Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (1989 page)

DAVID. I can’t say, miss

MISS M. Well, I’ll wait for him here. (
takes a few steps to and fro impatiently
) No! I’ll go there to find him. (
aside
) I must see him! even if I have to meet Mr. Westcraft himself. I’ll go there first, anything is better than this suspense! (
off
R.1 E.)

DAVID. Ha! There’s something wrong there! (C.) The young lady don’t seem to know her own mind for two minutes together. In the time when I was a gentleman I should have asked if I could not be of some assistance to her, but now that I am a servant, I hold my tongue and mind my own business. Well, if I have got a few minutes before me, I had better run over the task I have set to myself. (
produces letter
) “Duplicate letter to the Provost-Marshal” — ”my room” — that is evidently the room in which he slept — ”six along and three across.” The puzzle lies in those last few words. Taking inches it might be a chest — taking feet, it might mean a room.

Enter by steps up
C., PLATO,
enthusiastically received by the
NEGROES,
as he comes down
C.

DAVID. Ah! my expected pilot.

PLATO (
bows
). Hab I kep’ you a-waitin’, sah? Sorry, sah! But de press ob culled business in dis island am puffectly oberwhelminatin’ on a public man like me.

DAVID. Are the public men well paid, Mr. Plato, on this island?

PLATO (
disgusted
). Well paid, sah! Dey is not paid at all, sah! All I gits is a lilly encouragement and de comfort ob my own approvin’ conscience. (L.
of
DAVID
at
C.)

DAVID (
aside
). Hem! I think I can manage this part of it very easily.

PLATO. What am de use ob my approvin’ conscience? Can we eat him? Will him fine me in clothes? Will he cober me up warm in de night? I is sick ob my approvin’ conscience!

DAVID. Well, Mr. Plato, about the sights of town. What is the first of your public institutions?

PLATO. Whareber de flag ob England floats, what is de fust of public institootions? Why, sah, de grog-shop roun’ de corner. Ha, yah!

DAVID. Well, before we patronize that public institution, I would like to put a few questions to you upon the old families of the island — all out of pure curiosity.

PLATO. I nebah encourage idle curiosity, sah. I hab moral objections to de same. Misser Michaelmas, I wish you a berry good mornin’. (
stands still, face turned from
DAVID.)

DAVID. Good-morning, Mr. Plato.

PLATO. Good-morning.

DAVID. (
aside
). He says good-morning, but he does not stir. I understand. (
aloud
) Mr. Plato, have you any moral objections to receive a sovereign?

PLATO. (
turning around quickly
). What dat you say, sah?

DAVID. Have you any moral objections to a sovereign?

PLATO. Not if you put It in my pocket when I am lookin’ de oder way. Shall I look de oder way, Misser Michaelmas?

DAVID. Not yet, Mr. Plato. I want some information. If you can give it, I will pay you handsomely, in installments of a crown at a time. Do you know where is the house of the Mr. Brentwood, that died some years ago?

PLATO. Massa Brentwood, sah! I was one ob de sarvints ob de family.

DAVID. Ah! you can look the other way.

PLATO (
turns his back on
DAVID,
both his hands in his coat-tail pockets, looking round
). A lubly mornin’, sah! I nebah see de birds look nicer a bloomin’ on de trees.

DAVID (
drops coin in
PLATO’S
pocket,
PLATO
rattles coin in one corner, fishes it up, furtively bites it, and drops it again in pocket, joyfully
). Ky!

DAVID. Is the house far from here?

PLATO. Pooty good long way from heah, sah, on de coast road to de norf.

DAVID. Does anyone live there now?

PLATO. De present owner libs in de new wing, sah.

DAVID. The
new
wing. (
aside
) Then “the old wing” means the old wing of the house. That is one mystery cleared up. Mr. Plato, I think you are looking the other way.

PLATO (
facing
L.). I tink not, sah!

DAVID. Oh, yes, you are.

PLATO. Well, sah, a genibleman kin look de oder way without remarkin’ it to himself. (
about half of those on the stage may retire gradually, ready to come on for the final tableau
) Hab you eber remarked dat, Mr. Michaelmas?

DAVID. Yes, I don’t know but what I have. (PLATO
shakes his coat-tails significantly
) Once more about the old wing. No one lives there?

PLATO (
shudders
). Not a soul, sah! Dat’s whar Massa Brentwood died, and den dey shut up all the rooms, and nobody eber go dar since, sah.

DAVID (
aside
). Then things are left just as when he inhabited there? Good. (aloud) You are looking the other way this time, Mr. Plato?

PLATO. I am admiring de beauty ob my native market-place. Lubly market-place, sah!

DAVID. I see. (
drops coin in
PLATO’S
pocket.
)

PLATO. Ky!

DAVID. Now then, I want a guide to take me to the old wing.

PLATO. Nobody is allowed to go dar, sah. Dey wouldn’t let you dar eben if you axed.

DAVID. Then I shall go without asking.

PLATO. You want a guide, sah?

DAVID. Yes. Can you find me one to point me out the room in which Mr. Brentwood died?

PLATO. I am the only living man that knows de ole wing.

DAVID. Ah! (
aside
) I have been too hasty with my second crown. I will weigh the next more carefully. Mr. Plato, no, you needn’t look the other way yet. I should like to take a walk along the road to the north. The rest of the sovereign will be found under the window of Mr. Brentwood’s room.

PLATO. Dar won’t be any risk to me, sah?

DAVID. None.

PLATO. Misser Michaelmas, dis is just do mornin’ for a walk along de coast road to de norf. Permit me to offer you my arm, sah?

DAVID. Thank you.

PLATO (
going
L.
with
DAVID). Mine the pebbles in the road, sah? Don’t ‘tep in de puddle! (
at
L. D.) Dis way, sah, dis way. Ont ob de way dar, you white niggahs! Mine de ‘tep, sah!

[
Exit, with
DAVID, L. 2 E. D.

Enter,
R. U. E.,
coming down
C., WESTCRAFT.

WEST. The Frenchman is coming at last. Ah! (
in satisfaction
) I am glad of it. (
cane in hand
) Let her but come as I am correcting him, and it will be just the triumph I want. (L. C.
front.
)

Enter,
R. U. E,
followed by
WOLF, LEYRAC.
Both come down.
SLAVES
and
PLANTERS
stroll on and off, by
U. E.’S.

WEST. So you have come at last?

LEY. You have sent me a message relative to that whip which you hold in your hand. Do you want another lesson such as I taught you this morning? Are you responsible for the insolence of this man? (
meaning
WOLF.)

WEST. Settle it with the man! (WOLF
looks at
LEYRAC
and smiles defiantly
) What does it matter to me?

LEY. Hark ye, Mr. Planter, I gave you the option of settling our quarrel like a gentleman.

WEST. Are you so vain as to imagine that any friend of mine would take a message to
you?
(ALL
on for picture.
)

LEY. Is that your answer?

WEST. All my answer, yes.

LEY. (
drawing glove off
). Then, take mine! (
strikes
WESTCRAFT
across face with glove.
)

Excitement. Semi-circle formed of
SPECTATORS
behind
WOLF, LEYRAC and WESTCRAFT.
Pause.

WEST. Bear witness, all of ye, that he has struck me in the face with his glove.

LEY. What! do you call witnesses to your degradation? Is there no shame in you?

WEST. (
sternly, with suppressed passion
. Wait a bit. You shall see. Wolf.

WOLF. Master? (
to
C.)

WEST. 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.
)