Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (1991 page)

Enter,
R.,
paper in hand,
PROVOST-MARSHAL.

MARSHAL, Count Maurice de Leyrac, I regret that I have an unpleasant commission to perform. (R.)

LEY. (C.,
with
MISS M.
on his left
). What is it, sir?

MAR. It is my official duty here to be present at the sale of slaves.

MISS M. My dear Provost-Marshal, that duty will be rendered less unpleasant by one exception to-day.

MAR. I run glad to hear it.

LEY. Stay, Emily. It is for me not to permit any thoughts injurious to my love of truth to be circulated. As far as regards me, your duty must be exercised.

MISS M. My darling, you are not bound to criminate yourself by revealing the secret of your birth.

MAR. You have only to remain silent. Mr. Westcraft has no written proof — and so matters will be in what is popularly termed a dead-lock.

LEY. I am not bound to volunteer any evidence that will injure me, but, if questions are directly put to me, I must not in honour permit my silence to pass for consent.

MAR. I must ask you certain leading questions, which will be registered in the records of the court.

LEY. Then, come what may I will not deny the mother that bore me! I am the son of Ruth the Quadroon! (MISS M.
tries to check his speaking.

MISS M. Oh! think of me! Don’t speak of that!

MAR. Though the consequences may be of such grievous import to yourself.

LEY. Knowing far more of the consequences than you think!

MAR. Sir, I respect you! (
offers his hand which
LEYRAC
eagerly takes.
)

LEY. Ah! thank you!

MISS M. (
to
MARSHAL). I will not be behind my husband in truth and self-sacrifice! Slave or free, you shall have the hand that I promised you!

MAR. Miss Milburn, you are a woman in a thousand!

MISS M. No! (
embraces
LEYRAC) I am only a woman who loves.

Enter,
R.,
paper in hand,
WESTCRAFT.

MISS M. What do you want here?

WEST. Ah! To tell you that the so-called Count de Laryac is included in the bill of sale. Does he deny he is a slave?

MAR. Alas! he will speak the truth.

WEST. You are wanted to attend the sale.

MAR. When?

WEST. In an hour.

Miss M. (
joyfully
) Then there is time to do what I wish for. Mr. Marshal, you were an old friend of my father’s.

MAR. Yes.

MISS M. Well, will you do me a favor? I know you will. The rector is at my house, and all is ready for the ceremony; will you attend and give me away!

MAR. With the greatest pleasure!

WEST. Remember you are answerable for that man.

MISS M. (
tauntingly
). The Provost-Marshal shall not lose sight of him, sir!

WEST. I shall have the pleasure, Miss Milburn, of attending the sale and buying your husband.

MISS M. I shall attend and outbid you!

[
Exit
MARSHAL, R , MISS M.
and
LEYRAC
to
R.

WEST. (C.). What! would you spend
all
your fortune on him?

MISS M. (
looking back, at
R. D.) To the last mark!

[
Exit
R.,
with
LEYRAC,
affectionately.

WEST. (
alone
). Baffled! She meant what she said! And her fortune is more than mine. How shall I act? Let me see — (
reads paper
) “All the property composing the Michaelmas estate, moveables, standing crops and in store and mill, cattle, slaves and buildings — ” “To be sold at public auction, unless previously disposed of by private contract!” (
repeats excitedly
) How did I come not to see that! by private sale! he’s mine! he’s mine at last!

[
Exit,
R.

Scene changes to

SCENE III. —
Market-place in 5th grooves, same as Scene III., Act II. Groups and market-people as before.
PLANTERS,
some with rattans and cowhides, strolling about, note-books in hand, smoking, etc.

FIRST PLANTER. What can all this mean? The first lot of the niggers hasn’t yet arrived.

SECOND PLANTER. It begins to look like no sale.

FIRST P. Who’ll come along of me around to the Provost-Marshal’s? (
going up.
)

SECOND P. (
up
R ). Oh! here comes the Provost-Marshal.

Enter,
R. U. E.,
coming down
C., MARSHAL, MISS MILBURN
on
LEYRAC’S
arm. ALL flock around them.

MAR. What does this all mean?

SECOND P. There’s no sale.

FIRST P. It ought to have been begun half an hour ago.

MAR. I will go to my office and see what has caused the delay.

Enter,
R. U. E., WESTCRAFT.

WEST. The sale is stopped.

ALL. Stopped!

MISS M. (
to
LEYRAC). What does he mean? (
uneasy.
LEYRAC
tries to quiet her.
)

WEST. Yes. The notice has been sent to your office. (
to
MISS M.) It means that you rated your husband at the value of all your fortune, and I have rated my revenge at the whole value of mine. That is my slave! Take leave of your wife and come!

MISS M. (
clinging to
LEYRAC). He cannot part us! I will go with you! anywhere!

WEST. I forbid it! I forbid his wife to live on my plantation! He has married without his master’s consent.

MISS M. (
to
MARSHAL). Oh! they cannot separate me from him?

MAR. (
affected
). I fear that the — the laws, in fact, he can.

WEST. Do you hear that?

LEY. Mr. Planter,
your slave
wishes a word with you on the subject of his wife.

WEST. Ha, ha! so you have found your tongue at last. You were silent enough the last time we met.

LEY. The last time that we met, and the other times that we have met, I was conscious that I came in between you, and the woman of your love. Besides, I was once or twice guilty of having given way to my passion towards you. Yet, I bore many an insult from you before I turned to chastise. I offered you the satisfaction of a gentleman, but you refused it. Then I insulted you in the public market place. Still you were the injured man.

WEST. I
was
the injured man. (
loftily
) Pray, how is it that I am not so now?

LEY. Your conduct this day to me in the presence of my wife! If the wrong I had done you had been a thousand times what it is, what you have done would be exacting its requital ten-fold! You refused to meet me sword in hand, and waited till you might hold the slave-whip. Villain, you have taken the coward’s vengeance! You strike at me through my wife’s heart! Reptile! you forbore the sting until she was on my bosom. (PLANTERS
stand back from
WESTCRAFT. WOLF
enters,
R. U. E.,
and comes down
R.,
to stay behind
WESTCRAFT) Tiger! you waited for this moment to tear her from me! (MISS MILBURN
sobs, clinging to
LEYRAC.
Tenderly
) What, tears! Don’t cry! Your tears are a part of his vengeance! Look up! (
fiercely, as before
) Your slave defies you! Never can you sever what God and man have brought together! The prison is not strong enough to hold me! the whip is not twisted that can tame me! the laws not made that can keep me from her. Now, here she is! on her husband’s breast! heart to heart! part us — part us, if you dare! and, by Heaven! you will do it at the peril of your life!

WEST. (
laughs
). Ha! my prison will hold you.

MISS M. (
sobbing
). No, no!

WEST. My lash will tame you! But I waste words on you. Wolf!

LEY. Try it!

WEST. For the last time, will you follow me? (
Business.
LEYRAC
tries to release himself from
MISS M.
in order to fight with
WOLF
and other
NEGROES.)

Enter,
R. U. E.,
waving letter,
DAVID.

DAVID. Oh, master! (ALL
fall back from
LEYRAC) I have found it! (
looks around, puzzled
) What can have happened? You forget, sir — it is the letter that was hidden.

LEY. No matter! (
tries to restore
MISS M.
to consciousness out of her faint,
L.)

DAVID. But it may be of some importance. Oh! there is something wrong here!

LEY. Another time, good David! I cannot attend to it now.

DAVID. But it’s the Brentwood letter! I found it by the instructions in the pocket-book of Ruth the quadroon.

WEST. What’s that about Ruth the quadroon? If it concerns her son I claim an interest in it as his master. Let it be taken care of for me.

DAVID (
to
MARSHAL). It is directed to you, sir.

MAR. (
takes letter
). To me! Mr. Brentwood’s handwriting! Mention of a duplicate letter addressed to me — I never received any letter — could his jealous wife have suppressed it? Ah! (
opens letter.
)

WEST. There, now, will you follow me? (
speaks to
WOLF
animatedly.
)

DAVID (
aside
). I understand now! he is a slave on
his
plantation. Oh!

MAR. (
aside
). A few moments’ delay will be a grace for his poor wife. (
reads letter and evinces surprise and joy
) What is this I see! can I credit it!

WEST. Come don’t read it to yourself, but read it aloud.

MAR. You wish me to read it aloud. Ha, ha! Thanks to your interference, Mr. Westcraft, I have read this now when I might otherwise have deferred it, and repented my delay all the rest of my life. I hold here in my hand a paper of manumission signed and sealed by Mr. Brentwood, in favor of the son of Ruth.

WEST. What’s that you say? (
all are amazed.
)

MAR. I congratulate you, Mr. Westcraft. You have bought the Michaelmas estate, but you have not bought Maurice de Leyrac.

WEST. It’s a forgery! I dispute it!

MAR. A man like you always disputes the truth! (PLANTERS
flock round
MARSHAL
to examine the papers.
)

WEST. I’ll spend every penny I have to contest it.

DAVID (L. C.). You can’t! for you have spent every penny you have to buy my estate.