Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2002 page)

(
He goes out on the right. The scene closes on
MAGDALEN,
still petrified in her chair, and changes to

THE SECOND SCENE. —
A Front Scene representing a room in
MR. PENDRIL’S
chambers, at Lincoln’s Inn. Side entrances, right and left. Time, night. Three days are supposed to have passed since the First Scene. It is Tuesday night.

Enter
MR. PENDRIL
and
MISS GARTH
on the left;
MR. PENDRIL
has an open letter in his hand.

Mr. P.
I must apologise for receiving you in this comfortless room, Miss Garth. I have a few friends to dinner to-night, and we can only consult privately here.

Miss G.
(
eagerly
). What have you heard?

Mr. P.
Magdalen has been discovered at Aldborough, by Noel Vanstone’s housekeeper, Mrs. Lecount. I received this letter from her, by private messenger, an hour since, and instantly sent off to you. Read it.

(
He gives
MISS GARTH
the letter.
)

Miss G.
(
after looking over the first page of the letter
). Not a doubt! It
is
Magdalen! (
She turns to the second page and starts.
) What’s this? On the point of being married to Noel Vanstone, in a false character, and under a false name? Oh! You don’t believe
that!

Mr. P.
See what Mrs. Lecount says of it.

Miss G.
(
reading a passage in the letter
). “The moment I got to my brother’s house, I found out the trick that had been played upon me. The object is plain. She has got me out of her way, and she means to marry Mr. Noel in my absence.” (MISS GARTH
turns to
MR. PENDRIL.) The bare thought of it horrifies me! What are we to do?

Mr. P.
We must wait to hear further from Mrs. Lecount. You have not read the postscript.

Miss G.
(
reading the postscript
). “I have gone to speak to Mr. George Bartram at his chambers. You shall see me, or hear from me, afterwards.” Can we trust Mrs. Lecount?

Mr. P.
We may trust her, where her own interests are concerned. (
He looks of on the right.
) Here is more news coming.

Miss G.
(
looking off
). George Bartram! (GEORGE
enters on the right.
MISS GARTH
eagerly appeals to him.
) What have you heard? Can Mrs. Lecount stop this horrible marriage?

Geo.
Do Magdalen justice! Mrs. Lecount is her enemy — Mrs. Lecount may be doing her grievous wrong.

Mr. P.
I would not advise you to rely on that.

Geo.
I don’t rely on it. I am now on my way to the terminus to order a special train for Aldborough, to-morrow morning.

Miss G.
A special train?

Geo.
The earliest passenger train to-morrow only reaches Aldborough at half-past one in the afternoon. By special train, we shall get there in time to stop the marriage — if marriage is really contemplated.

Miss G.
Are
you
going to Aldborough with Mrs. Lecount?

Geo.
Certainly, for Magdalen’s sake.

Mr. P.
You still believe in her?

Geo.
I know what is noble in Magdalen’s nature, Mr. Pendril. I know how unsuspiciously a noble nature receives first impressions, how slow it is to calculate, how quick it is to feel. It may fall, on the hard journey of life, but it has in it the capacity to rise again. Magdalen will yet appeal against your hard judgment of her. Till that time comes,
I
can see that her own keen sense of the wrong that she has suffered is her own worst enemy.
I
can make allowance for generous impulses led astray by temptation and bad advice. In one word,
I
can sympathise with her, and
I
go to Aldborough with Mrs. Lecount.

Mr. P.
Why do you wait till to-morrow if you take a special train?

Geo.
There is no other alternative. Mrs. Lecount is not able to travel to-night.

Miss G.
Fatigue?

Geo.
Partly fatigue. She has travelled from London to Penzance, and then back again from Penzance to London, with only a half-hour’s interval between the journeys. But there is another reason. When she left my chambers, she left for a long interview with her lawyer.

Mr. P.
What does she want with her lawyer?

Geo.
From certain expressions which she let fall, I suspect she is going back to Noel Vanstone provided with the necessary form for making his will.

Mr. P.
Quite likely.

Geo.
(
to
Miss GARTH). Have you any message to Magdalen? You shall hear from me by telegraph.

Miss G.
I will send my message by telegraph, when I know that Magdalen is not married.

Geo.
Good-night, Mr. Pendril. They may want notice at the terminus. I have no time to lose.

(
He goes out on the right.
)

Miss G.
(
to
MR. PENDRIL). How will it end?

Mr. P.
The telegraph will tell us. Don’t let it dwell on your mind. You will find friends of yours among my guests. Come and join them.

(
He gives
MISS GARTH
his arm. They go out at the left. The scene changes to

THIRD SCENE. —
The drawing-room of
NOEL VANSTONE’S
villa at Aldborough. Time, the next morning. A bow-window at the back, with a view over the sea. Entrances at the side, right and left. A sofa in a prominent position, so that it can be seen by the whole audience. A small writing-table in one part of the room, a side-table in another, with a bottle of wine, on it and some glasses.
WRAGGE
and
NOEL VANSTONE
are discovered in the room.

Wragge
(
giving
NOEL
his hand
). Accept my congratulations, Mr. Vanstone! Nothing has occurred to disturb the marriage ceremony. You and my niece are man and wife. (NOEL
silently nods his acknowledgments, and puts his hand to his heart.
) Any pain at the heart?

Noel.
Not exactly pain, a horrid sinking.

Wragge
(
aside, looking at him
). That diseased heart of his is no fancy! (
To
NOEL.) Take a glass of wine.

(
He gives
NOEL
a glass of wine, and takes one himself.
)

Noel
(
looking at the clock on the chimney-piece
). A quarter to twelve! I want to get a good start of Lecount. Where is my wife?

Wragge.
Putting on her travelling-dress. We will send and say the carriage is at the door. (
He rings the bell. A female servant appears.
) Is your mistress dressed yet for the journey?

The Servant.
Dressed — and gone out, sir.

Noel
(
in alarm
). Gone out!

Wragge.
Odd, isn’t it? (
To the Servant.
) You needn’t wait.

The Servant.
If you please, sir, a gentleman called just now, and left this card and letter for you.

(
She hands the letter and the card to
WRAGGE,
and goes out.
)

Wragge
(
looking at the card
). The local chemist! I never take physic — what the deuce can the chemist mean by writing to me?

Noel
(
terrified
). It’s a blind to deceive us. The chemist is a spy of Lecount’s! If you don’t mind, I’ll wait and see what comes of it in the next room.

(NOEL
goes out on the left.
)

Wragge
(
looking after him
). What a life he must have led with Mrs. Lecount! (
He opens and reads the letter.
) “To Thomas Bygrave, Esq.” What’s this? (
He takes out some postage stamps.
) Postage stamps! (
He reads.
) “Sir, — Excuse my intruding on you. I have a word to write to you in private on the subject of your niece. I know the young lady by sight, having often seen her walking with you on the public promenade. A few minutes since she came into my shop. I must beg you not to he alarmed. She said she was suffering from toothache, and she asked me for an ounce of laudanum.” (
He stops in alarm.
) Poison! (
He goes on reading.
) “I may have been wrong, but I thought I saw signs of very serious agitation in her face and manner. I have daughters of my own, and I felt warned to be careful. I served the young lady with a bottle of harmless coloured liquid, and I hasten immediately to communicate with you. The money your niece gave me is enclosed in postage stamps. And I beg to add that the circumstance will be kept strictly secret by yours obediently, —
 
— ” (WRAGGE
puts the letter into his pocket, and speaks, after an interval, in tones of sincere distress.
) She whispered in my ear when the service began, “Don’t be afraid of me.” And this is how it ends! This is how she faces the prospect of going away with Noel Vanstone as his wife! What will happen when she discovers that she has been saved in spite of herself? I know her! She will seek some new means of self-destruction before the day is out. What am I to do? (
He goes to the window, looks out, and returns.
) She is coming in! My wife has met her at the door. Has she drunk the harmless draught?

Enter on the right
MAGDALEN
and
MRS. WRAGGE. WRAGGE
stands apart observing
MAGDALEN.

Mrs. W.
(
timidly
). You don’t seem happy now you’re married. Are you troubled in your mind?

Mag.
(
putting her arm affectionately round
MRS. WRAGGE). My poor dear! I puzzle you, don’t I? You mustn’t fret about me. My trouble will soon be over.

Wragge
(
aside
). She
has
drunk it. She believes she has poisoned herself!

Mag.
(
continuing, very tenderly
). When you are an old, old woman, you will remember me kindly, won’t you? You will say, “She wasn’t a bad girl. Hundreds worse than she was live and proper, and nobody blames them.”