A Fool's Paradise Part 6

BEA. (_obliged to introduce them_) Lord Normantower--Miss Derwent.

(_he bows_)

KATE. (_nodding_) How d'ye do? (_turns and speaks to SIR PETER_).

BEA. (_turns to NORMANTOWER, R._) You have not been here lately--Philip has made such improvements! You'll scarcely know the old place again. May I have the pleasure of showing it you?

NOR. I shall be delighted. (_BEATRICE turns up a few steps C., NORMANTOWER crosses to KATE, C._) Perhaps Miss Derwent will come with us. (_BEATRICE bites her lips_)

SIR P. (_rising_) Miss Derwent will stop here. (_BEATRICE smiles maliciously_) I want to speak to her.

KATE. You, doctor? (_SIR PETER goes L. and round behind sofa to C. as BEATRICE and NORMANTOWER exit_)

NOR. (_reluctantly_) Good-bye then, for the present.

KATE. Au revoir! (_goes to L.C., NORMANTOWER is "struck," and suddenly remembering turns. Exeunt LORD NORMANTOWER and BEATRICE into grounds C. to R._)

SIR P. (_SIR PETER after watching them off, comes down R. of sofa and points_) Sit down.

KATE. Don't order me about in that way, doctor. We're not in the hospital now.

SIR P. Sit down. (_KATE sits, in burlesque obedience. He sits_) First let me deliver my messages. The entire medical staff at Guy's send you their kindest regards. (_Both on sofa, KATE L., SIR PETER R._)

KATE. (_facing audience_) That's very nice of them. On your return, doctor, will you be so good as to give my kindest regards to the entire medical staff at Guy's?

SIR P. The house-surgeon, Mr. Kennedy, I regret to say, sends you his love.

KATE. Will you also give my love to Mr. Kennedy?

SIR P. The students send you a kiss apiece.

KATE. Will you please kiss the students all round. (_SIR PETER makes a gesture of objection._)

SIR P. Are you sorry you changed your position?

KATE. No, Sir Peter. I have been very happy here. Mr. Selwyn has always treated me with such consideration that, I am afraid, sometimes I forget that I am not one of the family; Mrs. Selwyn has never been _unkind_ to me, and Mildred I have learnt to love almost as a sister.

SIR P. Good. My object in introducing you here being accomplished, I feel myself at liberty to explain it. The medical profession has its romantic episodes. I am going to tell you one.

KATE. Go on. I love romances. (_faces SIR PETER_)

SIR P. Three years ago, a patient of mine died--nothing remarkable in that--it's a habit my patients have--leaving a grown-up son and a young daughter to inherit his very considerable fortune. He died beloved by his children and respected by all who knew him, but on his deathbed he confided to me a secret. He was a thief and a bigamist.

When very young he had married a rich lady. This marriage he had concealed, and under a false name had married again. For some years he had lived a double life and had two families. By his first and lawful wife he had one child--a daughter; and having contrived to possess himself of the whole of this lady's fortune, ultimately he deserted her. The fortune of the first wife he left to his children by the second, who are to this day quite unconscious of their father's crime.

KATE. Sir Peter!

SIR P. In his later years, he had searched privately for his first wife and child, but he could find no trace of them. That search he bequeathed to me, and a pretty legacy it's been! For a long time my inquiries were unavailing, but at last I discovered that the mother was dead.

KATE. And the daughter?

SIR P. Was one of my own nurses at Guy's Hospital.

KATE. At Guy's!

SIR P. I had known her by sight for months, but had not happened to hear her name--Kate Derwent.

KATE. (_rising_) I?

SIR P. Sit down. (_KATE sinks back into seat_) What was I to do? All this man's children were my personal friends. The two, who had legally inherited your mother's fortune, morally were not ent.i.tled to a shilling. You, who legally are penniless, morally are ent.i.tled to it all. If ever there was a case for an amicable arrangement, this was one; and I thought it would facilitate a settlement, if you were all made acquainted with one another. With that object I introduced you into this house.

KATE. Surely you cannot mean----

SIR P. I can--I do.

KATE. That Mr. Selwyn--(_rising_)

SIR P. Is your brother.

KATE. Mildred----

SIR P. Your sister.

KATE. And their father----

SIR P. Yours. Now comes the question; what is to be done?

KATE. (_with determination_) Nothing.

SIR P. How nothing?

KATE. You say they don't know anything. Not that their father was--(_stops short_)

SIR P. A scoundrel? No.

KATE. Not that their mother----

SIR P. Was his victim? No.

KATE. Not who I am?

SIR P. Not who you are.

KATE. Then, let them never know it. (_crosses to R.C., L. of table_)

SIR P. Nonsense. I must see you properly provided for.

KATE. I am provided for. (_gets C._) I have earned my living for years, and I can earn it to the end. I am not used to wealth, and should not know what to do with it. They are, and could not be happy without it. Let them remain in ignorance of the truth.

SIR P. (_rises and goes towards her, C._) Miss Derwent, you are a most extraordinary person. I tell you, you are ent.i.tled to a fortune, and you don't ask how much it is. A woman--and no curiosity.