Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (1999 page)

Wragge
(
aside to
MAGDALEN). Keep behind me!

Noel
(
reading here and there only from the bill
). “Age eighteen; walks with grace and ease; personal mark, two little moles on the left side of the neck.”

Mag.
(
outraged
). Oh!

Mrs. L.
(
trying to see
MAGDALEN). Did Miss Bygrave speak?

Wragge.
I
spoke. I expressed a natural interest in a fine girL I said — oh!

Noel.
What a neck it must be! One quite longs to kiss the two little moles!

(MAGDALEN
mutely expresses her indignation.
)

Mrs. L.
(
to
WRAGGE). Are you hiding your niece from me, Mr. Bygrave?

Wragge.
My niece is shy, Mrs. Lecount. Your admiration rather discomposes her.

Noel
(
to
MRS. LECOUNT). Where did you get this handbill, Lecount?

Mrs. L.
I hardly like to tell you, Mr. Noel. It was given to me by Mr. George Bartram.

(NOEL
starts, and looks offended.
)

Mag.
(
amazed and distressed
). George!

Mrs. L.
(
hearing her, and looking round
WRAGGE). Miss Bygrave, do you know him?

Wragge.
Well! A distant connexion of ours. George Bartram of Bombay. (
Aside to
MAGDALEN.) Control yourself!

Noel.
It’s not the same, Mr. Bygrave. Not Bartram of Bombay. If I had known George was here, Lecount, I should have insisted on an apology. What did he mean by giving you the handbill?

Mrs. L.
It is his infatuation, Mr. Noel. You must make allowances for him. The runaway young lady with the moles is — Miss Magdalen Vanstone.

Wragge
(
speaking aloud
). Let’s see how the children are getting on. (
He gives
MAGDALEN
his arm, and continues aside.
) Has she seen the moles on your neck?

Mag.
My hair hides them, as my hair is dressed to-day.

(WRAGGE
and
MAGDALEN
walk aside a little.
)

Noel.
Don’t talk of the Miss Vanstones, Lecount. I’m sick of the very sound of their names.

Mrs. L.
Forgive me, sir, if I say one little word more. I have a message to give you about these Miss Vanstones.

Mag.
(
aside to
WRAGGE). Do you hear that?

(
She drops
WRAGGE’S
arm, but continues to stand near him, listening intently. They are both at some little distance from
NOEL
and
MRS. LECOUNT.)

Noel.
Who gave you the message?

Mrs. L.
Admiral Bartram, sir.

Noel.
You must have made some mistake. You’re getting addle-headed, you good creature!

Mrs. L.
I have made no mistake. The admiral — in so many words — expresses his sympathy with the Miss Vanstones. He recommends you, most seriously recommends you, to halve the money with them. There is the message, sir.

Noel.
Halve the money with them! I wouldn’t give them a sixpence, Lecount, if they were both on their knees before me at this moment!

(WRAGGE
turns instantly on
MAGDALEN,
with his hand lifted to check an anticipated outbreak. To his amazement she is, outwardly, quite calm.
)

Wragge
(
starting
). She is as cool as I am!

Mag.
(
with her hand on her bosom and her teeth set
). She is controlling herself!

Mrs. L.
(
intentionally aggravating
NOEL). Be careful, Mr. Noel. They say the young one of the two — the runaway — is a dangerous person to make an enemy of.

Noel.
Pooh! pooh! If the young one (as you call her) annoys me, the young one will see the inside of a police court. Not a sixpence to either of them, Lecount! My mind is made up — drop the subject. (
He turns to
MAGDALEN.) I hope you’re not bored, Miss Bygrave? I hope I may count on seeing you again?

Mag.
(
significantly
). You may count certainly, Mr. Vanstone, on seeing me again. (NOEL
bows, simpers, and passes on to the tea-table.
MAGDALEN
turns to
WRAGGE,
and continues aside to him.
) If you let him say another word to me, I won’t answer for the consequences!

Wragge.
Come this way.

(
He takes her towards the opening of the tent.
MRS. LECOUNT,
who has hitherto remained in her place steadily watching
MAGDALEN,
slowly approaches the tea-table. At the same moment the teacher of the school gives the signal to the children to rise, by striking three strokes with a mallet on the table. The visitors disperse in the tent.
MAGDALEN
and
WRAGGE
are seen pacing backwards and forwards outside, before the opening of the tent, screened from the observation of
NOEL
and
MRS. LECOUNT
by the front rank of the visitors.
NOEL
resumes the direction of the proceedings.
)

Noel.
Silence, for the Grace after tea! (
The children sing another verse of the Grace. At the close of it,
MAGDALEN
and
WRAGGE
re-enter the tent, keeping back in the left-hand corner, so as to be out of the way of the visitors when they leave the place.
NOEL
gives the children the word of command for leaving.
) Left about face! File out! (
The children slowly file out, singing the last verses of the Grace. Their voices grow fainter in the distance.
NOEL
turns to
MRS. LECOUNT,
who is near him
) Lecount! you have upset me about those Miss Vanstones. (
He puts his hand on his heart.
) I have got that cursed palpitation again.

Mrs. L.
Sit down and rest, Mr. Noel.

Noel.
How can I sit down, when I have got to take the children back to the house? Nobody can do it but me!

Mrs. L.
Take my arm, sir.

(NOEL
takes her arm. They go out together on the right to join the children. The visitors leave the tent by the back.
MAGDALEN
and
WRAGGE
come down to the front together. The voices of the children are still heard more and more faintly to the end of the Act.
)

Wragge
(
looking round him
). We are alone. What do you say
now?

Mag.
(
with concentrated energy
). Noel Vanstone shall render back to the last farthing the birthright of which he has robbed my sister and me.

Wragge.
Bravely resolved. You saw your way with his father, if his father had lived. Do you see your way with him?

Mag.
Not yet.

Wragge.
I
see it plainly.

Mag.
Point it out.

Wragge.
You must have noticed yourself that you have produced a strong impression on Noel Vanstone.

Mag.
(
angrily
). Don’t waste time and words! How are we to begin?

Wragge.
We are to begin by improving our acquaintance with him. He is going to Aldborough, on the Suffolk coast, for the benefit of his health. We must go there too.

Mag.
And what then?

Wragge.
Is it possible you don’t see? You want — thousand by thousand — to squeeze the little miser’s money out of him.

Mag.
Only the money that is ours!

Wragge.
Only the money that is yours. There is one certain way, and but one, of doing that.

Mag.
(
impatiently
). In two words, what is it?

Wragge.
In two words, marry him!

MAGDALEN
starts back thunderstruck. The last faint sound of the children’s voices dies away in the distance. The curtain falls.
)

THE END OF THE SECOND ACT.

ACT III.

IN THREE SCENES.

(DATE JULY 16, 1870.)

FIRST SCENE. —
The beach at Aldborough, Suffolk. Time, morning. On the horizon, the sea and the low coast, crowned by a martello tower. In the middle distance, on the (actor’s) right hand, the old town-hall of Aldborough, close on the margin of the sea. Further inland, modern seaside villas. In the foreground, on the left, the verandah and doorsteps by which
CAPTAIN WRAGGE’S
villa is entered. In the middle of the stage, the garden of the villa, bounded by a fence, with one or two iron garden chairs standing about. On the right-hand side, a portion of the public promenade, which serves as the entrance on the right, and communicates with the garden by a gate. The entrance on the left is by the way in and out of
CAPTAIN WRAGGE’S
villa. A fortnight has passed since the preceding Act.

At the rise of the curtain,
MRS. LECOUNT
is discovered on the right, standing outside the cottage-gate, and looking at
MAGDALEN,
who is seated in the garden, at some little distance up the stage, with her eyes fixed on the sea, unconscious of
MRS. LECOUNT’S
presence, lost in her own thoughts.

Mrs. L.
There she sits! plotting to be mistress of Mr. Noel’s house, in my place. Do it, my young lady, if you can. (
She looks away from
MAGDALEN,
and pursues her own thoughts.
) Proof! nothing will open Mr. Noel’s eyes but proof. I have my own suspicion, which tells me who that girl really is — but I have no more. What is wanting to put the proof in my hands? I have only to see the lawyer, whose name is at the bottom of Mr. George’s printed bill. But seeing the lawyer means going to London. And going to London, means leaving my blind little fool of a master to marry Miss Bygrave in my absence.

(CAPTAIN WRAGGE
appears on the left, descending the steps of the cottage. He is dressed like a respectable middle-aged gentleman, and is in high spirits.
)