VALENTINE You'd have to know that. But with heat?friction?a ball breaking
a window?
HANNAH Yes. VALENTINE It won't work backwards. HANNAH Who thought it did? VALENTINE She saw why. You can put back the bits of glass but you can't
collect up the heat of the smash. It's gone. SEPTIMUS So the Improved Newtonian Universe must cease and grow cold. Dear me. VALENTINE The heat goes into the mix.
[He gestures to indicate the air in the room, in the universe.]
THOMASINA Yes, we must hurry if we are going to dance. VALENTINE And everything is mixing the same way, all the time, irreversibly . . . SEPTIMUS Oh, we have time, 1 think.
5. Drunk.
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281 8 / TOM STOPPARD
VALENTINE . . . till there's no time left. That's what time means. SEPTIMUS When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning,
we will be alone, on an empty shore. THOMASINA Then we will dance. Is this a waltz? SEPTIMUS It will serve.
[He stands up.]
THOMASINA [Jumping up.] Goody! [SEPTIMUS takes her in his arms carefully and the waltz lesson, to the music from the marquee, hegins.
BERNARD in unconvincing Regency dress, enters carrying a bottle.] BERNARD Don't mind me, I left my jacket . . .
[He heads for the area of the wicker basket.]
VALENTINE Are you leaving? [BERNARD is stripping off his period coat. He is wearing his own trousers, tucked into knee socks and his own shirt.]
BERNARD Yes, I'm afraid so. HANNAH What's up, Bernard? BERNARD Nothing I can go into? VALENTINE Should I go? BERNARD No, I'm going!
[VALENTINE and HANNAH watch BERNARD struggling into his jacket and adjusting his clothes.
SEPTIMUS, holding THOMASINA, kisses her on the mouth. The waltz lesson pauses. She looks at him. He kisses her again, in earnest. She puts her arms round him.]
THOMASINA Septimus . . . [SEPTIMUS hushes her. They start to dance again, with the slight awkwardness of a lesson.
CHLOE bursts in from the garden.] CHLOE I'll kill her! I'll kill her! BERNARD Oh dear. VALENTINE What the hell is it, Chlo? CHLOE [Venomously.] Mummy! BERNARD [To VALENTINE.] Your mother caught us in that cottage. CHLOE She snooped! BERNARD I don't think so. She was rescuing a theodolite. CHLOE I'll come with you, Bernard. BERNARD No, you bloody won't. CHLOE Don't you want me to? BERNARD Of course not. What for? [To VALENTINE.] I'm sorry. CHLOE [In furious tears.] What are you saying sorry to him for? BERNARD Sorry to you too. Sorry one and all. Sorry, Hannah?sorry, Her-
mione?sorry, Byron?sorry, sorry, sorry, now can I go? [CHLOE stands stiffly, tearfidly.] CHLOE Well . . . [THOMASINA and SEPTIMUS dance.] HANNAH What a bastard you are, Bernard. [CHLOE rounds on her.]
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ARCADIA II.7 / 2819
CHLOE And you mind your own business! What do you know about anything? HANNAH Nothing. CHLOE [TO BERNARD.] It was worth it, though, wasn't it? BERNARD It was wonderful.
[CHLOE goes out, through the garden door, towards the party.] HANNAH [An echo.] Nothing. VALENTINE Well, you shit. I'd drive you but I'm a bit sloshed.
[VALENTINE follows CHLOE out and can he heard outside calling 'Chlol Chlo!']
BERNARD A scrape. HANNAH Oh . . . [She gives up.] Bernard! BERNARD I look forward to The Genius of the Place. I hope you find your
hermit. I think out front is the safest.
[He opens the door cautiously and looks out.]
HANNAH Actually, I've got a good idea who he was, but I can't prove it. BERNARD [With a carefree expansive gesture.] Publish! [He goes out closing the door.
SEPTIMUS and THOMASINA are now waltzing freely. She is delighted with herself. ]
THOMASINA Am I waltzing? SEPTIMUS Yes, my lady.
[He gives her a final twirl, bringing them to the table where he bows to her. He lights her candlestick.
HANNAH goes to sit at the table, playing truant from the party. She pours herself more wine. The table contains the geometrical solids, the computer, decanter, glasses, tea mug, Hannah's research books, Septimus's hooks, the two portfolios, Thomasina's candlestick, the oil lamp, the dahlia, the Sunday papers . . .
Gus appears in the doorway. It takes a moment to realize that he is not Lord Augustus; perhaps not until HANNAH sees him.] SEPTIMUS Take your essay, I have given it an alpha6 in blind faith. Be careful
with the flame. THOMASINA I will wait for you to come. SEPTIMUS I cannot. THOMASINA YOU may . SEPTIMUS I may not. THOMASINA YOU must. SEPTIMUS I will not.
