Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (1950 page)

MAG. Certainly. I am suffering, as you may perceive, from an affection of the eyes; I must beg your permission, therefore, to wear my veil down, and to sit away from the light.

MAD, L. Oh, you can’t bear the light; I’m really very sorry.

MAG. My errand is as follows: I lived many years as governess in the family of the late Mr. Andrew Vanstone, and I am come here in the interest of his two orphan daughters.

MAD. L. Ahem. I am surprised you can go out of doors without using a green shade.

MAG. I find a shade over my eyes keeps them too hot at this time of the year. May I ask if you heard what I have just said on the subject of my errand?

MAD. L. May I, on my part, inquire how that errand can possibly concern me?

MAG. Certainly. I come to you because Mr. Vanstone’s intentions towards the young ladies were made known in a letter from yourself.

MAD. L. Pray pardon me, I remember; but you are mistaken in supposing I am of any importance; I am merely the mouthpiece of Mr. Noel Vanstone, the pen he holds, if you will excuse the expression — nothing more. He is an invalid; he has his good days and his bad. It was a bad day when that answer was sent to, shall I say, Miss Vanstone. It was one of his bad days, and I had to write it, simply as his secretary, for want of a better.

MAG. I perceive.

MAD. L. If you wish to speak to Mr. Vanstone on this subject, I will mention your name to him. He is alone, and very luckily this is one of his good days. I have the influence of an old servant, and I will use that influence with pleasure.

MAG. If you would be so good, and I am not taking an undue advantage of your kindness.

MAD. L On the contrary, you are laying me under an obligation; you are permitting me, in my limited way, to assist the performance of a benevolent action, (
she goes off,
C.)

MAG. (
raises her veil
). Smooth speaker — hypocrite — do you think I cannot penetrate you? (
turns to the aquarium
) I wonder whose blood is the coldest — yours, you little monster, or your owner’s? I wonder which is the slimiest — her heart or your back? You hateful wretch, do you know what your mistress is? She is a devil.

MADAME LECOMPTE
enters,
C.

MAD. L. Mr. Vanstone will see you in a few minutes. He was just leaving his room. I must caution you, however, upon one point. You must be careful not to depress his spirits, or to agitate him in any way. His heart has been a cause of serious anxiety to those about him. There is no positive disease. It is only a chronic feebleness, a want of vital power.

MAG. I regret to hear it, really.

MAD. L. His medical advisers say it will go on well enough, if we don’t give it too much to do; so you will be kind enough to be cautious, and to keep a guard on your conversation.

MAG. (
aside
). Oh! the craft of that.

MAD. L. Talking of medical men, have you ever tried the golden ointment for the sad affliction in your eyes? I have heard it is an excellent remedy.

MAG. (
sharply
). It has not succeeded with me. Before I see Mr. Vanstone, may I inquire —
 
—

MAD. L. I beg pardon; if your question refers to these poor girls — the Miss Vanstones, I mean, of course — you must excuse me if I can’t discuss it, except in my master’s presence, so we’ll talk of something else. Have you noticed my glass tank? I have every reason to believe it a perfect novelty in England.

MAG. Yes, madam, I have looked at it.

MAD. L. But take no interest in it — quite natural. I took none in it I myself till I was married. My dear husband formed my tastes and elevated me to himself. You have heard of the late Professor Lecompte, the eminent Swiss naturalist? I am his widow. He permitted me to assist him in his pursuits, and I have had only one interest since his death — an interest in science. Eminent in many things, the Professor was great in reptiles. He left me his subjects and his tank. There is his tank. All the subjects died, but this quiet little fellow, this nice little toad. Are you surprised at my liking him? Very possibly; but the professor lived long enough to elevate me above the common prejudices. Properly understood, the reptile creation is very beautiful; properly dissected, it is instructive to the last degree.

NOEL VANSTONE
enters
L. U. E.
and on by
C.,
and sinks into seat at
R.
table.

VANSTONE. Madame Lecompte!

MAD. L. (
turning
). Oh, here’s my master. Mr. Vanstone, this is Miss Garth. (MAGDALEN
rises and bows.
)

VANS. Take a seat, Miss Garth. I am Mr. Noel Vanstone. You wished to see me — here I am. (MAGDALEN
resumes her seat.
)

MAD. L. May I be permitted to retire, sir?

VANS. Certainly not. Stay here, and keep us company. Madame Lecompte has my fullest confidence; whatever you may say to me you say to her. She is a domestic treasure; there is not another house in England has such a treasure as Madame Lecompte. (MADAME LECOMPTE
takes seat.
)

MAG. And now, sir, if you will permit me —
 
—

VANS. Stop a moment, let me move this candlestick — don’t suppose it’s a common one — it’s a Peruvian candlestick, madam. There are only three of that pattern in the world: one is in the possession of the Peruvian President, one is locked up in the Vatican, one is on my table; it cost ten pounds — it’s worth fifty. One of my father’s bargains, madam. All these are my father’s bargains. There’s not another house in England has such curiosities as these. Mrs. Lecompte is one of his bargains — ain’t you, my good Lecompte? My father was a remarkable man, madam. I’ve got on his dressing-gown — no such linen as this made now-a-days; you can’t get it for love or money. Would you like to feel the texture? Perhaps you’re no judge of texture; perhaps you’d prefer talking of these two pupils of yours you’ve come about.

MAG. Well, I should, sir.

VANS. There are two of them, I think. Are they fine girls — plump, fresh, full-blown English beauties?

MAG. Sir!

MAD. L. (
rising
). Excuse me, sir; but I really must beg to retire if you speak of the poor things in that way. Consider their position, sir; consider, too, Miss Garth.

VANS. You good creature, you excellent Lecompte! You see, madam, how she pities them. I don’t go so far as that myself, but I can make allowances for them. I am a large-minded man, I can make allowances for them and you. (
he takes the strawberry-plate in his lap, and eats carelessly.
)

MAD. L. Now, really, sir, you don’t intend it, but you shock Miss Garth, you do really; she’s not accustomed to you as I am; consider Miss Garth, as a favor to
me.

MAG. You are very good, madam; but I make no claim to be treated with consideration. I am a governess, and I don’t expect it. I have only one favor to ask — I beg Mr. Noel Vanstone, for his own sake, to hear what I have to say to him.

MAD. L. You understand, sir; it appears that Miss Garth has some serious warning to give you. She says you are to hear her for your own sake.

VANS. For my sake! (
puts plate on table, and draws back.
)

MAG. (
aside
). One discovery — he is a coward!

VANS. What do you mean, ma’am? what do you mean by telling me I am to listen for my own sake. If you come here to intimidate me, you come to the wrong man. My strength of character was universally allowed at Zurich, was it not, Lecompte?

MAD. L. Universally, sir; but, perhaps, we have misinterpreted Miss Garth’s meaning.

MAG. On the contrary, madam, you have exactly expressed my meaning; my object in coming here is to warn Mr. Noel Vanstone against the course which he is now taking.

MAD L. Oh don’t, madam! If you want to help these poor girls, don’t talk in that way; soften his resolution by entreaties, don’t strengthen it by threats.

VANS. You hear, madam; you hear the honest testimony of a person who has known me from childhood. Take care, Miss Garth, take care. (
takes the plate and resumes eating.
)

MAG. I have no wish to offend you, I am only anxious to state the truth. You are not acquainted with the characters of those whose fortunes have fallen in to your possession. I have known them from childhood, and I come to give you the benefit of my experience — in their interest, and in yours. You have nothing to dread from the elder of the two, she patiently accepts the hard lot which you and your father before you have forced on her. The younger sister’s conduct is the very opposite of this; she has already declined to submit to your father’s decision, and she now refuses to be silenced by Madame Lecompte’s letter. Take my word for it, sir, she is capable of giving you serious trouble if you persist in making her your enemy.

VANS. (
puts plate on table again
). Serious trouble! If — if you mean writing letters, ma’am, she has given me trouble enough already. She has written once to me, and twice to my father, and one of her letters to my father was a threatening letter, wasn’t it, Lecompte?

MAD. L. She expressed her feelings, poor child, and I thought it hard to send the letter back. What I said at the time, was, why not let her express her feelings? What are a few threatening words in her position, poor creature? they are words, and nothing more.

MAG. (
abruptly
). I advise you not to be too sure of that; I know her better than you do. You have referred, sir, to my pupil’s letters; we will not speak of those she sent your father, we will refer only to that she sent you. Is there anything unbecoming in that letter? Is there anything said in it that’s false? Is it not true that these two sisters have been cruelly deprived of the provision which their father made for them, by his dying before he could make a second will for their protection. Can you deny that?

VANS. I don’t attempt to deny it, madam; go on, Miss Garth, go on. (
plate and strawberry business as before.
)

MAG. Is it not true that the law, which has taken the money from these sisters, because their father made no second will, has given it to you, whose father made no will at all? Surely this is hard on these poor girls!

VANS. (
eating
). Oh, very hard! It strikes you so, doesn’t it, Lecompte?

MAD. L. Harrowing! I can characterize it, Miss Garth, by no other word than that — harrowing. But I think you have something more to say about your pupil’s letter?

MAG. I have only one more question to put: my pupil’s letter addressed a proposal to Mr. Vanstone, and I beg him to inform me why he has refused to consider it?

VANS. My good lady, are you really in earnest? Do you know what that proposal was?

MAG Yes, sir; it was one that asks of your sense of justice, what death alone prevented at the hands of her father. In plainer words, it reminds you that one-half his fortune was to have been theirs; and that half it asks you to give them, and to keep the rest yourself. That is her proposal!

VANS. And you further ask me why I have not considered it. For the simplest reasons, madam, because I’m not a fool.

MAD L. Don’t put it in that way, sir; be serious, pray be serious!

VANS. But I can’t be serious, Lecompte. My father took a high moral view of this matter; I have lived long enough on the Continent to do nothing of the sort. My course in this business is as plain as two and two make four. I have got the money, and I should be an idiot — a born idiot — if I parted with it; that’s my point of view. I don’t stand on my dignity; I don’t meet you with the law, though it is all on my own side. I don’t blame you for coming here to try and alter my resolution; I don’t blame the two girls for wanting to dip their fingers into my purse. All I say is, I am not fool enough to open it.
Pas si bête,
as we used to say at Zurich;
pas si bête!
(
returns plate to table.
)