Chapter XXV: Act III: Scene 3

_A few minutes later_. LIZ _and_ JANE _wearing gay sprigged dresses and feathered bonnets_, _come to the room_. _They carry fans and handkerchiefs in their hands_. _It is seen that their gowns are not fastened at the back_.

LIZ. Such a house I never heard tell of. Ring, ring at the bell and no one to come nigh.

JANE. Being unused to bells, sister, maybe as us did pull them wrong or sommat.

LIZ. I wish we’d had the gowns made different.

JANE. To do up in the front—sensible like.

[_They twist and turn in front of the glass on the wall_, _absorbed in their dress_, _they do not notice that_ JEREMY _has come in and is watching them sarcastically_.

JEREMY. Being as grey as th’ old badger don’t keep a female back from vanity.

LIZ. O dear, Master Jeremy, what a turn you did give me, to be sure.

JANE. We can’t find no one in this house to attend upon we.

JEREMY. I count as you can not. Bain’t no one here.

LIZ. We rang for the wench a many time.

JEREMY. Ah, and you might ring.

JANE. We want someone as’ll fasten them niggly hooks to our gowns.

JEREMY. Ah, and you may want.

LIZ. Our sight bain’t clear enough to do one for t’other, the eyelets be made so small.

JEREMY. Count as you’ll have to go unfastened then.

JANE. O now you be a laughing at us. Call the wench down, or we shall never be ready in time.

JEREMY. Man and maid be both gone off. Same as t’others, us’ll have to do without service.

LIZ. Gone off!

JANE. Runned clean away?

JEREMY. That’s about it.

JANE. Well now, sister, us’ll have to ask the little Miss to help we.

JEREMY. I’ve harnessed the mare a many time. Don’t see why I shouldn’t get the both of you fixed into the shafts like.

LIZ and JANE. [_Fanning themselves coyly_.] O Master Jeremy—

JEREMY. Come now. Let’s have a try. I count as no one have a steadier hand nor me this side of the river, nor a finer eye for seeing as everything be in its place. I’ll settle the both of you afore I gets out the horse and trap. Turn round.

[_The sisters turn awkwardly_, _and with very self-conscious airs begin to flutter their fans_. JEREMY _quickly hooks each gown in succession_. _As he finishes the fastening of_ JANE’S _dress_ ROSE, _followed by_ KITTY, _comes into the room_. _She is wearing her bridal gown and veil_.

ROSE. [_Pausing_.] What’s this, Jeremy?

JEREMY. The servants be runned away same as t’others—that’s all, mistress.

ROSE. Run away?

JEREMY. So I do reckon. Bain’t anywhere about the place.

ROSE. [_Flinging herself down on a chair by the table_, _in front of the bunch of forget-me-nots_.] Let them be found. Let them be brought back at once.

KITTY. For my part I’m glad they’ve gone off. The girl was a wild, bad thing. I saw how she went on with Robert.

ROSE. [_Brokenly to_ JEREMY.] You found them. Bring them back, Jerry.

KITTY. No—wait till you and Robert are made man and wife, Rose. Then ’twon’t matter quite so much.

ROSE. I’ll never wed me to Robert, I’ll only wed me to him who gathered these blue flowers here.

KITTY. Good heavens, Rose, ’twas the man William.

[KITTY _looks in consternation from_ ROSE _to the cousins and then to_ JEREMY, _who remains impassive and uninterested_, _sucking a straw_. ROSE _clasps her hands round the forget-me-nots and sits gazing at them_, _desolately unhappy_. ROBERT _enters_. _He is very grandly dressed for the wedding_, _but as he comes into the room he sees_ ISABEL’S _cotton bonnet on the floor_. _He stoops_, _picks it up and laying it reverently on the table_, _sinks into a chair opposite_ ROSE _and raising one of its ribbons_, _kisses this with passion_.

ROBERT. There—I’d not change this for a thousand sacks of gold—I swear I’d not.

KITTY. Now Robert—get up, the two of you. Are you bewitched or sommat—O Jerry, stir them, can’t you.

LIZ. Robert, ’tisn’t hardly suitable—with the young miss so sweetly pretty in her white gown.

JANE. And wedding veil and all. And sister and me hooked up into our new sprigs, ready for the ceremony.

JEREMY. [_Looking at them with cold contempt_.] Let them bide. The mush’ll swim out of they same as ’twill swim off the cider vat. Just let the young fools bide.

KITTY. O this’ll never do. Jerry forgetting of his manners and all. [_Calling at the garden door_.] John, John, come you here quickly, there’s shocking goings on. [JOHN, _in best clothes comes in_.

JOHN. What’s the rattle now, Kitty? I declare I might be turning round on top of my own mill wheel such times as these.

KITTY. Rose says she won’t wed Robert, and Robert’s gone off his head all along of that naughty servant maid.

[JOHN _stands contemplating_ ROSE _and_ ROBERT. ROSE _seems lost to the outside world and is gazing with tears at her forget-me-nots_, _whilst_ ROBERT, _in sullen gloom_, _keeps his eyes fixed on the sun-bonnet_.

JOHN. Come, Rose, ’tis time you commenced to act a bit different. [ROSE _does not answer_.

JOHN. Come, Robert, if you play false to my sister at the last moment, you know with whom you’ll have to reckon like. [ROBERT _pays no heed to him_.

JOHN. [_To_ JEREMY.] Can you do naught to work upon them a bit, Jerry?

JEREMY. I’d have a jug of cider in, master. ’Twill settle them all. Folks do get ’sterical and vapourish face to face with matrimony. Put some drink afore of them, and see how ’twill act.

LIZ. O what a wise thought, Master Jerry.

JANE. Most suitable, I call it.

[_Here_ MARY MEADOWS _comes in_, JOHN _turns eagerly to her_.

JOHN. O Mary—have you come to help us in the fix where we are? [_He signs to_ ROSE _and_ ROBERT.

MARY. What has happened, John?

JEREMY. I’ll tell you in a couple of words, mistress.

LIZ. No—do you fetch the cider, dear Mister Jeremy.

JOHN. ’Tis more than I can do with, Mary. Rose is set against Robert, and Robert is set against Rose. Rose—well I’m fairly ashamed to mention it—Rose has lost her senses and would wed the servant William—and Robert is a-courting of the maid.

JEREMY. Ah, let each fool follow their own liking, says I.

LIZ. And sister and me all dressed in our new gowns for the church.

JANE. And Jerry had to do the hooking for we, both of the servants having runned away.

MARY. Well, now I’m here I’ll lend a hand. I’ll help with the dinner time you’re at church. You shall not need to trouble about anything, Mr. John.

JOHN. O once I do get them to the church and the ring fixed and all I shan’t trouble about nothing, Mary. But ’tis how to move them from where they be! That’s the puzzle.

ROSE. I’ll never move till the hand that gathered these flowers be here to raise me.

ROBERT. I’ll sit here to the end of the world sooner nor go along to be wed with Miss over there.

MARY. ’Tis midsummer heat have turned their brains. But I know a cooling draught that will heal them of their sickness. Jeremy, do you step into the garden and bring me a handful of fresh violet leaves, one blossom from the heartsease and a sprig of rosemary.

JEREMY. [_Sighing_.] What next?

JOHN. Get gone at once, Jerry.

[JEREMY _goes to the door_—_as he does so_ LIZ _and_ JANE _start up and follow him_.

LIZ. Sister and me will come along and help you, dear Mr. Jeremy.

JANE. And that us will, if our new gowns bain’t hooked too tight for we to bend.

[_They follow_ JEREMY _to the garden_. KITTY _silently leaves the room also_. ROSE _and_ ROBERT _remain lost in their sorrowful reflections_. JOHN _and_ MARY _look at them for a moment and then turn to one another_.

JOHN. Mary, I never thought to see such a thing as this.

MARY. You take my word for it, John, the storm will soon be blown away.

JOHN. I don’t know how I should stand up against the worry of it all, wasn’t it for you, Mary.

[_A short silence_.

JOHN. [_Taking_ MARY’S _hand_.] ’Twill be a bit lonesome for me here, when they’ve gone off, Mary.

MARY. You’ll have Kitty to do for you then.

JOHN. Kitty be going to live along of them at Bristol too, after a while.

MARY. [_Looking round the room_.] Then I count as it might feel a bit desolate like in this great house alone.

JOHN. [_Taking_ MARY’S _hand_.] I cannot face it, Mary. I’ve loved you many years, you know.

MARY. I know you have, dear John.

JOHN. Can’t you forget he what was false to you, days gone by, and take me as your husband now?

MARY. [_Doubtfully_.] I don’t hardly know.

JOHN. You used to sing sommat—the grass that was trampled under foot, give it time, it will rise up again.

MARY. [_Drying her eyes_.] Ah, it has risen, dear John—and I count it have covered the wound of those past days—my heart do tell me so, this minute.

JOHN. [_Holding both her hands_.] Then ’tis one long midsummer afore you and me, Mary.

MARY. That’s how ’twill be, dear John.

[JEREMY, _followed by the cousins_, _enters_. _He holds a bunch of leaves towards_ MARY.

JEREMY. There you be, mistress. Fools’ drink for fools. A mug of good cider would have fetched them to their senses quicker.

[MARY _takes the bunch_, _and still holding_ JOHN’S _hand_, _leads him to the kitchen_. JEREMY _watches the pair sarcastically_.

JEREMY. ’Tis all finished with the master, then.

[_The sisters seat themselves on the couch and mop their faces with handkerchiefs_.

LIZ. Dear me, ’tis warm.

JANE. I hope my face don’t show mottled, sister?

JEREMY. I was saying as how ’twas all finished with the master.

[MARY, _followed by_ JOHN, _comes forward carrying two glasses_. _She gives one to_ ROSE _and the other to_ ROBERT.

MARY. Now do you take a good draught of this, the both of you. With violet leaves the fever of the mind is calmed, and heartsease lightens every trouble caused by love. Rosemary do put new life to anyone with its sweetness, and cold spring water does the rest.

[_She leaves the table and stands far back in the room by_ JOHN’S _side_. ROSE _slowly lifts her glass and begins to drink_. ROBERT _does the same_. _They are watched with anxiety by all in the room_. _When they have emptied their glasses_ ROSE _dries her tears and pushes the flowers a little way from her_. ROBERT _shakes himself and moves the cotton bonnet so that it falls unheeded to the floor_. _Meanwhile_ KITTY _has come quietly to the garden door and stands there watching the scene intently_.

LIZ. Bain’t we going to get a drink too?

JANE. Seems as though master have been and forgot we.

JEREMY. [_Starting up and going to the kitchen_.] If I’ve been and forgot you two old women, I’ve remembered myself. Be blowed if I can get through any more of this foolishness without a wet of my mouth.

[_He goes out_.

ROSE. [_Speaking faintly_.] Does it show upon my face, the crying, Robert?

ROBERT. [_Looking at her_.] No, no, Rose, your eyes be brighter nor ever they were.

ROSE. [_Pushing the forget-me-nots yet further away_.] Those flowers are dying. My fancy ones were best.

KITTY. [_Coming forward with the orange blossoms_.] Here they are, dear Rose.

ROSE. [_Taking them_.] O how beautiful they do look. I declare I can smell the sweetness coming out from them, Robert.

ROBERT. All the orange blossom in the world bain’t so sweet as one kiss from your lips, Rose.

ROSE. Now is that truly so?

ROBERT. Ah, ’tis heavy work a-waiting for the coach, Rose.

JOHN. [_Coming forward and taking_ MARY’S _hand_.] And yours won’t be the only marriage Rose-Anna. Did you never think that me and Mary might—

KITTY. [_Running forward_.] But I did—O so many times, John. [JEREMY _enters with_ LUBIN _and_ ISABEL.

JEREMY. Servants be comed back. Man was to the Red Bull, I count. Female a-washing and a-combing of herself in the barn.

ROSE. [_Coldly_.] I don’t care whether they be here or not. Set them to work, Jerry, whilst we are to church.

LIZ. That’s it, Master Jeremy. I was never so put out in my life, as when sister did keep on ringing and the wench was not there to help us on with our gowns.

[ROSE _and_ ROBERT _get up and go towards the door_. _They pause before_ LUBIN _and_ ISABEL.

ROSE. The man puts me in mind of someone whom I knew before, called Lubin. I thought I had a fancy for him once—but ’twasn’t really so.

ROBERT. And the girl do favour a little servant wench from Framilode.

ROSE. [_Jealously_.] You never went a-courting with a servant wench, now did you, my heart’s dearest?

ROBERT. Never in all my days, Rose. ’Twas but the fanciful thoughts of a boy towards she, that I had.

ROSE. [_Putting her arm in_ ROBERT’S.] Well, we have nothing to do with anything more of it now, dear Robert.

ROBERT. You’re about right, my true love, we’ll get us off to the church.

JEREMY. Ah, coach have been waiting a smartish while, I reckon. ’Tis on master as expense’ll fall.

[ROSE _and_ ROBERT _with cold glances at_ LUBIN _and_ ISABEL, _pass out of the door_.

JOHN. [_Giving his arm to_ MARY.] Now, Mary—now, Kitty. [_They pass out_.

LIZ. Now, Jeremy, sister and me bain’t going off all alone.

JEREMY. [_Offering an arm to each_.] No further than the church door, I say. I’ve better things to do nor a-giving of my arm to females be they never so full of wiles. And you two do beat many what bain’t near so long in the tusk, ah, that you does.

[JEREMY _goes out with the sisters_.

LUBIN. [_To_ ISABEL.] And shall we go off into the meadows, Isabel, seeing that we are quite forgot?

ISABEL. No—’tis through these faithless ones as us have learnt to understand the hearts within of we. Let’s bide and get the marriage dinner ready for them first.

[_She stretches both her hands towards_ LUBIN, _who takes them reverently in his as the Curtain falls_.

THE NEW YEAR

CHARACTERS

STEVE BROWNING, _a Blacksmith_, _also Parish Clerk_.

GEORGE DAVIS, _a Carpenter_.

HARRY MOSS, _a young Tramp_.

MAY BROWNING.

JANE BROWNING.

DORRY BROWNING, _aged twelve_.

ANNIE SIMS.

ROSE SIMS.

VASHTI REED.