Six Characters in Search of an Author

veil. Let them see you! The Mother Rising and covering her face with her hands, in desperation. I beg you, sir, to prevent this man from carrying out his plan which is loathsome to me. The Manager Dumbfounded. I don’t understand at all. What is the situation? Is this lady your wife? To The Father. The Father Yes, gentlemen: my wife! The Manager But how can she be a widow if you are alive? The Actors find relief for their astonishment in a loud laugh. The Father Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh like that, for Heaven’s sake. Her drama lies just here in this: she has had a lover, a man who ought to be here. The Mother With a cry. No! No! The Step-Daughter Fortunately for her, he is dead. Two months ago as I said. We are in mourning, as you see. The Father He isn’t here you see, not because he is dead. He isn’t here⁠—look at her a moment and you will understand⁠—because her drama isn’t a drama of the love of two men for whom she was incapable of feeling anything except possibly a little gratitude⁠—gratitude not for me but for the other. She isn’t a woman, she is a mother, and her drama⁠—powerful sir, I assure you⁠—lies, as a matter of fact, all in these four children she has had by two men. The Mother I had them? Have you got the courage to say that I wanted them? To the company. It was his doing. It was he who gave me that other man, who forced me to go away with him. The Step-Daughter It isn’t true. The Mother Startled. Not true, isn’t it? The Step-Daughter No, it isn’t true, it just isn’t true. The Mother And what can you know about it? The Step-Daughter It isn’t true. Don’t believe it. To The Manager. Do you know why she says so? For that fellow there. Indicates The Son. She tortures herself, destroys herself on account of the neglect of that son there; and she wants him to believe that if she abandoned him when he was only two years old, it was because he Indicates The Father. made her do so. The Mother Vigorously. He forced me to it, and I call God to witness it. To The Manager. Ask him Indicates husband. if it isn’t true. Let him speak. You To The Step-Daughter. are not in a position to know anything about it. The Step-Daughter I know you lived in peace and happiness with my father while he lived. Can you deny it? The Mother No, I don’t deny it⁠ ⁠… The Step-Daughter He was always full of affection and kindness for you To The Boy, angrily. It’s true, isn’t it? Tell them! Why don’t you speak, you little fool? The Mother Leave the poor boy alone. Why do you want to make me appear ungrateful, daughter? I don’t want to offend your father. I have answered him that I didn’t abandon my house and my son through any fault of mine, nor from any wilful passion. The Father It is true. It was my doing. Leading Man To the company. What a spectacle! Leading Lady We are the audience this time. Juvenile Lead For once, in a way. The Manager Beginning to get really interested. Let’s hear them out. Listen! The Son Oh yes, you’re going to hear a fine bit now. He will talk to you of the Demon of Experiment. The Father You are a cynical imbecile. I’ve told you so already a hundred times. To The Manager. He tries to make fun of me on account of this expression which I have found to excuse myself with. The Son With disgust. Yes, phrases! phrases! The Father Phrases! Isn’t everyone consoled when faced with a trouble or fact he doesn’t understand, by a word, some simple word, which tells us nothing and yet calms us? The Step-Daughter Even in the case of remorse. In fact, especially then. The Father Remorse? No, that isn’t true. I’ve done more than use words to quieten the remorse in me. The Step-Daughter Yes, there was a bit of money too. Yes, yes, a bit of money. There were the hundred lire he was about to offer me in payment, gentlemen.⁠ ⁠… Sensation of horror among the Actors. The Son To The Step-Daughter. This is vile. The Step-Daughter Vile? There they were in a pale blue envelope on a little mahogany table in the back of Madame Pace’s shop. You know Madame Pace⁠—one of those ladies who attract poor girls of good family into their ateliers, under the pretext of their selling robes et manteaux. The Son And he thinks he has bought the right to tyrannize over us all with those hundred lire he was going to pay; but which, fortunately⁠—note this, gentlemen⁠—he had no chance of paying. The Step-Daughter It was a near thing, though, you know! Laughs ironically. The Mother Protesting. Shame, my daughter, shame! The Step-Daughter Shame indeed! This is my revenge! I am dying to live that scene.⁠ ⁠… The room⁠ ⁠… I see it.⁠ ⁠… Here is the window with the mantles exposed, there the divan, the looking-glass, a screen, there in front of the window the little mahogany table with the blue envelope containing one hundred lire. I see it. I see it. I could take hold of it.⁠ ⁠… But you, gentlemen, you ought to turn your backs now: I am almost nude, you know. But I don’t blush: I leave that to him. Indicating The Father. The Manager I don’t understand this at all. The Father Naturally enough. I would ask you, sir, to exercise your authority a little here, and let me speak before you believe all she is trying to blame me with. Let me explain. The Step-Daughter Ah yes, explain it in your own way. The Father But don’t you see that the whole trouble lies here. In words, words. Each one of us has within him a whole world of things,