Complete Poems and Plays (97 page)

It might have been a man. But it can’t be that,

Or he wouldn’t be at large. Perhaps he’s in trouble

With some woman or other. I’m sure he has friends

Whom he wouldn’t care for you or me to know about.

M
ONICA
.
It’s probably money.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                     If it’s only debts

Once more, I expect I can put up with it.

But where is he?

M
ONICA.
                   I told him he must wait in the garden

Until I had prepared you. I’ve made him understand

That the doctors want you to be free from worry.

He won’t make a scene. But I can see he’s frightened.

And you know what Michael is like when he’s frightened.

He’s apt to be sullen and quick to take offence.

So I hope you’ll be patient.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                    Well then, fetch him.

Let’s get this over.

M
ONICA
.
         
[
calls
]
Michael!

[
Enter
M
ICHAEL
]

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                       Good morning, Michael.

M
ICHAEL
.
Good morning, Father.

[
A
pause
]

What a lovely day!

I’m glad you’re here, to enjoy such weather.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
You’re glad I’m here? Did you drive down from London?

M
ICHAEL
.
I drove down last night. I’m staying at a pub

About two miles from here. Not a bad little place.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Why are you staying there? I shouldn’t have thought

It would be the sort of place that you’d choose for a holiday.

M
ICHAEL
.
Well, this isn’t a holiday exactly.

But this hotel was very well recommended.

Good cooking, for a country inn. And not at all expensive.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
You don’t normally consider that a recommendation.

Are you staying there long? For the whole of this holiday?

M
ICHAEL
.
Well, this isn’t a holiday, exactly.

Oh. I said that before, didn’t I?

M
ONICA
.
I wish you’d stop being so polite to each other.

Michael, you know what you’ve come to ask of Father

And Father knows that you want something from him.

Perhaps you’ll get to the point if I leave you together.

[
Exit
]

M
ICHAEL
.
You know, it’s awfully hard to explain things to
you.

You’ve always made up your mind that I was to blame

Before you knew the facts. The first thing I remember

Is being blamed for something I hadn’t done.

I never got over that. If you always blame a person

It’s natural he should end by getting into trouble.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON.
You started pretty early getting into trouble,

When you were expelled from your prep school for stealing.

But come to the point. You’re in trouble again.

We’ll ignore, if you please, the question of blame:

Which will spare you the necessity of blaming someone else.

Just tell me what’s happened.

M
ICHAEL
.
                                    Well, I’ve lost my job.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
The position that Sir Alfred Walter made for you.

M
ICHAEL
.
I’d stuck it for two years. And deadly dull it was.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Every job is dull, nine-tenths of the time …

M
ICHAEL
.
I need something much more stimulating.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                                                      Well?

M
ICHAEL
.
I want to find some more speculative business.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
I dare say you’ve tried a little private speculation.

M
ICHAEL
.
Several of my friends gave me excellent tips.

They always came off — the tips I didn’t take.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And the ones you did take?

M
ICHAEL
.
                                                           Not so well, for some reason.

The fact is, I needed a good deal more capital

To make anything of it. If I could have borrowed more

I might have pulled it off.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                 Borrowed? From whom?

Not … from the firm?

M
ICHAEL
.
                         I went to a lender,

A man whom a friend of mine recommended.

He gave me good terms, on the strength of my name:

The only good the name has ever done me.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
On the strength of your name. And what do you call good terms?

M
ICHAEL
.
I’d nothing at all to pay for two years:

The interest was just added on to the capital.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And how long ago was that?

M
ICHAEL
.
                                                              Nearly two years.

Time passes pretty quickly, when you’re in debt.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And have you other debts?

M
ICHAEL
.
                                                           Oh, ordinary debts:

My tailor’s bill, for instance.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                       I expected that.

It was just the same at Oxford.

M
ICHAEL
.
                                        It’s their own fault.

They won’t send in their bills, and then I forget them.

It’s being your son that gets me into debt.

Just because of your name they insist on giving credit.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And your debts: are they the cause of your being discharged?

M
ICHAEL
.
Well, partly. Sir Alfred did come to hear about it,

And so he pretended to be very shocked.

Said he couldn’t retain any man on his staff

Who’d taken to gambling. Called me a gambler!

Said he’d communicate with you about it.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
That accounts for your coming down here so precipitately —

In order to let me have your version first.

I dare say Sir Alfred’s will be rather different.

And what else did he say?

M
ICHAEL
.
                               He took the usual line,

Just like the headmaster. And my tutor at Oxford.

‘Not what we expected from the son of your father’

And that sort of thing. It’s for your sake, he says,

That he wants to keep things quiet. I can tell you, it’s no joke

Being the son of a famous public man.

You don’t know what I suffered, working in that office.

In the first place, they all knew the job had been made for me

Because I was your son. They considered me superfluous;

They knew I couldn’t be living on my pay;

They had a lot of fun with me — sometimes they’d pretend

That I was overworked, when I’d nothing to do.

Even the office boys began to sneer at me.

I wonder I stood it as long as I did.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And does this bring us to the end of the list of your shortcomings?

Or did Sir Alfred make other unflattering criticisms?

M
ICHAEL
.
Well, there was one thing he brought up against me,

That I’d been too familiar with one of the girls.

He assumed it had gone a good deal further than it had.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
Perhaps it had gone further than you’re willing to admit.

M
ICHAEL
.
Well, after all, she was the only one

Who was at all nice to me. She wasn’t exciting.

But it served to pass the time. It would never have happened

If only I’d been given some interesting work!

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
And what do you now propose to do with yourself?

M
ICHAEL
.
I want to go abroad.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
                     You want to go abroad?

Well, that’s not a bad idea. A few years out of England

In one of the Dominions, might set you on your feet.

I have connections, or at least correspondents

Almost everywhere. Australia — no.

The men I know there are all in the cities:

An outdoor life would suit you better.

How would you like to go to Western Canada?

Or what about sheep farming in New Zealand?

M
ICHAEL
.
Sheep farming? Good Lord, no.

That’s not my idea. I want to make money.

I want to be somebody on my own account.

L
ORD
C
LAVERTON
.
But what do you want to do? Where do you want to go?

What kind of a life do you think you want?