Read Complete Poems and Plays Online
Authors: T. S. Eliot
Tags: #Literature, #20th Century, #American Literature, #Poetry, #Drama, #v.5, #Amazon.com, #Retail
And he’s offered me a job which is just what I wanted.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Yes, I see the advantage of a job created for you
By Señor Gomez …
M
ICHAEL
.
It’s not created for me.
Señor Gomez came to London to find a man to fill it,
And he thinks I’m just the man.
G
OMEZ
.
Yes, wasn’t it extraordinary.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Of course you’re just the man that Señor Gomez wants,
But in a different sense, and for different reasons
From what you think. Let me tell you about Gomez.
He’s unlikely to try to be custodian of your morals;
His real name is Culverwell …
G
OMEZ
.
My dear Dick,
You’re wasting your time, rehearsing ancient history.
Michael knows it already. I’ve told him myself.
I thought he’d better learn the facts from me
Before he heard your distorted version.
But, Dick, I was nettled by that insinuation
About my not being custodian of Michael’s morals.
That is just what I should be! And most appropriate,
Isn’t it, Dick, when we recall
That you were once custodian of
my
morals:
Though of course you went a little
f
aster
than I did.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
On that point, Fred, you’re wasting
your
time:
My daughter and my future son-in-law
Understand that allusion. I have told them the story
In explanation of our … intimacy
Which they found puzzling.
M
RS.
C
ARGHILL
.
Oh,Richard!
Have you explained to them our intimacy too?
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I have indeed.
M
RS.
C
ARGHILL
.
The romance of my life.
Your father was simply
irresistible
In those days. I melted the first time he looked at me!
Some day, Monica, I’ll tell you all about it.
M
ONICA.
I am satisfied with what I know already, Mrs. Carghill,
About you.
M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
.
But I was very lovely then.
G
OMEZ
.
We are sure of that! You’re so lovely now
That we can well imagine you at … what age were you?
M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
.
Just eighteen.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Now, Michael,
Señior Gomez says he has told you his story.
Did he include the fact that he served a term in prison?
M
ICHAEL
.
He told me everything. It was his experience
With you, that made him so understanding
Of my predicament.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And made him invent
The position which he’d come to find the man for.
M
ICHAEL
.
I don’t care about that. He’s offered me the job
With a jolly good screw, and some pickings in commissions.
He’s made a fortune there. San Marco for me!
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And what are your duties to be? Do you know?
M
ICHAEL
.
We didn’t go into details. There’s time for that later.
G
OMEZ
.
Much better to wait until we get there.
The nature of business in San Marco
Is easier explained in San Marco than in England.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Perhaps you intend to change your name to Gomez?
G
OMEZ
.
Oh no, Dick, there are plenty of other good names.
M
ONICA
.
Michael, Michael, you can’t abandon your family
And your very self — it’s a kind of suicide.
C
HARLES
.
Michael, you think Señor Gomez is inspired by benevolence —
M
ICHAEL
.
I told you he’d come to London looking for a man
For an important post on his staff —
C
HARLES
.
A post the nature of which is left very vague
M
ICHAEL
.
It’s confidential, I tell you.
C
HARLES
.
So I can imagine:
Highly confidential …
G
OMEZ
.
Be careful, Mr. Barrister.
You ought to know something about the law of slander.
Here’s Mrs. Carghill, a reliable witness.
C
HARLES
.
I know enough about the law of libel and slander
To know that you are hardly likely to invoke it.
And, Michael, here’s another point to think of:
Señor Gomez has offered you a post in San Marco,
Señor Gomez pays your passage …
M
ICHAEL
.
And an advance of salary.
C
HARLES
.
Señor Gomez pays your passage …
G
OMEZ
.
Just as many years ago
His father paid mine.
C
HARLES
.
This return of past kindness
No doubt gives you pleasure?
G
OMEZ
.
Yes, it’s always pleasant
To repay an old debt. And better late than never.
C
HARLES
.
I see your point of view. Can you really feel confidence,
Michael, in a man who aims to gratify, through you,
His lifelong grievance against your father?
Remember, you put yourself completely in the power
Of a man you don’t know, of the nature of whose business
You know nothing. All you can be sure of
Is that he served a prison sentence for forgery.
G
OMEZ
.
Well, Michael, what do you say to all this?
M
ICHAEL
.
I’ll say that Hemington has plenty of cheek.
Señor Gomez and I have talked things over, Hemington …
G
OMEZ
.
As two men of the world, we discussed things very frankly;
And I can tell you, Michael’s head is well screwed on.
He’s got brains, he’s got flair. When he does come back
He’ll be able to buy you out many times over.
M
RS.
C
ARGHILL
.
Richard, I think it’s time
I
joined the conversation.
My late husband, Mr. Carghill, was a business man —
I wish you could have known him, Señor Gomez!
You’re very much alike in some ways —
So I understand business. Mr. Carghill told me so.
Now, Michael has great abilities for business.
I saw that, and so does Señor Gomez.
He’s simply been suffering, poor boy, from frustration.
He’s been waiting all this time for opportunity
To make use of his gifts; and now, opportunity —
Opportunity has come knocking at the door.
Richard, you must not bar his way. That would be shameful.
L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I cannot bar his way, as you know very well.
Michael’s a free agent. So if he chooses
To place himself in your power, Fred Culverwell,
Of his own volition to contract his enslavement,
I cannot prevent him. I have something to say to you,
Michael, before you go. I shall never repudiate you
Though you repudiate me. I see now clearly
The many many mistakes I have made
My whole life through, mistake upon mistake,
The mistaken attempts to correct mistakes
By methods which proved to be equally mistaken.
I see that your mother and I, in our failure
To understand each other, both misunderstood you
In our divergent ways. When I think of your childhood,
When I think of the happy little boy who was Michael,
When I think of your boyhood and adolescence,
And see how all the efforts aimed at your good
Only succeeded in defeating each other,
How can I feel anything but sorrow and compunction?
M
ONICA
.
Oh Michael, remember, you’re my only brother
And I’m your only sister. You never took much notice of me.
When we were growing up we seldom had the same friends.
I took all that for granted. So I didn’t know till now
How much it means to me to have a brother.
M
ICHAEL
.
Why of course, Monica. You know I’m very fond of you
Though we never really seemed to have much in common.
I remember, when I came home for the holidays
How it used to get on my nerves, when I saw you
Always sitting there with your nose in a book.
And once, Mother snatched a book away from you
And tossed it into the fire. How I laughed!
You never seemed even to want a flirtation,
And my friends used to chaff me about my highbrow sister.
But all the same, I was fond of you, and always shall be.
We don’t meet often, but if we’re fond of each other,
That needn’t interfere with your life or mine.
M
ONICA
.
Oh Michael, you haven’t understood a single word