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Roger Chetwynd
(a little embarrassed): Every door except the kitchen one, my lord.
Lord Weston aka Richard
(angry): And why not the
kitchen one?
Roger Chetwynd
(stammering): The cook seemed to think…. That is, she said…..
Lord Weston aka Richard
Well, speak, man, what did she say, and how does what the cook thinks affect my order to bar the kitchen door?
Roger Chetwynd
(in a rush): The cook said she was a respectable woman and had never been behind bars in her life and she wasn’t going to begin at her age, and she was quite capable of dealing with anyone who came to the kitchen door –
Lord Weston aka Richard
Tell her to pack her things and leave the house at once.
Lady weston aka Frences
And who will cook your pet dishes? I shall also see that all the downstairs windows are shuttered as you suggest. We can always haul the groceries through an upper window
Lord Weston aka Richard
(controlling himself): I think
that so frivolous a suggestion at so anxious a time is in poor taste, Frances, and unworthy of you –
Lady weston aka Frences
Did it appear frivolous to you? How strange! I had thought it odd to shutter the walls and yet leave openings in the roof that one could drive a coach and horses through. However!
(She comes back into the room, takes two candelabra from different places in the room, and goes to the door).
Lord Weston aka Richard
What do you want with these?
Lady weston aka Frences
If we are to be in darkness below we shall want all the candles 🕯we can gather.
Lord Weston aka Richard
The aptness of the female
mind to busy itself about irrelevant and inconsiderable minutiae is a source of endless wonder to me.
(Almost without noticing what he is doing he moves over to the fireplace and sticks his head into the chimney to view the width of it. As he withdraws it, he becomes aware of ROGER, standing watching).
Lord Weston aka Richard
I see no reason now why you should not resume your work, Roger.
Roger Chetwynd
Oh, my lord, it is beyond my power to work while you are in danger. Is there not something I could do?
Lord Weston aka Richard
(mightily flattered): Nonsense, my good Roger, nonsense Nothing is going to happen to me.
Roger Chetwynd
I could perhaps go and warn the authorities, and so prevent–
Lord Weston aka Richard
(very brave): No, no, no. Am
I to spend the rest of my life with a guard at my heels? Go on with your work and…
(his eye has lighted on a package which is lying on a chair against the right wall. The box is oblong – roughly 18 in. by 10 in. by 4 in. – and tied with cord. Sharply)
Lord Weston aka Richard
What is this?
Roger Chetwynd
That came for you this morning, sir.
Lord Weston aka Richard
What is it?
(with the faint beginnings of doubt in his voice):
Roger Chetwynd
I don’t know, my lord. A man came with it and said that it was important that you should have it to-day
Lord Weston aka Richard
: And you didn’t ask what it
was! You fool!
Roger Chetwynd
(humbly): It didn’t seem to be my business. I never do ask about the contents of your lordship’s…. I showed your lordship the package when it came, and you said to leave it there.
(peering with growing uneasiness at the thing):
Lord Weston aka Richard
The man who brought it, what did he look like? Was he small? Dark?
Roger Chetwynd
(who obviously had taken no notice): I think he was smallish. But as to dark – his hat was pulled over his face, I think - I think he appeared to have a mole on his chin, but I would not …. It may have been just a –
Lord Weston aka Richard
A mole?●
(his imagination at work)
Lord Weston aka Richard
A mole ! Yes. Yes. That man had a mole. The man who brushed against me. On the right side of his jaw. I can see it as if he were standing here. We must get rid of this. At once
Roger Chetwynd
Do you think it is some infernal machine, sir? What shall we do with it?
(indicating the side window)
Lord Weston aka Richard
Open the window and I shall throw it as far into the garden as I can.
Roger Chetwynd
But it may explode, sir, if we
throw it.
Lord Weston aka Richard
What is certain is that it will explode if we do not! How long has it been lying here?
Roger Chetwynd
It came about nine o’clock, my lord.
Lord Weston aka Richard
(in an agony): Nearly three hours ago! Open the window, Roger.
Roger Chetwynd
No, sir. You open the window. Let me handle the thing. My life is nothing. Yours is of great value to England.
Lord Weston aka Richard
No, Roger, no. You are young. I have had my life. There are still great things for you to do in the world. You must live, and write my life for posterity. Do as I say. I promise you shall exercise the greatest care.
(As ROGER rushes to the window)
Lord Weston aka Richard
No. Wait. A better idea. The
gardener’s pail. It is still on the landing!
Roger Chetwynd
Yes! Yes, of course!
(He is out of the room and back in a moment with the wooden pail of water, which still has the wet cleaning rag hung over its edge.)
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