Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2019 page)

Fosco.
Here!

Sir P.
Miss Halcombe is with my wife — in my wife’s room. What does it mean?

Fosco.
Stop up-stairs. I’ll join you directly.

(SIR PERCIVAL
leaves the window.
FOSCO
again occupies himself with
ANNE.)

Fosco.
I can just feel the heart. A fainting fit, nothing more.
(He picks up
ANNE’S
cloak, and draws back a little, looking at her. She lies exactly in the same position which
LADY GLYDE
assumed when she rested on the sofa. The moonlight falls in the same way on her face and bosom. The orchestra plays the same music which it played while
LADY GLYDE
was reclining.
FOSCO
is struck by the resemblance.)
The likeness is wonderful! I can hardly believe that Percival’s wife is in her own room. Lady Glyde herself.
(He suddenly throws up both hands above his head, and rushes out on the lawn. An irrepressible cry bursts from him.)
Oh! what a thought!

(SIR PERCIVAL
opens the drawing-room door.
FOSCO
hears him, hurries back under the verandah, and throws the cloak over
ANNE
so as to conceal her.)

Sir P. (advancing from the drawing-room).
What are you about? I’m tired of waiting for you.

Fosco (wildly).
Come out here!

(He seizes
SIR PERCIVAL
by the arm, and drags him out on to the lawn, without allowing him to see anything. They stand with their backs to the verandah.
FOSCO,
in a fever of excitement, still holding
SIR PERCIVAL
by the arm.)

Sir P.
Are you mad?

Fosco.
I am paralysed by the grandeur of my own discovery! I am frantic with the frenzy of my own thought! The money, Percival, the money. The thirty thousand and the ten thousand are yours and mine!

Sir P. (shrinking back).
By Jupiter! he
is
mad!

Fosco.
Listen! Lady Glyde shall die, in the belief of all the world, and shall, nevertheless, be a living woman, known only to our two selves! (SIR PERCIVAL
attempts to speak.)
Wait! you don’t see it yet. You know the likeness between your wife and Anne? You know that Anne’s life hangs by a thread? Follow me from those two points. When Anne dies, she shall die — before all the witnesses — in your wife’s clothes, under your wife’s name. (SIR PERCIVAL
attempts to speak again.)
Yes! yes! I know. Where is Lady Glyde all this time? Lady Glyde is in the lunatic asylum, in Anne Catherick’s clothes, under Anne Catherick’s name. Doctors, nurses, servants, we make innocent accomplices of them all! We bury Anne Catherick as Lady Glyde — we destroy your wife’s identity for ever — and the thirty thousand and the ten are yours and mine!

Sir P. (bewildered).
Give me time to breathe. How is it to be done? Where is Anne Catherick?

Fosco.
Stay where you are!
(He hurries back under the verandah.)
Look!

(He snatches the cloak off
ANNE,
and points to her with a gesture of triumph. The orchestra resumes the air.
SIR PERCIVAL
stands petrified.)

THE CURTAIN FALLS.

THE END OF THE SECOND ACT.

ACT III.

IN THREE SCENES.*

FIRST SCENE.

DATE: September 1,1862.
PLACE: The Picture-gallery at Blackwater Park.

* In this Act, and in the Fourth Act, means must be employed to mark the lapse of time between the Scenes — either by dropping a Tableau-curtain, or by a brief pause (filled up by appropriate music) at the end of each Scene, before the change to the Scene that follows.

The gallery is hung with family portraits. Side entrances right and left.
FOSCO
is discovered lounging about the gallery looking at the pictures.
SIR PERCIVAL
enters on the right.

Sir P.
I have been looking for you everywhere. What are you doing here?

Fosco.
I am admiring the superb family portraits which adorn your gallery at Blackwater Park.

Sir P. (astonished).
At such a time as this? With all you and I have got on our minds?

Fosco.
That is exactly why I am here. I won’t have this risk that we are going to run perpetually haunting my thoughts. Music, poetry, pictures, to these innocent sources I apply for relief. Invariably the relief comes.

Sir P.
Are you in joke or in earnest?

Fosco.
Is Punch in the show in joke or in earnest? I defy you to tell. My friend, I come of the illustrious nation which invented Punch!
(He takes
SIR PERCIVAL’S
arm.)
Look at that glorious picture! Barbarous Englishman, let me teach you to admire Vandyck.

Sir P.
Vandyck be hanged! We shall have Miss Halcombe here directly. What’s the next move in the game?

Fosco.
Where does the game stand now? Last night — August thirty-first — what happened?

Sir P.
Anne Catherick passed the night in Madame Fosco’s room.

Fosco.
This morning — September first — what has happened? While the people at Todd’s Corner are searching for their lost lodger; while Miss Halcombe is making her inquiries on her side — what has Madame Fosco done? Madame Fosco has slipped off to London with Anne Catherick. There is the history of events so far. Have you seen Lady Glyde this morning?

Sir P.
Yes — and forced another quarrel on her, as you told me. If Miss Halcombe hears of it —
 
—

Fosco (looking off on the left).
Here
is
Miss Halcombe, with your wife. If anything is said about Anne Catherick, leave it to me.

Enter
MARIAN
on the left, giving her arm to
LAURA. MARIAN
is flushed and angry.
LAURA
looks pale and worn, with the traces of weeping in her face.

Mar.
Sir Percival! I have just discovered that the scene of last night has been repeated this morning. This must not, and shall not, go on!

Fosco (silencing
SIR PERCIVAL). Exactly what I say!

Mar. (to
SIR PERCIVAL). I tell you plainly, I shall appeal to Laura’s guardian.

Fosco (as before).
Exactly what I have done!

Mar. (turning on him).
You?

Fosco (bowing).
I — as member of the family by marriage. I have written to Mr. Fairlie to beg him to interfere. It was impossible, Miss Halcombe, to consult you first. The servants said you had gone out for a walk this morning.
(With an insinuating smile.)
Anywhere near Todd’s Corner?

Mar. (aside to
LAURA). He has discovered us!
(She turns resolutely to
FOSCO.)
I
have no motives for concealment, count, on my side. I have been to Todd’s Corner to inquire for Anne. She is lost.

Fosco.
Pardon me — she is saved. Percival has sent her back to the asylum.

Mar. (with bitter contempt).
Under Madame Fosco’s care, count?

Fosco.
Ah, Miss Halcombe! it is the privilege of your enchanting sex to rush to conclusions!

Laura (eagerly to
FOSCO). What have you said to Mr. Fairlie?

Fosco.
I have asked him to exert his influence, in the interests of peace. While the matter is in progress, I have proposed — with Percival’s free consent — that, you shall pay a little visit to Limmeridge House.

Laura.
Oh, I shall be so glad to do that!

Mar. (aside to
LAURA). Wait! Don’t commit yourself!

Fosco (to
LAURA). You are not angry with me for what I have done?

Laura.
Angry! I am sincerely obliged to you.

Fosco.
You will be ready to go at a day’s notice?

Mar. (silencing
LAURA). Lady Glyde decides nothing, count, until she has had time to think.
(To
LAURA.) You are not fit to deal with him. Leave it to me.

(She forces
LAURA
to go out with her on the left.)

Fosco (in triumph).
I have done it! Your wife will help us to get Miss Halcombe out of the house. Bravo, Fosco!

Sir P.
I don’t understand.

Fosco.
You foggy-minded Percival! A man I can trust follows my letter to Cumberland to-night. He will telegraph to Miss Halcombe to-morrow, in Mr. Fairlie’s name. Mr. Fairlie — represented by my man — will invite her to Limmeridge, to explain matters to him before he interferes between man and wife. If Miss Halcombe is unwilling to leave, Lady Glyde will force her to go. Neat, is it not? A man who can play his cards as well as that, deserves a reward.
(He produces his box.)
The man shall have it!
(He takes a bonbon.)
Ah! how nice!

Sir P. (aside).
Sixty years old, and fond of sugar-plums. Disgusting!
(To
FOSCO.) Well! what next?

Fosco.
This next. Miss Halcombe cannot possibly discover the trick that has been played on her, and get back here, before midnight on the fourth of the month. By midnight on the fourth of the month —
 
— Pass me one exclamation in parenthesis. How interesting this is!

Sir P.
Go on!

Fosco.
By midnight on the fourth, Lady Glyde will be in the lunatic asylum — under the name of Anne Catherick, restored to medical care.

Sir P.
How do you manage that?

Fosco.
I shall manage it. One thing at a time. Before I follow Madame Fosco to London, you must have your instructions what to do here, in my absence. I can’t trust your memory. There are your instructions in writing!

(He hands a paper to
SIR PERCIVAL.)

Sir P. (looking at it).
What’s this? “Intercept all letters and telegrams which come for Miss Halcombe — except mine. Clear the house of all the servants, except your valet, Philip, and his wife, whom we can trust.”
(Looking up bewildered.)
Clear the house of the servants!