.

S
IR
C
LAUDE
.
         That’s not relevant.

Leave it to Eggerson.

E
GGERSON
.
                     The father died abroad.

Lady Elizabeth did not know the name of the lady

Who had taken the child. Or rather, had forgotten it.

She was not, in any case, in a position

In which she could have instituted enquiries.

So, for many years, she has been without a clue

Until the other day. This son, Mrs. Guzzard,

If he is alive, must be a grown man.

I believe you have had no children of your own;

But I’m sure you can sympathise.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
                                  I can sympathise.

I had a child, and lost him. Not in the way

That Lady Elizabeth’s child was lost.

Let us hope that her son may be restored to her.

E
GGERSON
.
That is exactly what we are aiming at.

We have a clue — or what appears to be a clue.

That is why Sir Claude has asked you to be present.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
You think that I might be able to help you?

E
GGERSON
.
It seems just possible. A few days ago,

As I said, Lady Elizabeth learned your name;

And the name struck her as being familiar.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD
.
Indeed? It is not a very common name.

E
GGERSON
.
That is what impressed her. Mrs. Guzzard

Of Teddington! Lady Elizabeth is convinced

That it was a Mrs. Guzzard of Teddington

To whom her new-born child was confided.

Of course she might be mistaken about Teddington …

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH
.
I am
not
mistaken about Teddington.

E
GGERSON
.
I am only suggesting, Lady Elizabeth,

There are other places that sound like Teddington

But not so many names that sound like Guzzard —

Or if there are, they are equally uncommon.

But, Mrs. Guzzard, this is where you can help us —

Do you know of any other Mrs. Guzzard?

M
RS
. G
UZZARD
.
                                             None.

E
GGERSON
.
Whether, I mean, in Teddington or elsewhere?

Now I must ask a more delicate question:

Did you, at any time, take in a child —

A child, that is, of parents unknown to you —

Under such conditions?

M
RS
. G
UZZARD
.
                Yes, I did take in a child.

My husband and I were childless … at the time,

And very poor. It offered two advantages.

E
GGERSON.
And did you know the name of the father

Or of the mother?

M
RS.
G
UZZARD.
         I was not told either.

I understood the child was very well connected:

Otherwise, I should not have taken him.

But he was brought to me by a third party,

Through whom the monthly payments were made.

E
GGERSON.
The terms were satisfactory?

M
RS.
G
UZZARD.
                                            Very satisfactory —

So long, that is to say, as the money was forthcoming.

E
GGERSON.
Did the payments come to an end?

M
RS.
G
UZZARD.
                                                     Very suddenly.

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH.
That must have been when Tony met with his accident.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD.
I was informed that the father had died

Without making a will.

L
ADY
E
LIZABETH.
              He was very careless.

M
RS.
G
UZZARD.
And that the heirs acknowledged no responsibility.