Heartbreak House

up in the morning! How much better than the happiest dream! All life transfigured! No more wishing one had an interesting book to read, because life is so much happier than any book! No desire but to be alone and not to have to talk to anyone: to be alone and just think about it. Ellie Embracing her. Hesione, you are a witch. How do you know? Oh, you are the most sympathetic woman in the world! Mrs. Hushabye Caressing her. Pettikins, my pettikins, how I envy you! and how I pity you! Ellie Pity me! Oh, why? A very handsome man of fifty, with mousquetaire moustaches, wearing a rather dandified curly brimmed hat, and carrying an elaborate walking-stick, comes into the room from the hall, and stops short at sight of the women on the sofa. Ellie Seeing him and rising in glad surprise. Oh! Hesione: this is Mr. Marcus Darnley. Mrs. Hushabye Rising. What a lark! He is my husband. Ellie But how⁠—she stops suddenly: then turns pale and sways. Mrs. Hushabye Catching her and sitting down with her on the sofa. Steady, my pettikins. The Man With a mixture of confusion and effrontery, depositing his hat and stick on the teak table. My real name, Miss Dunn, is Hector Hushabye. I leave you to judge whether that is a name any sensitive man would care to confess to. I never use it when I can possibly help it. I have been away for nearly a month; and I had no idea you knew my wife, or that you were coming here. I am none the less delighted to find you in our little house. Ellie In great distress. I don’t know what to do. Please, may I speak to Papa? Do leave me. I can’t bear it. Mrs. Hushabye Be off, Hector. Hector I⁠— Mrs. Hushabye Quick, quick. Get out. Hector If you think it better⁠—he goes out, taking his hat with him but leaving the stick on the table. Mrs. Hushabye Laying Ellie down at the end of the sofa. Now, pettikins, he is gone. There’s nobody but me. You can let yourself go. Don’t try to control yourself. Have a good cry. Ellie Raising her head. Damn! Mrs. Hushabye Splendid! Oh, what a relief! I thought you were going to be brokenhearted. Never mind me. Damn him again. Ellie I am not damning him. I am damning myself for being such a fool. Rising. How could I let myself be taken in so? She begins prowling to and fro, her bloom gone, looking curiously older and harder. Mrs. Hushabye Cheerfully. Why not, pettikins? Very few young women can resist Hector. I couldn’t when I was your age. He is really rather splendid, you know. Ellie Turning on her. Splendid! Yes, splendid looking, of course. But how can you love a liar? Mrs. Hushabye I don’t know. But you can, fortunately. Otherwise there wouldn’t be much love in the world. Ellie But to lie like that! To be a boaster! a coward! Mrs. Hushabye Rising in alarm. Pettikins, none of that, if you please. If you hint the slightest doubt of Hector’s courage, he will go straight off and do the most horribly dangerous things to convince himself that he isn’t a coward. He has a dreadful trick of getting out of one third-floor window and coming in at another, just to test his nerve. He has a whole drawerful of Albert Medals for saving people’s lives. Ellie He never told me that. Mrs. Hushabye He never boasts of anything he really did: he can’t bear it; and it makes him shy if anyone else does. All his stories are made-up stories. Ellie Coming to her. Do you mean that he is really brave, and really has adventures, and yet tells lies about things that he never did and that never happened? Mrs. Hushabye Yes, pettikins, I do. People don’t have their virtues and vices in sets: they have them anyhow: all mixed. Ellie Staring at her thoughtfully. There’s something odd about this house, Hesione, and even about you. I don’t know why I’m talking to you so calmly. I have a horrible fear that my heart is broken, but that heartbreak is not like what I thought it must be. Mrs. Hushabye Fondling her. It’s only life educating you, pettikins. How do you feel about Boss Mangan now? Ellie Disengaging herself with an expression of distaste. Oh, how can you remind me of him, Hesione? Mrs. Hushabye Sorry, dear. I think I hear Hector coming back. You don’t mind now, do you, dear? Ellie Not in the least. I am quite cured. Mazzini Dunn and Hector come in from the hall. Hector As he opens the door and allows Mazzini to pass in. One second more, and she would have been a dead woman! Mazzini Dear! dear! what an escape! Ellie, my love, Mr. Hushabye has just been telling me the most extraordinary⁠— Ellie Yes, I’ve heard it. She crosses to the other side of the room. Hector Following her. Not this one: I’ll tell it to you after dinner. I think you’ll like it. The truth is I made it up for you, and was looking forward to the pleasure of telling it to you. But in a moment of impatience at being turned out of the room, I threw it away on your father. Ellie Turning at bay with her back to the carpenter’s bench, scornfully self-possessed. It was not thrown away. He believes it. I should not have believed it. Mazzini Benevolently. Ellie is very naughty, Mr. Hushabye. Of course she does not really think that. He goes to the bookshelves, and inspects the titles of the volumes. Boss Mangan comes in from the hall, followed by the Captain. Mangan, carefully frock-coated as for church or for a directors’ meeting, is about fifty-five, with a careworn, mistrustful expression, standing a little on an entirely imaginary dignity, with a dull complexion, straight, lustreless hair, and features so