Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2044 page)

ALLAN (
aside to
MIDWINTER,
while the
MAYOR
and
MR. DARCH
converse in dumb show
).

“A public welcome to Mr. Armadale on his arrival at Thorpe-Ambrose”! Here is Mr. Armadale in the middle of them, and not a soul suspects who he is. Midwinter! I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.

MID.

Pray be careful, Allan. These people may not understand your mad fancy for coming among them incognito, and taking them all by surprise.

ALLAN.

Hold you tongue! you’re interrupting the Mayor.

THE MAYOR (
continuing his conversation with
MR. DARCH).

I repeat, sir, the public feeling of the whole neighbourhood is bent on expressing itself — through Me. (
Addressing the crowd.
) Inhabitants of Thorpe-Ambrose! are you all agreed? A public reception for Mr. Armadale?

THE CROWD.

Hear! hear!

ALLAN (
aside
).

Not if I know it, Mr. Mayor!

THE MAYOR (
more and more excitedly
).

A public dinner to Mr. Armadale!

THE CROWD.

Hooray!

ALLAN (
aside
).

Mr. Armadale regrets to say he is engaged for that evening.

THE MAYOR.

A triumphal arch at the entrance to the town, and an address from the Mayor.

THE CROWD.

Hooray! hooray!

THE MAYOR.

A triumphal arch at the entrance to the park, and an address from the tenantry!

ALLAN (
aside to
MIDWINTER).

A triumphal arch at the entrance to the kitchen, and an address from the cat!

MR. DARCH (
interfering
).

One word, Mr. Mayor. Are you going to hold your meeting here, in the open air?

THE MAYOR.

I stand corrected, sir. This is highly irregular. We must proceed by formal resolutions. You grant us the use of the hall? (MR. DARCH
bows.
) Very good. (
To the
CROWD.) Gentlemen! Mr. Armadale’s representative permits us to meet in the hall at the great house. Follow me, if you please, follow me!

(
The
MAYOR
and
MR. DARCH
go out, followed by the Town Council, by
SAGE,
and by the inhabitants.
MAJOR
and
MISS MILROY
are left at one extremity of the stage, near the cottage.
ALLAN
and
MIDWINTER,
standing aside at the back, look after the inhabitants as they go out.
)

MAJOR M. (
turning towards the cottage
).

I’ll tell your mother, my dear, that your governess will be here in an hour’s time.

MISS M.

And I’ll make use of my liberty before the governess comes! My nosegay from the park gardens is not completed yet. (
She takes her unfinished nosegay from the garden table, and stops the
MAJOR
on his way into the cottage. At the same moment
ALLAN
and
MIDWINTER
descend the stage again.
) While you are about it, don’t forget to tell mamma that Mr. Armadale will sign our lease. (MAJOR M.
nods to her, and goes into the cottage.
MISS M.
turns, and sees
ALLAN
and
MIDWINTER
looking at her.
) Who can those young men be?

ALLAN (
to
MIDWINTER).

A pretty girl! I’ll make acquaintance with her.

MID.

Allan! what are you thinking of?

ALLAN (
approaching
MISS M.,
and taking off his hat
).

I beg your pardon, I am quite a stranger here. May I ask if I am trespassing in Mr. Armadale’s park?

MISS M. (
coldly and stiffly
).

The park is open, sir, to everybody.

ALLAN.

Very kind of the proprietor, I’m sure. I beg your pardon again — I think you said something just now about Mr. Armadale signing a lease? Take my word for it, he’ll sign anything you like with the greatest pleasure.

MISS M. (
haughtily
).

What have
you
to do, sir, with our lease? And how can
you
presume to say whether Mr. Armadale will sign it or not?

(
She goes out indignantly at the back of the stage.
)

ALLAN (
to
MIDWINTER)

That’s good, isn’t it? You look out of spirits, Midwinter. Does this sort of thing bore you? It amuses
me.

MID.

My dear Allan, it is time this frolic of yours was ended. There are serious duties connected with the wealth that has fallen into your hands. Pardon me for saying it, you sadly want somebody —
 
—

ALLAN.

Somebody with a steadier head than mine to keep me straight? I quite agree with you. And what’s more, I’ve found the man.

MID.

Where is he?

ALLAN.

Here to be sure! (
He puts his hand on
MIDWINTER’S
shoulder.
) You’re the man.

MID.

My dear Allan! I am little better than a stranger to you!

ALLAN.

Pooh! pooh! I know all about you.

MID. (
starting back in alarm
).

You know all about me! When did I tell you —
 
— ?

ALLAN.

I wanted no telling, the thing explained itself. How did I first hear of you? I heard of your being found insensible at the roadside near my old home. How did I first see you? Helpless at the village inn — raving in a brain fever, with nobody but strangers near you. What did I find out about you, when we had to search your knapsack? I found out that you had been an usher at a school, and that the brutes had turned you adrift in the world when your illness began. I nursed you through your illness, and I have taken a fancy to you, and there’s an end of it. Let’s drop the subject.

MID. (
with deep feeling
).

No! One of us must go on with the subject. You have treated me like a brother, and I have never given you my confidence in return. My life has been a very sad one; there is only that excuse for me. I lost my mother when I was quite young. My father went abroad and left me among strangers. I was starved and ill-treated. It ended in my running away. Still a mere child, I found myself one evening in the wild north of Scotland, lost on a moor. Do you think I was afraid? Not I! I had won my liberty, and I hadn’t a friend in the world to regret. I laid down, alone in the dark, under the lee of a rock, the happiest boy in all Scotland.

ALLAN.

Don’t talk in that way! I don’t like to hear it!

MID.

When I awoke next morning, I found a sturdy old man with a fiddle on one side of me, and two dancing dogs on the other. The fiddler gave me a good breakfast out of his knapsack, and let me romp with the dogs. I was an active little boy, and he saw his way to making use of me. “Now, my man!” he said, “listen to me. You have had a good breakfast. If you want a good dinner, jump up and earn it, along with the dogs!” He led the way; the dogs trotted after him, and I trotted after the dogs.

ALLAN.

Who was the fellow with the fiddle?

MID.

A half-bred gipsy, a drunkard, a ruffian, and a thief — and, until I met you, the best friend I ever had.

ALLAN (
astonished
).

The best friend you ever had!

MID.

Isn’t a man your friend who gives you your food, your shelter, and your education? My gipsy-master taught me to walk on stilts, and to sing songs to his fiddle. We roamed the country and performed at fairs. The dogs and I lived together, ate and drank and slept together. I can’t think of those poor little four-footed brothers of mine, even now, without a choking in the throat. Many is the beating we three took together — many is the night we have slept together and whimpered together, on the cold hillside. I’m not trying to distress you, Allan; I’m only telling you the truth. The life was a life that fitted me; and the half-bred gipsy — ruffian as he was — was a ruffian that I liked.

ALLAN.

A man who beat you!

MID.

Didn’t I tell you just now that I lived with the dogs? Did you ever hear of a dog who liked his master the less for beating him? I served
my
master for nearly eight years. He died one day, drunk, on the moor, and I was thrown on the world again. An old lady took a fancy to me next, and tried me under the upper servants in the house. Yes; you have been friendly with a man who once wore a livery. I have seen something of Society — I have helped to fill its stomach and to black its boots. One day some money went missing. I had never even seen the money; but I was the only servant without a character — and out I went! My next employer was a bookseller in a country town.

ALLAN.

Come, that sounds better! Did you find your way to a friend at last?

MID.

I found my way to the most merciless miser in all England. He had starved everybody out of his employment when he met with
me.
I lived in his service — I educated myself with his books — for three years. At the end of that time the miser died. I was his creditor for a month’s salary, and he refused me a character on his deathbed unless I promised to forgive him the debt. I bought my character on those terms. “Aha!” he whispered to me, with his last breath, “I have got
you
cheap!” Was my gipsy-master’s stick as cruel as that? I think not. A day or two after, an advertisement told me that an usher was wanted at a school. The mean terms offered encouraged me to apply, and I got the place. What happened to me next you know better than I do. The thread of my story is all wound off. My vagabond life stands stripped of its mystery, and you know the worst of me at last.

ALLAN.

Midwinter, give me your hand! Accept the steward’s place, and be my friend for life!

MID. (
deeply affected
).

Allan! Allan! I am used to harsh words and cold looks — I am
not
used to this. Oh, if I could only feel sure of being of some real service to you!

ALLAN.

I
feel sure of it — and that’s enough. Hush! there’s somebody coming. (
They both draw back a little.
)

MISS MILROY (
speaking outside
).

You old wretch! Touch one of my flowers if you dare!

(
She enters on the right, holding up her dress filled with flowers, and followed by
ABRAHAM SAGE,
with his rake in his hand.
)