The Man from Home Part 28

LADY CREECH [continuing]. Got him a pardon from Russia by telegraph.

HAWCASTLE. You don't mean that!

LADY CREECH. Ethel has just told me.

HAWCASTLE. My G.o.d!

[He springs forward and touches a bell on wall.]

LADY CREECH. An outrage! Our plans all so horribly upset--

HAWCASTLE [turning and coming down steps]. No, they're not.

[MARIANO appears in the doorway.]

HAWCASTLE. Mariano, I'm off for Naples. Sharp's the word!

MARIANO. It is too late for the boat, Milor'. You must drive to Castellamare for the train.

HAWCASTLE. There's a carriage waiting for me at the gate yonder. Get these things into it quick--quick!

[MARIANO beckons porters from the hotel. Porters enter sharply and carry bags, etc., off.]

[Meanwhile, HAWCASTLE, without pause, continues rapidly and in an excited voice to ALMERIC and LADY CREECH.]

You must see it through; you mustn't let the thing fail; what's more, you've got to hurry it, just as if I were here. This girl gave her word last night that she'd stick.

LADY CREECH. But she's behaving very peculiarly this morning.

Outrageously would be nearer it.

HAWCASTLE. How?

LADY CREECH. Shedding tears over this Ivanoff's story. What's more, she has sent that dreadful Pike person to him with a.s.sistance.

HAWCASTLE. What sort of a.s.sistance?

LADY CREECH. Money. I don't know how much, but I'm sure it was a lot.

ALMERIC [with a sudden inspiration]. By Jove! Buying the beggar off, perhaps, to keep him from making a scandal for us.

HAWCASTLE [excitedly]. That's what she's trying to do!

LADY CREECH. Then why do you go?

HAWCASTLE. Because I'm not sure she can. [Going to steps.] Wire me at the Bertolini, Naples. [Turning at stoop.] This shows she means to stick.

LADY CREECH. For the sake of her promise.

HAWCASTLE [emphatically]. Yes, and for the sake of the name.

[He runs out rapidly.]

[PIKE enters from the grove, smoking.]

PIKE [thoughtfully]. Your pa seems in a hurry.

[LADY CREECH and ALMERIC turn, startled. LADY CREECH haughtily sweeps away, entering the hotel.]

ALMERIC [cheerfully]. Oh yes, possibly--he's off, you know--to catch a train. He's so easily worried by trifles.

[PIKE looks at ALMERIC with a sort of chuckling admiration.]

PIKE. Well, you don't worry--not too easy; do you, son?

ALMERIC. Oh, one finds nothing in particular this morning to bother one.

PIKE [a.s.senting]. Nothing at all.

ALMERIC. Not I. Of course, Miss Ethel is standing to her promise?

PIKE [grimly]. Yes, she is.

ALMERIC. The Governor only thought it best to clear out a bit until we were certain that she manages to draw off this convict chap.

PIKE [puzzled]. Draw him off?

ALMERIC. What you Americans call "affixing him," isn't it?

PIKE. "Affixing him?" Don't try to talk United States, my son. Just tell me in your own way.

ALMERIC. She's been giving him money, hasn't she? You took it to him yourself, didn't you? Naturally, we understood what it was for. She's trying to keep the beggar quiet.

PIKE. So that's what she sent this poor cuss the money for, was it?

ALMERIC. Why, what other reason could there be?

PIKE. Well, you know I sort of gathered it was because she was sorry for him--thought he'd been wronged; but, of course, I'm stupid.

ALMERIC. Well, ra-_ther_! I don't know that it was so necessary for her to hush him up, but it showed a very worthy intention in her, didn't it?

PIKE [slowly]. Would you mind my being present when you thank her for it?

ALMERIC. Shouldn't in the least if I intended thanking her. It simply shows she considers herself already one of us. It's perfectly plain--why, it's plain as _you_ are!

[Chuckles.]

PIKE. Oh! if I could only get it over to Kokomo! And that's why you're not worrying, is it, son?