Waste Part 13

KENT. The reverend one ... is downstairs and wants to see you.

WEDGECROFT. [_As he comes to them._] Hampstead Road Tabernacle ... Oh, the mammon of righteousness!

TREBELL. Shut up! How long have I before Lord Charles--?

KENT. Only ten minutes.

MRS. O'CONNELL _goes to sit at the big table, and apparently idly takes a sheet of paper to scribble on._

TREBELL. [_Half thinking, half questioning._] He's a man I can say nothing to politely.

WEDGECROFT. I'm off to Percival's now. Then I've another case and I'm due back at twelve. If there's anything helpful to say I'll look in again for two minutes ... not more.

TREBELL. You're a good man.

WEDGECROFT. [_As he goes._] Congratulations, Kent.

KENT. [_Taking him to the stairs._] Thank you very much.

AMY. [_Beckoning with her eyes._] What's this, Mr. Trebell?

TREBELL. Eh? I beg your pardon.

_He goes behind her and reads over her shoulder what she has written._ KENT _comes back._

KENT. Shall I bring him up here?

TREBELL _looks up and for a moment stares at his secretary rather sharply, then speaks in a matter-of-fact voice._

TREBELL. See him yourself, downstairs. Talk to him for five minutes ... find out what he wants. Tell him it will be as well for the next week or two if he can say he hasn't seen me.

KENT. Yes.

_He goes._ TREBELL _follows him to the door which he shuts. Then he turns to face_ AMY, _who is tearing up the paper she wrote on._

TREBELL. What is it?

AMY. [_Her steady voice breaking, her carefully calculated control giving way._] Oh Henry ... Henry!

TREBELL. Are you in trouble?

AMY. You'll hate me, but ... oh, it's brutal of you to have been away so long.

TREBELL. Is it with your husband?

AMY. Perhaps. Oh, come nearer to me ... do.

TREBELL. [_Coming nearer without haste or excitement._] Well? [_Her eyes are closed._] My dear girl, I'm too busy for love-making now. If there are any facts to be faced, let me have them ... quite quickly.

_She looks up at him for a moment; then speaks swiftly and sharply as one speaks of disaster._

AMY. There's a danger of my having a child ... your child ... some time in April. That's all.

TREBELL. [_A sceptic who has seen a vision._] Oh ... it's impossible.

AMY. [_Flashing at him, revengefully._] Why?

TREBELL. [_Brought to his mundane self_] Well ... are you sure?

AMY. [_In sudden agony._] D'you think I want it to be true? D'you think I--?

You don't know what it is to have a thing happening in spite of you.

TREBELL. [_His face set in thought._] Where have you been since we met?

AMY. Not to Ireland ... I haven't seen Justin for a year.

TREBELL. All the easier for you not to see him for another year.

AMY. That wasn't what you meant.

TREBELL. It wasn't ... but never mind.

_They are silent for a moment ... miles apart ... Then she speaks dully._

AMY. We do hate each other ... don't we!

TREBELL. Nonsense. Let's think of what matters.

AMY. [_Aimlessly._] I went to a man at Dover ... picked him out of the directory ... didn't give my own name ... pretended I was off abroad. He was a kind old thing ... said it was all most satisfactory. Oh, my G.o.d!

TREBELL. [_He goes to bend over her kindly._] Yes, you've had a torturing month or two. That's been wrong, I'm sorry.

AMY. Even now I have to keep telling myself that it's so ... otherwise I couldn't understand it. Any more than one really believes one will ever die ... one doesn't believe that, you know.

TREBELL. [_On the edge of a sensation that is new to him._] I am told that a man begins to feel unimportant from this moment forward. Perhaps it's true.

AMY. What has it to do with you anyhow? We don't belong to each other. How long were we together that night? Half an hour! You didn't seem to care a bit until after you'd kissed me and ... this is an absurd consequence.

TREBELL. Nature's a tyrant.

AMY. Oh, it's my punishment ... I see that well enough ... for thinking myself so clever ... forgetting my duty and religion ... not going to confession, I mean. [_Then hysterically._] G.o.d can make you believe in Him when he likes, can't he?

TREBELL. [_With comfortable strength._] My dear girl, this needs your pluck.

[_And he sits by her._] All we have to do is to prevent it being found out.

AMY. Yes ... the scandal would smash you, wouldn't it?

TREBELL. There isn't going to be any scandal.