Fanny’s First Play

soft stoutish man with white hair and thin smooth skin, whilst Knox has coarse black hair, and blue jaws which no diligence in shaving can whiten. Mrs. Knox is a plain woman, dressed without regard to fashion, with thoughtful eyes and thoughtful ways that make an atmosphere of peace and some solemnity. She is surprised to see her husband at home during business hours.

Mrs. Knox	What brings you home at this hour? Have you heard anything?
Knox	No. Have you?
Mrs. Knox	No. What’s the matter?
Knox	Sitting down on the sofa. I believe Gilbey has found out.
Mrs. Knox	What makes you think that?
Knox	Well, I don’t know: I didn’t like to tell you: you have enough to worry you without that; but Gilbey’s been very queer ever since it happened. I can’t keep my mind on business as I ought; and I was depending on him. But he’s worse than me. He’s not looking after anything; and he keeps out of my way. His manner’s not natural. He hasn’t asked us to dinner; and he’s never said a word about our not asking him to dinner, after all these years when we’ve dined every week as regular as clockwork. It looks to me as if Gilbey’s trying to drop me socially. Well, why should he do that if he hasn’t heard?
Mrs. Knox	I wonder! Bobby hasn’t been near us either: that’s what I can’t make out.
Knox	Oh, that’s nothing. I told him Margaret was down in Cornwall with her aunt.
Mrs. Knox	Reproachfully. Jo! She takes her handkerchief from the writing-table and cries a little.
Knox	Well, I got to tell lies, ain’t I? You won’t. Somebody’s got to tell ’em.
Mrs. Knox	Putting away her handkerchief. It only ends in our not knowing what to believe. Mrs. Gilbey told me Bobby was in Brighton for the sea air. There’s something queer about that. Gilbey would never let the boy loose by himself among the temptations of a gay place like Brighton without his tutor; and I saw the tutor in Kensington High Street the very day she told me.
Knox	If the Gilbeys have found out, it’s all over between Bobby and Margaret, and all over between us and them.
Mrs. Knox	It’s all over between us and everybody. When a girl runs away from home like that, people know what to think of her and her parents.
Knox	She had a happy, respectable home⁠—everything⁠—
Mrs. Knox	Interrupting him. There’s no use going over it all again, Jo. If a girl hasn’t happiness in herself, she won’t be happy anywhere. You’d better go back to the shop and try to keep your mind off it.
Knox	Rising restlessly. I can’t. I keep fancying everybody knows it and is sniggering about it. I’m at peace nowhere but here. It’s a comfort to be with you. It’s a torment to be with other people.
Mrs. Knox	Going to him and drawing her arm through his. There, Jo, there! I’m sure I’d have you here always if I could. But it can’t be. God’s work must go on from day to day, no matter what comes. We must face our trouble and bear it.
Knox	Wandering to the window arm in arm with her. Just look at the people in the street, going up and down as if nothing had happened. It seems unnatural, as if they all knew and didn’t care.
Mrs. Knox	If they knew, Jo, thered be a crowd round the house looking up at us. You shouldn’t keep thinking about it.
Knox	I know I shouldn’t. You have your religion, Amelia; and I’m sure I’m glad it comforts you. But it doesn’t come to me that way. I’ve worked hard to get a position and be respectable. I’ve turned many a girl out of the shop for being half an hour late at night; and here’s my own daughter gone for a fortnight without word or sign, except a telegram to say she’s not dead and that we’re not to worry about her.
Mrs. Knox	Suddenly pointing to the street. Jo, look!
Knox	Margaret! With a man!
Mrs. Knox	Run down, Jo, quick. Catch her: save her.
Knox	Lingering. She’s shaking bands with him: she’s coming across to the door.
Mrs. Knox	Energetically. Do as I tell you. Catch the man before he’s out of sight.
	Knox rushes from the room. Mrs. Knox looks anxiously and excitedly from the window. Then she throws up the sash and leans out. Margaret Knox comes in, flustered and annoyed. She is a strong, springy girl of eighteen, with large nostrils, an audacious chin, and a gaily resolute manner, even peremptory on occasions like the present, when she is annoyed.
Margaret	Mother. Mother.
	Mrs. Knox draws in her head and confronts her daughter.
Mrs. Knox	Sternly. Well, miss?
Margaret	Oh, mother, do go out and stop father making a scene in the street. He rushed at him and said “You’re the man who took away my daughter” loud enough for all the people to hear. Everybody stopped. We shall have a crowd round the house. Do do something to stop him.
	Knox returns with a good-looking young marine officer.
Margaret	Oh, Monsieur Duvallet, I’m so sorry⁠—so ashamed. Mother: this is Monsieur Duvallet, who has been extremely kind to me. Monsieur Duvallet: my mother. Duvallet bows.
Knox	A Frenchman! It only needed this.
Margaret	Much annoyed. Father: do please be commonly civil to a gentleman who has been of the greatest service to me. What will he think of us?
Duvallet	Debonair. But it’s very natural. I understand Mr. Knox’s feelings perfectly. He speaks English better than Knox, having learnt it on both sides of the Atlantic.
Knox	If I’ve made any mistake I’m ready to apologize. But I want to know where my daughter has been for the last fortnight.
Duvallet	She has been, I assure you, in a particularly safe place.
Knox	Will you tell me what place? I can judge for myself how safe