Chapter I: Front Matter

_THE UNKNOWN_

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._

PLAYS (Uniform with this Volume):

_THE EXPLORER_
_MRS. DOT_
_A MAN OF HONOUR_
_PENELOPE_
_JACK STRAW_
_LADY FREDERICK_
_THE TENTH MAN_
_SMITH_
_LANDED GENTRY_

NOVELS:

_THE EXPLORER_
_THE MAGICIAN_
_THE MERRY-GO-ROUND_
_THE MOON AND SIXPENCE_
_MRS. CRADDOCK_
_OF HUMAN BONDAGE_

_THE UNKNOWN_

_A PLAY_

_In Three Acts_

_BY W. S. MAUGHAM_

_LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN_
_MCMXX_

_Copyright: London William Heinemann 1920_

To

VIOLA TREE.

This play was produced on Monday, August 9, 1920, at the Aldwych Theatre with the following cast:

COLONEL WHARTON MR. CHARLES V. FRANCE
MAJOR WHARTON (JOHN) MR. BASIL RATHBONE
MRS. WHARTON LADY TREE
MRS. LITTLEWOOD MISS HAIDEE WRIGHT
REV. NORMAN POOLE MR. H. R. HIGNETT
MRS. POOLE MISS LENA HALLIDAY
SYLVIA BULLOUGH MISS ELLEN O’MALLEY
DR. MACFARLANE MR. CLARENCE BLAKISTON
KATE MISS GWENDOLEN FFLOYD

_THE UNKNOWN_

_CHARACTERS_

COLONEL WHARTON
MAJOR WHARTON (JOHN)
MRS. WHARTON
MRS. LITTLEWOOD
REV. NORMAN POOLE
MRS. POOLE
SYLVIA BULLOUGH
DR. MACFARLANE
KATE
COOK

The action of the play takes place at the Manor House, Stour, in the County of Kent.

_The author ventures to suggest to the readers of this play that he makes no pretensions to throw a new light on any of the questions which are discussed in it, nor has he attempted to offer a solution of problems which, judging from the diversity of opinion which they have occasioned, may be regarded as insoluble. He has tried to put into dramatic form some of the thoughts and emotions which have recently agitated many, and for this purpose he has chosen the most ordinary characters in the circle with which, owing to his own circumstances, he is best acquainted. But because it is a good many years since he was on terms of intimate familiarity with a parish priest, and he was not certain how much the views of the clergy had changed, the author has put into the mouth of the Rev. Norman Poole phrases from Dr. Gore’s “The Religion of the Church,” and from a sermon by Dr. Stewart Holden. Since it is impossible in a play to indicate by quotation marks what is borrowed, the author takes this opportunity to acknowledge his indebtedness for the Rev. Norman Poole’s most characteristic speeches._

_THE UNKNOWN_