Complete Poems and Plays (98 page)

M
ICHAEL
.
I simply want to lead a life of my own,

According to my own ideas of good and bad,

Of right and wrong. I want to go far away

To some country where no one has heard the name of Claverton;

Or where, if I took a different name — and I might choose to —

No one would know or care what my name had been.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
So you are ready to repudiate your family,

To throw away the whole of your inheritance?

M
ICHAEL
.
What is my inheritance? As for your title,

I know why you took it. And Mother knew.

First, because it gave you the opportunity

Of retiring from politics, not without dignity,

Being no longer wanted. And you wished to be Lord Claverton

Also, to hold your own with Mother’s family —

To lord it over them, in fact. Oh, I’ve no doubt

That the thought of passing on your name and title

To a son, was gratifying. But it wasn’t for
my
sake!

I was just your son — that is to say,

A kind of prolongation of your existence,

A representative carrying on business in your absence.

Why should I thank you for imposing this upon me?

And what satisfaction, I wonder, will it give you

In the grave? If you’re still conscious after death,

I bet it will be a surprised state of consciousness.

Poor ghost! reckoning up its profit and loss

And wondering why it bothered about such trifles.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
So you want me to help you to escape from your father!

M
ICHAEL
.
And to help my father to be rid of
me.

You simply don’t know how very much pleasanter

You will find life become, once I’m out of the country.

What I’d like is a chance to go abroad

As a partner in some interesting business.

But I might be expected to put up some capital.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
What sort of business have you in mind?

M
ICHAEL
.
Oh, I don’t know. Import and export,

With an opportunity of profits both ways.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
This is what I will do for you, Michael.

I will help you to make a start in any business

You may find for yourself — if, on investigation,

I am satisfied about the nature of the business.

M
ICHAEL
.
Anyway, I’m determined to get out of England.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Michael! Are there reasons for your wanting to go

Beyond what you’ve told me? It isn’t … manslaughter?

M
ICHAEL
.
Manslaughter? Why manslaughter? Oh, you mean on the road.

Certainly not. I’m far too good a driver.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
What then? That young woman?

M
ICHAEL
.
                                                                    I’m not such a fool

As to get myself involved in a breach of promise suit

Or somebody’s divorce. No, you needn’t worry

About that girl — or any other.

But I want to get out. I’m fed up with England.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I’m sure you don’t mean that. But it’s natural enough

To want a few years abroad. It might be very good for you

To find your feet. But I shouldn’t like to think

That what inspired you was no positive ambition

But only the desire to escape.

M
ICHAEL
.
                                    I’m not a fugitive.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
No, not a fugitive from justice —

Only a fugitive from reality.

Oh Michael! If you had some aim of high achievement,

Some dream of excellence, how gladly would I help you!

Even though it carried you away from me forever

To suffer the monotonous sun of the tropics

Or shiver in the northern night. Believe me, Michael:

Those who flee from their past will always lose the race.

I know this from experience. When you reach your goal,

Your imagined paradise of success and grandeur,

You will find your past failures waiting there to greet you.

You’re all I have to live for, Michael —

You and Monica. If I lived for twenty years

Knowing that my son had played the coward —

I should merely be another twenty years in
dying.

M
ICHAEL
.
Very well: if you like, call me a coward.

I wonder whether you would play the hero

If you were in my place. I don’t believe you would.

You
didn’t suffer from the handicap that I’ve had.

Your father was rich, but was no one in particular,

So you’d nothing to live up to. Those standards of conduct

You’ve always made so much of, for my benefit:

I wonder whether
you
have always lived up to them.

[M
ONICA
has
entered
unobserved
]

M
ONICA
.
Michael! How can you speak to Father like that?

Father! What has happened? Why do you look so angry?

I know that Michael must be in great trouble,

So can’t you help him?

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
            I am trying to help him,

And to meet him halfway. I have made him an offer

Which he must think over. But if he goes abroad

I want him to go in a very different spirit

From that which he has just been exhibiting.

M
ONICA
.
Michael! Say something.

M
ICHAEL
.
                                          What is there to say?

I want to leave England, and make my own career:

And Father simply calls me a coward.

M
ONICA
.
Father! You know that I would give my life for you.

Oh, how silly that phrase sounds! But there’s no vocabulary

For love within a family, love that’s lived in

But not looked at, love within the light of which

All else is seen, the love within which

All other love finds speech.

This love is silent.

What can I say to you?

However Michael has behaved, Father,

Whatever Father has said, Michael,

You must forgive each other, you must love each other.

M
ICHAEL
.
I could have loved Father, if he’d wanted love,

But he never did, Monica, not from me.

You know I’ve always been very fond of you —

I’ve a very affectionate nature, really,

But …

[
Enter
M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
with
despatch-case
]

M
RS.
C
ARGHILL
.
Richard! I didn’t think you’d still be here.

I came back to have a quiet read of your letters;

But how nice to find a little family party!

I know who you are! You’re Monica, of course:

And this must be your brother, Michael.

I’m right, aren’t I?

M
ICHAEL
.
                   Yes, you’re right.

But …

M
RS.
C
ARGHILL
.
How did I know? Because you’re so like your father

When he was your age. He’s the picture of you, Richard,

As you were once. You’re not to introduce us,

I’ll introduce myself. I’m Maisie Montjoy!

That means nothing to you, my dears.

It’s a very long time since the name of Maisie Montjoy

Topped the bill in revue. Now I’m Mrs. John Carghill.

Richard! It’s astonishing about your children:

Monica hardly resembles you at all,

But Michael — your father has changed a good deal

Since I knew him ever so many years ago,

Yet you’re the image of what he was then.

Your father was a very dear friend of mine once.

M
ICHAEL
.
Did he really look like me?

M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
.
You’ve his voice! and his way of moving! It’s marvellous.

And the charm! He’s inherited all of your charm, Richard.

There’s no denying it. But who’s this coming?

It’s another new guest here. He’s waving to us.

Do you know him, Richard?

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON.
                      It’s a man I used to know.

M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
.
How interesting! He’s a very good figure

And he’s rather exotic-looking. Is he a foreigner?

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
He comes from some place in Central America.

M
RS
. C
ARGHILL
.
How romantic! I’d love to meet him.

He’s coming to speak to us. You must introduce him.

[
Enter
G
OMEZ
]

G
OMEZ
.
Good morning, Dick.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                      Good morning, Fred.

G
OMEZ
.
You weren’t expecting me to join you here, were you?

You’re here for a rest cure. I persuaded my doctor

That I was in need of a rest cure too.

And when I heard you’d chosen to come to Badgley Court

I said to my doctor, ‘Well, what about it?