my
shot was the earlier! He said I missed by a hare's breadth.
His conversation was very facetious. But I think Lord Byron
will not marry you, Thorn, for he was only lame and not
blind.
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Septimus: Peace! Peace until a quarter to twelve. It is intolerable
for a tutor to have his thoughts interrupted by his pupils. Augustus: You are not my tutor, sir. I am visiting your lesson by
my free will. Septimus: If you are so determined, my lord.
(thomasina laughs at that, the joke is for her, Augustus, not
included, becomes angry.) Augustus: Your peace is nothing to me, sir. You do not rule
over me. thomasina: (Admonishing) Augustus! Septimus: I do not rule here, my lord. I inspire by reverence for
learning and the exaltation of knowledge whereby man may
approach God. There will be a shilling for the best cone and
pyramid drawn in silence by a quarter to twelve at the earliest. Augustus: You will not buy my silence for a shilling, sir. What I
know to tell is worth much more than that.
(And throwing down his drawing book and pencil, he leaves the
room on his dignity, closing the door sharply. Pause. SEPTIMUS
looks enquiringly at THOMASINA.) thomasina: I told him you kissed me. But he will not tell. Septimus: When did I kiss you? thomasina: What! Yesterday! Septimus: Where? thomasina: On the lips! Septimus: In which county? thomasina: In the hermitage, Septimus! Septimus: On the lips in the hermitage! That? That was not a
shilling kiss! I would not give sixpence to have it back. I had
almost forgot it already. thomasina: Oh, cruel! Have you forgotten our compact? Septimus: God save me! Our compact? thomasina: To teach me to waltz! Sealed with a kiss, and a
second kiss due when I can dance like mama! SEPTIMUS: Ah yes. Indeed. We were all waltzing like mice in
London. thomasina: I must waltz, Septimus! I will be despised if I do not
waltz! It is the most fashionable and gayest and boldest
invention conceivable - started in Germany!
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Septimus: Let them have the waltz, they cannot have the calculus.
thomasina: Mama has brought from town a whole book of waltzes for the Broad wood, to play with Count Zelinsky.
Septimus: I need not be told what I cannot but suffer. Count Zelinsky banging on the Broadwood without relief has me reading in waltz time.
thomasina: Oh, stuff! What is your book?
Septimus: A prize essay of the Scientific Academy in Paris. The author deserves your indulgence, my lady, for you are his prophet.
thomasina: I? What does he write about? The waltz?
Septimus: Yes. He demonstrates the equation of the propagation of heat in a solid body. But in doing so he has discovered heresy - a natural contradiction of Sir Isaac Newton.
thomasina: Oh! - he contradicts determinism?
Septimus: No!... Well, perhaps. He shows that the atoms do not go according to Newton.
(Her interest has switched in the mercurial way characteristic of her-she has crossed to take the book.)
thomasina: Let me see - oh! In French?
Septimus: Yes. Paris is the capital of France.
thomasina: Show me where to read.
(He takes the book back from her and finds the page for her. Meanwhile, the piano music from the next room has doubled its notes and its emotion.)
thomasina: Four-handed now! Mama is in love with the Count.
Septimus: He is a Count in Poland. In Derbyshire he is a piano tuner.
(She has taken the book and is already immersed in it. The piano music becomes rapidly more passionate, and then breaks off suddenly in mid-phrase. There is an expressive silence next door which makes SEPTIMUS raise his eyes. It does not register with thomasina. The silence allows us to hear the distant regular thump of the steam engine which is to be a topic. A few moments later LADY CROOM enters from the music room, seeming surprised and slightly flustered to find the schoolroom occupied. She collects herself, closing the door behind her. And remains watching,
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aimless and discreet, as though not wanting to interrupt the lesson. SEPTIMUS has stood, and she nods him back into his chair.
CHLOfi, in Regency dress, enters from the door opposite the music
room. She takes in valentine and HANNAH but crosses without
pausing to the music room door.) CHLOfi: Oh!-where's Gus? valentine: Dunno.
(CHLOfi goes into the music room.) lady croom: (Annoyed) Oh! - Mr Noakes's engine!
(She goes to the garden door and steps outside.
CHLOfi re-enters.) CHLOfi: Damn.
lady croom: (Calls out) Mr Noakes! valentine: He was there not long ago... lady croom: Halloo!
CHLOfi: Well, he has to be in the photograph - is he dressed? hannah: Is Bernard back? CHLOfi: No-he's late!
(The piano is heard again, under the noise of the steam engine.
lady croom steps back into the room.
CHLOfi steps outside the garden door. Shouts.) Gus! lady croom: I wonder you can teach against such a disturbance
and I am sorry for it, Mr Hodge.
(CHLOfi comes back inside.) valentine: (Getting up) Stop ordering everybody about. lady croom: It is an unendurable noise. valentine: The photographer will wait.
(But, grumbling, he follows CHLOfi out of the door she came in by,
and closes the door behind them, hannah remains absorbed.
In the silence, the rhythmic thump can be heard again.) lady croom: The ceaseless dull overbearing monotony of it! It
will drive me distracted. I may have to return to town to
escape it. Septimus: Your ladyship could remain in the country and let
Count Zelinsky return to town where you would not hear him. lady croom: I mean Mr Noakes's engine! (Semi-aside to
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Septimus.) Would you sulk? I will not have my daughter study sulking. thomasina: (Not listening) What, mama?
(thomasina remains lost in her book, lady croom returns to close the garden door and the noise of the steam engine subsides.
HANNAH closes one of the 'garden books', and opens the next. She is making occasional notes.
The piano ceases.) lady croom: (To thomasina) What are we learning today?
(Pause.) Well, not manners. Septimus: We are drawing today.
(lady croom negligently examines what thomasina had
started to draw.) lady croom: Geometry. I approve of geometry. Septimus: Your ladyship's approval is my constant object. lady croom: Well, do not despair of it. (Returning to the window
impatiently.) Where is 'Culpability' Noakes? (She looks out
