New Magdalen- Play by Wilkie Collins - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) (eBook)

Wilkie Collins (Autor)

Wilkie Collins (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
93 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-1-78877-096-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This eBook features the unabridged text of 'The New Magdalen- Play by Wilkie Collins - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)' from the bestselling edition of 'The Complete Works of Wilkie Collins'.

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Textauszug

THE PROLOGUE

Period — 1870. Place — France.

Scene. — The scene represents a bedroom in a cottage on the frontier of France and Germany. A side-door on the right; a window closed by a shutter on the right. A bed on the left, standing back in a corner. Above the bed, a shelf projecting from the wall, with a small handlooking-glass and some household utensils on it. A round table and two chairs on the right. On the table, writing materials, a box of matches, and a burning candle. Behind the table, in a corner, some empty sacks, thrown on the floor. At the back, in the centre, an arched opening, screened by a canvas curtain, and supposed to lead into an outer room. On the left, a fireplace, with the red embers of a wood fire burning in it. Time, night.

On the rise of the curtain, the FRENCH CAPTAIN is discovered, seated at the table, reading some letters. The FRENCH SURGEON lifts the curtain at the back and enters the room.

The Surgeon. Captain, are we safe here for the night?

The Captain. Surgeon, why do you ask that question?

The Surgeon. I ask it in the interests of our wounded men. I have got them in that room (he points to the outer room) under shelter for the first time for four-and-twenty hours. It would be a thousand pities to move them, without a pressing reason for it. What would you advise me to do?

The Captain. I have no advice to give you.

The Surgeon. Surely, you ought to know!

The Captain. My friend, I know two things only. First — that we have surprised a skirmishing party of the Germans, and driven them back over the frontier. Second — that we are in possession of this cottage, and strongly posted on the ground about it. There my information ends. Here are the intercepted papers of the enemy (he holds them up). They tell me nothing that I can rely on. For all I know to the contrary, the main body of the Germans — out-numbering us ten to one — may be nearer to this cottage than the main body of the French. Decide for yourself what you will do.

The Surgeon. I decide to run the risk, and leave the men in peace, on their straw. (The CAPTAIN rises.) Where are you going?

The Captain. To visit the outposts.

The Surgeon. Shall you want this room for a little while?

The Captain. Not for hours to come. Are you thinking of moving your wounded men in here?

The Surgeon. I was thinking of the English lady who remains on our hands, now the Germans are driven back. She would be more comfortable here than in the outer room. And the English nurse attached to the ambulance might keep her company.

The Captain. I have no objection. Let the ladies come in when they like. How is the weather? Still raining?

The Surgeon. Pouring. And as dark as pitch.

The Captain. The darker the better. The Germans won’t see us. Good night!

(He goes out on the right. The SURGEON lifts the curtain at the back, and calls into the outer room.)

The Surgeon. Miss Merrick!

Mercy (from the room). Yes?

The Surgeon. Have you time enough to take a little rest?

Mercy (as before). Plenty of time.

The Surgeon. Come in, then, and bring the English lady with you. Here is a quiet room all to yourselves.

(He draws aside the curtain. MERCY MERRICK, dressed as a nurse in black merino, with plain collar and cuffs, and with the red cross of the Geneva Convention round her left arm, enters, leading GRACE ROSEBERRY. GRACE is dressed in a long grey cloak which entirely covers her.)

Mercy. Thank you, Surgeon. (The SURGEON bows and goes out at the back. MERCY continues, addressing GRACE.) Will you take a chair, madam?

Grace (cordially). Don’t call me madam. My name is GRACE ROSEBERRY. What is your name?

Mercy. Not a pretty name, like yours. (After a moment’s hesitation.) Mercy Merrick.

(They seat themselves on the left.)

Grace. How can I thank you for your sisterly kindness to a stranger like me?

Mercy. Don’t speak of it.

Grace. I must speak of it. What a situation you found me in, when the German forces were in retreat! My travelling carriage stopped; my horses seized; I myself in a strange country at nightfall, robbed of my money and my luggage, and drenched to the skin by the pouring rain! I am indebted to you for safety and for shelter. I am wearing your clothes. I should have died of the fright and the exposure, but for you. What return can I make for such services as these?

Mercy. May I ask you a question?

Grace. A hundred questions, if you like!

Mercy. How came you to risk crossing the frontier in war-time?

Grace (seriously). I had urgent reasons for returning to England.

Mercy. Alone! without any one to protect you?

Grace (as before). I have left my only protector — my father — in the English burial-ground at Rome. My mother died years since in Canada. (MERCY starts.) Do you know Canada?

Mercy. Well.

Grace. Were you ever at Port Logan?

Mercy. I once lived within a few miles of Port Logan.

Grace. Among the French settlers, or the English?

Mercy. Among the French. (She changes the subject.) Let us return to your position here. Your relatives in England must be very anxious about you?

Grace. I have no relatives in England. You can hardly imagine a person more friendless than I am. We quitted Canada, when my father’s health failed, to try the climate of Italy, by the doctor’s advice. His death has left me, not only friendless but poor. (She produces from an inner pocket of her cloak a small leather letter-case.) My prospects in life are all contained in this poor little case. Here is the one treasure I contrived to conceal when I was robbed of my other things.

Mercy. Does your case contain money?

Grace. No; only a few family papers, and a letter from my father, introducing me to an elderly lady in England — a connection of his by marriage. The lady has consented to receive me as companion and reader. If I delay my return to England some other person may get the place.

Mercy. Surely, there can be no danger of that? The lady would prefer waiting for you to engaging a stranger.

Grace. I am a stranger.

Mercy. You have never seen the lady?

Grace. I have never seen the lady.

Mercy. Have you no other resource?

Grace. None. My education has been neglected — we led a wild life in the far West. I am quite unfit to go out as a governess — I am absolutely dependent on this stranger, who receives me for my father’s sake. (She puts back the letter-case.) Mine is a sad story, is it not?

Mercy (bitterly). There are sadder stories than yours. There are thousands of miserable women who would ask for no greater blessing than to change places with You.

Grace (astonished). What can there possibly be to envy in such a lot as mine?

Mercy (sternly). Your unblemished character, and your prospect of being established honourably in a respectable house.

Grace. How strangely you say that! Is there some romance in your life? Why have you sacrificed yourself to the terrible duties which claim you here? You interest me indescribably! Let us be friends. (MERCY roughly pushes her back.) Ah, you are cruel!

Mercy (sternly). I am kind!

Grace. Is it kind to keep me at a distance?

Mercy. Don’t tempt me to speak out. You will regret it.

Grace. I have placed confidence in you. It is ungenerous to lay me under an obligation — and then to shut me out of your confidence in return.

Mercy. You will have it? Sit down again. (GRACE draws her chair nearer to MERCY.) No — not near me, till you have heard what I have to say. (She pauses — her head droops — she continues sadly, without looking at GRACE.) In your mother’s lifetime, were you ever out with her at night, in the streets of a great city?

Grace (surprised). I don’t understand you.

Mercy (gently). I will put it in another way. Have you ever read in the newspapers of your unhappy fellow-creatures — the starving outcasts of the population — whom Want has driven into Sin?

Grace (as before). Certainly.

Mercy. Have you heard — when those starving and sinning fellow-creatures happened to be women — of Refuges established to protect and reclaim them?

Grace (startled). These are extraordinary, questions. What do you...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.7.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Delphi Parts Edition (Wilkie Collins)
• Reihe/Serie: Delphi Parts Edition (Wilkie Collins)
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Anthologien
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Armadale • Dickens • Hide • leaves • Moonstone • Name • Stories • Woman
• ISBN-10: 1-78877-096-X / 178877096X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78877-096-5 / 9781788770965