ACT III
Reading edition
Farnham’s studio, a little after ten in the evening. When the curtain rises the room is dark, save for the light of the fire which is now burning in the grate.
Farnham is lying stretched on the window seat. Presently he gets up rather lazily, turns on the light, looks at his watch and stands in the middle of the room with his hands thrust deep into the pockets of a black velvet house coat. Apart from this coat he is in evening dress. He moves about aimlessly, yawns, and takes a cigar from the box on the table. As he is lighting it, the bell rings. He remains motionless for a little while, and a strange hard smile comes over his face. Finally, with a shrug of his shoulders he goes to the door and admits Van Zorn, who is dressed in ordinary business clothes. His face wears a serious expression and he greets Farnham with a kindly but somewhat uncanny smile. Then he looks towards the portrait on the easel, which has been moved back to its original place in Act I.
FARNHAM
[Still smiling drily]
For such a demon of punctuality, it seems to me that you are a bit late.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling as before]
Am I so insufferably punctual that I cannot have five minutes’ grace?
[He takes off his overcoat]
FARNHAM
[Taking his coat and hat and putting them on the window seat]
Oh, no offence. You have made your own reputation.
[Van Zorn goes to the fire]
Are you cold?
VAN ZORN
It’s rather cool outside.
FARNHAM
[With a grin]
I noticed that when I came out of the subway. Aren’t you going to sit down?
VAN ZORN
Presently.
FARNHAM
Take your time about it. Have a cigar.
[He holds out the box and smiles]
VAN ZORN
I’ll take one later, if you don’t mind.
FARNHAM
It’s a Pedro.
VAN ZORN
Not now.
FARNHAM
[Coaxingly]
Colorado.
[Van Zorn shakes his head and smiles patiently]
Very well. Pardon me if I appear to urge you.
VAN ZORN
I can think of no one who should ask me to pardon him.
FARNHAM
You remind me of the noble Spaniard who had no enemies because he had killed them all.
VAN ZORN
[Smiling faintly]
I have never killed anybody, to my knowledge. I may once have had something to do with bringing a man back to life again.
FARNHAM
That was good. Did he thank you for it?
VAN ZORN
He didn’t say very much.
FARNHAM
They don’t as a rule, I believe. By the way,
[Grinning]
when do you intend to tackle Old Hundred?
VAN ZORN
[Frowning slightly]
I dined with Lucas this evening—if you mean Lucas.
FARNHAM
[Surprised]
Oho! You did?—Did he get drunk?
VAN ZORN
He did not.
FARNHAM
[Not too pleasantly]
Oh well, you needn’t be discouraged over that. There’ll be time enough between now and midnight.
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
There will be time enough between now and midnight for more things than you may have considered.
FARNHAM
[Puzzled]
I have no doubt of it. But no matter about Lucas. Tell me something more about your destiny.
[Drily]
How is your destiny this evening, anyway?
VAN ZORN
[Still standing by the fire]
My destiny is a very good destiny, but unfortunately it has encountered one that is better.—Unfortunately for myself I mean,—not in any sense for others.
FARNHAM
[Patronizingly]
You are a good fellow—altogether too good to be put at a disadvantage. But this once—only this once, upon my word—I can’t help repeating that I didn’t think much of it. One interview, and all that sort of thing. You see, it wasn’t quite in your line.
[Pause]
Well, how much am I to know?—and how soon am I to know it?
[Drily]
Suppose you sit down in that chair.
[Indicating the large chair]
The consequent relaxation may be a good thing for you.
VAN ZORN
Thank you, I will.
[He sits down and begins to drum with his fingers on the arms of the chair]
FARNHAM
[Sitting down]
Now you look more comfortable.
VAN ZORN
[Abruptly]
I told you, Farnham, that I thought Lucas and I might possibly be of service to each other.
FARNHAM
[Wearily]
Can’t you forget Lucas for the rest of this evening? Granting all his noble qualities—including his indefatigable industry—I don’t yet understand that you came here to talk about him.
VAN ZORN
[Earnestly]
Farnham, if you had known what you were asking, you would never have asked me to forget Lucas this evening. I may forget my name, and my age, and my way to Forty-second Street, but I shall not be likely to forget Lucas this evening.
[Pause]
You told me this morning, I believe, that you had had enough of him for one day.
FARNHAM
[Puzzled and irritated]
Most assuredly I did, and I meant what I said. I’ll be as glad as anybody if you can straighten him out, but what the devil sense is there in harping on him from morn till dewy eve? Why not let Lucas go for the present?
[Becoming more incisive]
You started out this afternoon, I believe, to acquire some very special information that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.
VAN ZORN
[Slowly]
It will come.... And as for letting Lucas go—
FARNHAM
[Throwing up his hands]
Good God!
VAN ZORN
[Calmly]
—letting Lucas go will be very difficult. In fact, it will be out of the question. Instead of letting Lucas go, I fear that we shall be under the necessity of letting Lucas come.
FARNHAM
[Unpleasantly]
What are you talking about? I didn’t ask him to come, did I?
VAN ZORN
[As before]
You did not, and I did not.
[Drumming with his fingers]
But he is coming all the same. I have no doubt that he has been coming—through the ages.
FARNHAM
[Laughing drily]
So that’s it. More of your infernal Destiny, I suppose.
VAN ZORN
[Earnestly]
Whatever you do, Farnham, you had better wait a while before you begin to find fault with Destiny. For I should be inclined to say that you are going to be far more fortunate than I am, or am ever likely to be.
[He looks thoughtfully about the studio]
FARNHAM
Oh, you needn’t try to smooth it over like that. I only meant that I was looking forward to this evening for a different kind of talk from this.
VAN ZORN
[Quietly]
You will have it yet.
FARNHAM
[Wearily]
With Lucas?
VAN ZORN
[With deliberation]
Farnham, if I don’t give you certain information that you have every reason to expect, it is because I don’t feel that I am in a position to give it. But I will say,
[Smiling]
at the risk of my life, that Lucas has been straightened out. I don’t know just how I know it, but I know it.
[With another smile]
Your engaging friend Otto brought the news this afternoon—
[Casually]
not long after Lucas left Mrs. Lovett’s house.
FARNHAM
[Rising and speaking sharply]
Lucas at Mrs Lovett’s house?... You are keeping something back from me, and I should like very much to know what it is.
VAN ZORN
[Reluctantly]
Yes, I am keeping something back. And I have something else that I was requested, and finally persuaded, to give to you this evening. I would rather not do it, but it may be as well that I should.
FARNHAM
[With dry fervor]
I hope it will be something more tangible than what you have been giving me.
VAN ZORN
[Giving him a small object]
There it is.
FARNHAM
[After a stupefied pause]
Man alive, are you out of your senses? This is Villa Vannevar’s ring. What the devil has been going on?
[Sharply]
Why don’t you tell me?
VAN ZORN
Miss Vannevar will do that.
[Farnham scowls incredulously]
She and Lucas have been together, at her special request, since eight o’clock. Until she comes, please remember that I am acting only as a messenger.
FARNHAM
[Looking from the ring to Van Zorn]
Are you all trying to make a fool of me? Are you the friend that I have been trusting and praising all these years?
[With a falling inflection]
I’d better build a cabin in the woods.... What does all this insanity mean, anyhow? You can answer that question, if you have a mind to, and you know it damned well.
VAN ZORN
[Quietly]
Farnham.
[Pause]
You are going to have two more visitors this evening, and they are nearly due. They are not going to stay, in all probability, more than fifteen minutes. When they are gone, you and I may have something more to say to each other.
FARNHAM
That is altogether possible.
VAN ZORN
[Rising]
And if I have been the indirect means of this sudden change in the course of events, I wish you to know that I believe, as I stand here, that events would have taken the same course, though not quite so suddenly, if I had never gone to Mrs. Lovett’s house this afternoon. I mean, you understand, so far as events concern you personally. So be a good fellow and try to keep a little of your old faith in me.
[Pause]
Do you hear a motor coming?
[He takes out his watch and smiles wearily at Farnham]
They are on time, if I was not.
[The bell rings. Farnham admits Lucas and Villa Vannevar. Lucas has more color in his face, and his eyes are brighter than in the morning. He carries himself through the following scene with far more dignity and ease than might be expected, with now and then a facial suggestion of appreciative humor. Of the two Villa is the more excited, but hers is the excitement of determination rather than of embarrassment or fear]
FARNHAM
[To the three, after rather formal greetings to Lucas and Villa]
Well, I have the honor to report that I am still in the dark.
[With a hard smile]
Won’t you all sit down?
[They remain standing]
VILLA
[Going to Farnham and speaking with suppressed excitement]
Oh, but I am glad to hear you say that—that you are in the dark.
[He nods with condescension and she steps back a little]
I was afraid you didn’t know it.
[Pause]
Weldon, do you know what it was doing to me? But you don’t, because you can’t. I shall have to tell you what it was doing. It was driving me mad.
FARNHAM
[Drily, with a glance at Lucas]
Kindly go on.
VILLA
It was killing me.
[Farnham nods again]
I know you are going to think some dreadful things about me,—and say them too, I suppose.
[Rapidly]
But whatever you do or say, don’t ever forget that I am the cause of all that’s happened this evening. I took the matter into my own hands—just because I couldn’t wait. And when my mind was once made up that I couldn’t wait,—well, I couldn’t wait.
[He nods again]
And I couldn’t see much need of spending days and nights in talking about it.
FARNHAM
[With a shrug, and another look at Lucas]
Naturally not.
VILLA
[To Van Zorn, who is standing near the fire]
And you
[Gratefully but rapidly]
—you remember what I told you when I got over that foolish fit of crying. I told you that nothing could ever make me change, and I asked you to help me. You told me first that you would rather not, and you said something that I didn’t hear about circumstances; but finally you did agree to do a little—just because you could see that I was so much in earnest—and that nothing could ever make me change—and that I couldn’t wait.
[Van Zorn replies with a slow nod, and Farnham grins at Lucas with sardonic incredulity]
FARNHAM
[To Villa, with a dry laugh]
Will you be so kind as to let me know what this thing is or was,—you haven’t yet given it a name—that was driving you mad, and killing you, and whatever else it may have been doing? You don’t look to me like a dying person, as you stand there now.
VILLA
[Impatiently]
Oh, you know what it was. It was our horribly false position—pretending to care for each other when we didn’t—I mean when we didn’t care enough.
FARNHAM
[Unpleasantly]
In that case, perhaps you will be good enough to tell me what sort of position you would call this that we are in now.
[He looks at Lucas and Van Zorn]
Lucas, why do you stand there like that? Why don’t you say something—if you have anything to say?
VILLA
[Quickly, looking from Lucas to Farnham]
He can’t speak yet, for I shan’t let him. I shan’t let anybody speak until I have said what I have to say. No, not one of you three can say a word until I tell you that I have asked George Lucas to marry me.
[Farnham and Van Zorn are almost equally surprised at this announcement, though the latter quickly regains his usual composure. Lucas looks at first as if he would like to get away, but endures his unlooked-for prominence with an Indian-like resignation]
There!
[With her hands behind her back]
Now you may all speak at once, if you care to.
FARNHAM
[Going to Villa, after a pause, and taking one of her hands]
Villa, what is the matter with you this evening? Has the moon driven you insane?
[To Lucas, sharply]
Lucas, why don’t you say something?
LUCAS
[With a dry cough]
You are quite right. The time has come for me to speak.
FARNHAM
Well, if the time has come for you to speak, why the devil don’t you?
LUCAS
[Calmly, but uncomfortably and with several oratorical pauses]
I am going to say something—and I don’t see how it is going to take me very long to say it.
[With another cough]
Knowing—as I need hardly tell you now—that I could not, in view of my past and present circumstances—presume to ask of this lady the kind of question that she has taken upon herself to ask of me—and this time without wholly anticipating its immediate effect upon one’s nervous organization,—well, I can only say that she has acted in accordance with her own convictions in regard to the solution of a rather difficult problem, and has thereby placed me under excessive obligations—that she cannot expect ever to be entirely fulfilled.
[To Farnham, with a faint smile]
Whatever else you may wish me to say will be related, with your permission, at another time.
FARNHAM
[With cold humor]
“She has acted in accordance with her own convictions in regard to the solution of a rather difficult problem.”
[To Van Zorn, drily]
As she sees it, I suppose.
VAN ZORN
Is there more than one way to see it?
FARNHAM
I see it as a bit of impetuous farce.
VILLA
[Protesting violently]
No, don’t say impetuous. Say anything but that. Say determined—ordained—premeditated—desperate—anything but impetuous. I’ll not have anybody—not even George—tell me that I was impetuous when I was only sensible. You might as well call me—I don’t know what. You might as well call me a fool.
FARNHAM
[With reluctant humor]
Do you know, my dear young lady, that you are using some rather positive language?
VILLA
[Still excited]
I don’t care. I must use it, in order to make myself understood.
[To Lucas]
Tell him, George, about the ring.
FARNHAM
[Satirically]
Yes, George, let us hear about the ring.
LUCAS
She means that the ring would have been returned to you in any case.
FARNHAM
[To Van Zorn, with fine irony]
And this is your work.
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
No, my friend, you are mistaken. It is not the work of any human being—in this room, or out of it.
FARNHAM
[Wearily]
Oh, the devil! I’ve heard all that before.
[Van Zorn shrugs his shoulders and looks at the fire]
VILLA
[Earnestly]
Weldon, let me tell you again what I told you when I came in.
[With intensity]
It was killing me. It was driving me mad.
FARNHAM
[Throwing up his hands]
For heaven’s sake, are you going to drag that nonsense in again?
VILLA
It meant the torture of our two lives.... The ruin of them, for all we know.
FARNHAM
[With a careless absence of emotion]
Lives are not so easily ruined as all that. If they were, some of us would be ruined before we were born.
VAN ZORN
[With a faint smile]
Some of us are, Farnham.
FARNHAM
[To Van Zorn, with hesitation]
Don’t you think that you have contributed about enough to the needless absurdity and injustice of all this....
VILLA
[Quickly]
No, you must not say that to him. It was I who did this, and it was I who insisted that it should be done tonight. If your best friend had not helped me, I should have done it sooner or later without him.... Now will you let me go on from where I was when you interrupted me?
FARNHAM
[With evident admiration]
Yes, if you remember where that was.
VILLA
[With animation]
It was where I was going to say something more about George.
[Farnham looks at Lucas, who is looking at the bust of Shakespeare]
Weldon, there are certain people in this world who are made for each other. You may laugh at me for saying so—I know it isn’t very original—but I believe it to be true, and that makes it just the same as if it were true. Well then, I believe that George Lucas and I have belonged to each other since the beginning of our lives, and I have known it ever since I can remember. I knew him long before I knew you, and I know more about him than you have ever known or ever can know;
[Farnham looks again at Lucas]
and once, when I was so scared and happy that I didn’t know what to do—this was ages ago—I told Auntie all about it.
[With comical directness]
Auntie didn’t like—his father.
FARNHAM
[With venomous humor]
And what did Auntie say?
VILLA
[With a shrug and a rueful laugh]
Oh dear! If I were to try to tell you what she said, I shouldn’t know how to begin or where to end. It doesn’t make so much difference what Auntie said, so long as she said—what she said.
[With unconscious humor, looking down]
She didn’t like George’s father.
FARNHAM
[Grinning at Lucas]
Did she like George?
[Pause]
George doesn’t seem to have anything more to say.
LUCAS
[With dry emphasis]
Yes, George has one thing more to say. He has to say that he has not yet accepted the lady’s offer.
FARNHAM
[Scowling]
Then why are you here?
LUCAS
To do so in your presence—now that you understand the situation.
FARNHAM
But I don’t understand the situation—except in the vaguest kind of way.... I knew about it in that way before.
VAN ZORN
[Still standing by the fire]
Farnham, I don’t like to interrupt you.
FARNHAM
Oh—you don’t....
VAN ZORN
But why debate the inevitable? It will do no manner of good, and it will be likely, as Miss Vannevar has already implied, to take up a great deal of time.
FARNHAM
[Drily]
Have you been coaching them?
[Van Zorn makes a gesture of resigned protest, but says nothing]
Well, you haven’t told me what you said to Lucas during dinner.
VAN ZORN
I told Lucas that Miss Vannevar wished very much to see him as soon as possible after eight o’clock.
FARNHAM
Was that all?
VAN ZORN
Substantially, yes.
FARNHAM
Mightn’t that leave a pretty wide margin for conjecture?
VAN ZORN
It might, but it doesn’t. Please remember that when I told you of my interest in Lucas, I was not anticipating the developments that have transpired.
FARNHAM
[Unwilling to let the subject go]
But you are the cause of these developments, for all that. What did you say to Villa after Otto went away?
VAN ZORN
[With a slight weariness]
I didn’t find a great deal to say. I told her pretty much what I have told you,—that Lucas and I were going to be of service to each other, and that I had complete confidence in him. Please do not ask me to go any further into details—just now.
[With a friendly smile]
My dear Farnham, if you were to form at your time of life the fatal habit of clinging to ruins, and of refusing to accept what has irrevocably taken place, there is no knowing what might happen to you—and to your art.
FARNHAM
Do you remember that you used to call yourself a friend of mine?
[He speaks half-heartedly, and seems to regret having spoken]
VAN ZORN
[Distinctly]
I was never in my life more convinced of my complete loyalty to you, or of your complete faith in me. I was not expecting to say so this evening, unless to you alone, but never mind that now.
FARNHAM
[Rather ruefully]
I suppose that’s your fantastic, esoteric, oriental way of telling a fellow that he has said something foolish. I don’t say it’s a bad way, you understand—
[He stops, and has another look at Lucas, who smiles in approval]
VILLA
[Going to Farnham and putting her hands on his arms]
You needn’t try to be angry any longer, for I can see by the look in your eyes that you can’t.
[Shaking him a little and beginning to laugh]
You ought not to be angry, for you are so glad to get rid of me that you don’t know what to do with yourself. You may tell me that I ought not to say so, but you can’t put the words back into my mouth—’cause I’ve got my teeth together.
[She shows her teeth and laughs at him]
FARNHAM
[Taking her hands and smiling]
I don’t remember having said that I was angry.
[He pushes her away gently]
VILLA
[Putting her hands behind her and laughing]
There was no need of your saying it.
FARNHAM
[Drily]
Then that must have been the reason why I didn’t say it.
[Pause]
But don’t you think that I had just the slightest conceivable reason for being—for being a trifle annoyed, we’ll say?
VILLA
[With feline demureness]
Well, I rather suppose you did.
[Looking at him brightly]
But it’s all over now, isn’t it?
FARNHAM
[Trying not to laugh]
And so you find your escape from me a very simple matter.
[With mild sarcasm]
It seems to be one of the prerogatives of womankind to discover now and then that some problems are very simple.
VILLA
[She looks at Lucas, then for a longer time at Van Zorn, who still remains by the fire, and finally at Farnham again]
And that others are very difficult.
[Farnham glances at Van Zorn, who stands looking at the burning coals. There is a pause, which is broken by the ringing of the bell. Farnham admits Otto, who stands for a time in meek bewilderment after looking from one to the other]
OTTO
I—I saw the light, and so I came over—from Petherick’s.
FARNHAM
[Drily amused]
Of course you did, Otto. That was the right thing for you to do. We have all seen the light, even if we haven’t all come over from Petherick’s.
[Patting his shoulder]
Now take a look around you, little friend, and tell us what you see besides the light.
OTTO
[Looking from Lucas to Villa]
Oh—good evening.
[He plays with his hat]
I saw the light, and so I came over.
[To Lucas]
Did you see the light, Phœbus, and did you come over?
LUCAS
[Avoiding over-confidence]
Yes, Otto, I may be said to have seen the light, and to have come over—though not from Petherick’s.
OTTO
[With a long sigh]
That’s illuminating, and I thank you kindly.
[He looks at Van Zorn, who smiles and nods]
Good evening.
[To Villa]
Are you sure that I’m not in the way?
[He makes a puzzled grimace and looks at Farnham, who grins]
VILLA
[Laughing nervously]
We are sure of one thing, Otto, and that is that you are not very cordial with your old friends. Aren’t you going to congratulate me on my engagement to George Lucas? We are going to be married—sometime.
OTTO
[After a stupefied pause]
Are you?
[He looks again from one to another, and finally addresses Van Zorn]
I knew this afternoon that something was going to happen. Of course it was none of my business, but you—you understand me, I’m sure.
[He wipes his forehead with his handkerchief]
FARNHAM
[With lingering sarcasm]
We understand you, Otto. You saw the light and you came over. Everything has been explained, and we are all going to try to be happy.
OTTO
[Looking again from one to another, and beginning to beam]
Do you know, Farnham, that I—that I rather like this?
FARNHAM
I’m glad to hear you say so, Otto. We study to please.
OTTO
[To Van Zorn, who appears to be mildly amused]
Do you like this?
VAN ZORN
It has my unqualified approval. In addition, it was undoubtedly inevitable.
OTTO
[With an air of discovery]
Doesn’t that make it all the better?
VAN ZORN
I am sure that you have every reason to congratulate your friends on their mutual good fortune.
OTTO
[After shaking hands, rather suddenly, with Villa and Lucas]
Farnham, old man, the more I think of this, the better I like it. There’s a—there’s a kind of destiny about it.
FARNHAM
[Patting Otto’s shoulder]
Otto, we can always look to you for the right word.
[Wearily, with a mild trace of venom]
I’ve been trying to think of that word “destiny” all the evening.
VILLA
[Giving Farnham her hand]
And I have been trying to think of something more to say to you, Weldon, but somehow I can’t just now. So I think George had better take me home. And then, I suppose I’ll have a talk with....
[She sighs]
FARNHAM
[With an unfeeling grin]
With Auntie?
VILLA
Yes, with Auntie.
[She breaks into childish laughter]
Poor Auntie!
[Pause]
Well, good night. I won’t say good-bye, for that would be too solemn.
FARNHAM
[Holding her hand]
Good night. And I hope you will be very happy.
[Shaking hands with Lucas]
Good night, George,—and my congratulations. You will excuse me if I don’t make a speech.
VILLA
[To Van Zorn, who comes forward]
Good night.
[She gives him her hand and looks at him as if a little frightened]
VAN ZORN
[Holding her hand]
Good night.
[They look into each other’s eyes for some time. She leaves him slowly and moves towards the door. He returns to his former place by the fire, after speaking with Lucas]
VILLA
[While Lucas is shaking hands with Van Zorn]
Good night, Otto.
OTTO
[Still bewildered]
Good night. I don’t think I’ll make a speech either. On the contrary I may as well go home to my mousy garret, light my guttering candle, and work away for a while at my popular song.
VILLA
[Laughing]
But you never told me that you were writing a popular song. How does it go, and what is it about?
OTTO
[Solemnly]
It’s a sad story, and it doesn’t go very fast.
[Doubtfully]
And it may not be altogether appropriate to the present auspicious occasion.
VILLA
[Laughing]
Oh, yes it is—perfectly. How does it go, Otto?
OTTO
[Scratching his ear thoughtfully]
I’ve only got four lines of it.
[He appears to be reading them from the inside of his hat]
VILLA
[Shaking him]
But how do they go?
OTTO
They go like this:
[He repeats the following lines with comical solemnity, punctuating them with sharp pauses]
Oh, long shall we remember the dark days that followed then, And how our faith in truth and honor sank; For we knew the dear old home would never be the same again, When Father robbed the baby’s little bank.
LUCAS
[Laughing]
Can you keep it up to that level, Otto?
OTTO
[Scratching his ear]
I think so.
[With owlish innocence]
But of course you understand that there’s nothing prophetic about it—nothing personal. I wouldn’t have any words of mine cast a shadow on this propitious hour—no, not even if my friend Farnham were to give me a small potion of his Double X Rattlesnake Rye over yonder.
[He nods towards the bust of Shakespeare]
I’m delicate, and I may not be with you very long.
VILLA
[To Farnham, laughing]
Before you give it to him, I think it will be safer for me to go away. Good night again.
[Farnham goes with Villa and Lucas to the vestibule, closing the door slowly and thoughtfully as he returns. Otto, in the meantime, has gone to the cabinet, from the depths of which he has produced a bottle of whiskey. Van Zorn, standing by the fire, watches Otto with a look of abstracted amusement.]
FARNHAM
[Returning]
Well, Otto, you seem to be in a romantic frame of mind this evening. You aren’t unhappy, are you?
OTTO
[Wiping his lips]
No, I don’t complain.
FARNHAM
[Patronizingly, to Van Zorn]
Otto never complains. He eats his crust at sunset, and he drains his cup of bitterness without so much as making a face. Don’t you, Otto?
OTTO
[Moving towards the door]
Don’t ask me to talk this evening. You have shaken me up, and I’m delicate. I may be on my way to eminence, or I may be merely another case of the gods seeing otherwise. In either event, it will be all right, for the universe will take care of us all. Throw on my grave a flower. Fare you well, gentlemen both, and peace be with you.
[Otto lays his hand on his heart, bows deferentially, and disappears slowly and silently]
VAN ZORN
[Smiling faintly]
You must not undervalue that youth, Farnham.
FARNHAM
[Opening the cigar box]
I shall never again undervalue anything that has a destiny.
[Holding out the box]
Here—have a cigar. And for God’s sake have it this time or you’ll make me peevish.
VAN ZORN
Thank you.
[He takes a match from Farnham and lights his cigar]
FARNHAM
[Lighting his cigar]
I suppose Otto has a destiny, hasn’t he?
VAN ZORN
[Drily]
I suppose he has.
FARNHAM
[Giving him a queer look]
And what about Lucas—and his destiny?
[He sits down and invites Van Zorn to take the large chair as before]
VAN ZORN
[Calmly]
I don’t know that I pretend to be a prophet,
[Farnham grins]
but I should venture to say that Lucas’s destiny will not be altogether a bad one. Being human and not a fool, he must in the nature of things have ambitions that he will never realize. On the other hand, he will have a great deal of happiness, I believe.
[Looking earnestly at Farnham]
But neither he nor I can have what you are going to have.
[Farnham begins to beam with approval and anticipation]
I won’t say that you have it already
[He glances toward the picture and scowls]
—for that might not be good for you ... and it might not be true.
FARNHAM
[Affecting modesty]
You may be within a gunshot of being right, but this day’s work doesn’t seem to be very promising—that is, to the uninitiated.
[Clasping his knee]
I suppose, however, that you feel a great deal better.
VAN ZORN
Why do you say that?
FARNHAM
After what you have done?
VAN ZORN
[With a frown]
I have done nothing. I thought that was understood.
FARNHAM
[Laughing a little]
Oh yes, you have, in spite of your cosmic modesty. Haven’t you cleared the air? Haven’t you raised the curtain?
VAN ZORN
[Apparently after some hesitation]
Would you talk like that, Farnham, if you knew me a little better ... if you knew, as I know, what I have lost?
FARNHAM
[With a trace of his old manner]
We have things before we lose them. That’s old, I know; but I believe it’s true.
VAN ZORN
[More earnestly]
Yes, Farnham, it is quite true. And it is most distinctly what I have had that I have now lost.
FARNHAM
[Puzzled]
Go on. You are talking; I’m only listening.
VAN ZORN
[Very distinctly]
What is your notion of the best thing for a man to do when he has lost his belief that he has something to live for?
FARNHAM
[Pretending not to understand]
Why, that’s easy. Find something new to live for.
VAN ZORN
[Getting up and speaking as if half to himself]
There may be a certain amount of wisdom in that. And yet you do not wholly understand me.
FARNHAM
[With unconscious emphasis]
And who the devil does?
VAN ZORN
[Looking steadily at Farnham]
Do you know what it is, Farnham, that I am facing?
FARNHAM
[With a forced laugh]
You are facing me, for the moment. I’m not much to be facing, I grant you; but you might have to face something worse.
[With a glance at the picture]
The deadliest thing about me, at present, seems to be my ability to paint pictures like that one over there.
VAN ZORN
[Becoming more and more serious]
I seem to be facing you, Farnham, but the truth is that I am facing myself. Whichever way I look now, I look forward into a thousand mirrors; and I see myself—only myself—Van Zorn. If I had one talent, I should see that; and I should thank God for it. But it isn’t there. There is nothing there but—Van Zorn.
[He smokes for a time in thought]
Farnham, do you wonder that there are people in this world who howl about property?... Yes; my property, if you like.
FARNHAM
[Laughing]
Good! That sounds as if the yeast were beginning to work. You needn’t worry; you’ll find something to live for.
[Getting up and stretching himself comfortably]
Why don’t you begin by tearing down a row of rotten tenements—just for the fun of it—and putting up some thing—oh, something sanitary and ornamental? Then the tired father could come home and cleanse his honest hide in a white enameled bath-tub—only of course he wouldn’t,—and after dinner the entire family could sit around a gilded radiator and sing songs by the most eminent composers, as Otto would say, of their native land.
[Laughing]
Hear me, Norma, but don’t excite yourself. You are still young, and there’s going to be no end of time.
VAN ZORN
[With a dutiful smile]
There is something in what you say.
FARNHAM
[With easy patronage]
You bet there is. And then there is always this “business” of yours: “Van Zorn and Lucas, the eminent comedians.” Don’t you see that, when you look forward into your thousand mirrors?
VAN ZORN
[Looking down]
Yes, I see it. The business will succeed.
FARNHAM
To be sure.
[Becoming over-confident]
Van Zorn, from whom all blessings flow, do you realize that we are beaten by Old Hundred?
VAN ZORN
[Gravely]
I don’t like your word—beaten.
FARNHAM
[Piqued but persistent]
Neither do I,—but I didn’t invent it, and I won’t say it again. But I should like to ask you one question. When you came in this evening, you said something about your destiny being a very good destiny; and you said, also, that it had encountered—I think that was your word—one that was better. Now, if I have a right to ask the question, I wish you would be good enough to tell me what the devil Lucas was doing this afternoon at Mrs. Lovett’s.
VAN ZORN
He came to tell Miss Vannevar that he was going west, and to say good-bye.
FARNHAM
Going west—eh?
[Excited but satirical]
And if you hadn’t kept Lucas from going west—whatever that means—I suppose you would have been contented for all time with your—your one interview.
VAN ZORN
[After some deliberation]
If Lucas had gone—west,—you would still have recovered your ring.
[They look at each other until Farnham shrugs his shoulders and looks at the floor]
When Lucas changed his mind about going, he was not in any manner influenced by the ring or by the person who wore it.
[Pause]
But why say more about that?
[His last words come rather thickly; he moves away and finally remains standing before the picture]
By the way, Farnham, what are you going to do with this picture?
FARNHAM
[Drily]
You speak as if you wanted it yourself.
VAN ZORN
Will you give it to me?
[He is evidently in earnest]
FARNHAM
[Cynically]
Yes, take it. Take everything in sight.
VAN ZORN
[Thoughtfully]
I could almost believe that this picture was painted for me—without your knowledge.
FARNHAM
[Drily]
More destiny?
VAN ZORN
[Taking a small knife from his pocket]
I don’t know what else to call it.
[He begins to cut the head and shoulders from the canvas]
FARNHAM
[Going quickly towards him]
Here! What do you think you are doing?
VAN ZORN
[Cutting diligently]
I am getting rid of one of the most insincere
[Cuts]
and exasperating
[Cuts]
bits of charlatanry
[Cuts]
that man’s eyes have ever looked on. I am doing it partly for the good of your artistic conscience, and partly for reasons of my own.
FARNHAM
[Unable to protest]
All right, the thing is yours.
[With cynical observation]
But I suppose you know that you are disintegrating twenty-five hundred dollars worth of high art?
VAN ZORN
[Throwing the piece of canvas into the fire]
Is that your figure?
FARNHAM
For the present, yes. And therefore it seems to me that your eccentric little ingle-flame over there is just a bit extravagant.
VAN ZORN
[Punching the burning canvas with the poker]
I shouldn’t worry about that if I were you. We are living in an extravagant age.
[He puts away the poker and stands watching the fire. At length he turns to Farnham and speaks with a subdued intensity and a new emphasis]
It is your age, Farnham, and you had better not play with it.
[Slowly]
If I were you, I should try to meet it half way.
[Van Zorn throws his cigar into the fire and stands looking at the smouldering canvas, holding his hands behind him. Farnham goes toward him slowly, holds out his hand and looks for a moment into Van Zorn’s eyes. Van Zorn takes his hand, lets it go, and continues to look down into the fire]
FARNHAM
[Embarrassed and with evident regret]
I’m sorry, old fellow, but I didn’t quite ... I didn’t realize that you were quite so much in earnest.
[Van Zorn makes no reply, but remains looking at the fire. Farnham sits down on the edge of the window seat and looks thoughtfully at the floor before him. Finally he looks again at Van Zorn, and a slow incredulous smile comes over his face. Then he shrugs his shoulders, as if he was still in doubt about something, and the curtain falls slowly.]
THE END
The following pages contain advertisements of a few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S NEW DRAMA
The King of the Dark Chamber
By
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Nobel Prizeman in Literature, 1913; Author of “Gitangali,” “The Gardener,” “The Crescent Moon,” “Sadhana,” “Chitra,” “The Post-Office,” etc. Cloth 12 mo.
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The London Globe.
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The Sin of David 1.25 net
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Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office 1.00 net
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