VOICE. They"ve cut it off. What a shame!
CAPT. G. It must have been to make your head cooler.
VOICE. "Just like a boy"s wig. Don"t I look horrid?
CAPT. G. Never looked prettier in your life, dear. (_Aside._) How am I to ask her to say good-bye?
VOICE. I don"t _feel_ pretty. I feel very ill. My heart won"t work.
It"s nearly dead inside me, and there"s a funny feeling in my eyes.
Everything seems the same distance--you and the almirah and the table--inside my eyes or miles away. What does it mean, Pip?
CAPT. G. You"re a little feverish, Sweetheart--very feverish. (_Breaking down._) My love! my love! How can I let you go?
VOICE. I thought so. Why didn"t you tell me that at first?
CAPT. G. What?
VOICE. That I am going to--die.
CAPT. G. But you aren"t! You shan"t.
AYAH _to punkah-coolie_. (_Stepping into veranda after a glance at the bed._) _Punkah chor do!_ (Stop pulling the punkah.)
VOICE. It"s hard, Pip. So very, _very_ hard after one year--just one year. (_Wailing._) And I"m only twenty. Most girls aren"t even married at twenty. Can"t they do _anything_ to help me? I don"t _want_ to die.
CAPT. G. Hush, dear. You won"t.
VOICE. What"s the use of talking? _Help_ me! You"ve never failed me yet.
Oh, Phil, help me to keep alive. (_Feverishly._) I don"t believe you wish me to live. You weren"t a bit sorry when that horrid Baby thing died. I wish I"d killed it!
CAPT. G. (_Drawing his hand across his forehead._) It"s more than a man"s meant to bear--it"s not right. (_Aloud._) Minnie, love, I"d die for you if it would help.
VOICE. No more death. There"s enough already. Pip, don"t _you_ die too.
CAPT. G. I wish I dared.
VOICE. It says: "Till Death do us part." Nothing after that--and so it would be no use. It stops at the dying. _Why_ does it stop there? Only such a very short life, too. Pip, I"m sorry we married.
CAPT. G. No! Anything but that, Min!
VOICE. Because you"ll forget and I"ll forget. Oh, Pip, _don"t_ forget!
I always loved you, though I was cross sometimes. If I ever did anything that you didn"t like, say you forgive me now.
CAPT. G. You never did, darling. On my soul and honour you never did. I haven"t a thing to forgive you.
VOICE. I sulked for a whole week about those petunias. (_With a laugh._) What a little wretch I was, and how grieved you were! Forgive me that, Pip.
CAPT. G. There"s nothing to forgive. It was my fault. They _were_ too near the drive. For G.o.d"s sake _don"t_ talk so, Minnie! There"s such a lot to say and so little time to say it in.
VOICE. Say that you"ll always love me--until the end.
CAPT. G. Until the end. (_Carried away._) It"s a lie. It _must_ be, because we"ve loved each other. This isn"t the end.
VOICE. (_Relapsing into semi-delirium._) _My_ Church-service has an ivory-cross on the back, and _it_ says so, so it must be true.
"Till Death do us part."--But that"s a lie. (_With a parody of_ G."s _manner._) A d.a.m.ned lie! (_Recklessly._) Yes, I can swear as well as Trooper Pip. I can"t make my head think, though. That"s because they cut off my hair. How _can_ one think with one"s head all fuzzy?
(_Pleadingly._) Hold me, Pip! Keep me with you always and always.
(_Relapsing._) But if you marry the Thorniss girl when I"m dead, I"ll come back and howl under our bedroom window all night. Oh, bother!
You"ll think I"m a jackal. Pip, what time is it?
CAPT. G. I--I--I can"t help it, dear.
VOICE. How funny! I couldn"t cry now to save my life. (G. _shivers._) _I_ want to sing.
CAPT. G. Won"t it tire you? Better not, perhaps.
VOICE. Why? I _won"t_ be bothered about. (_Begins in a hoa.r.s.e quaver_):--
"Minnie bakes oaten cake, Minnie brews ale, All because her Johnnie"s coming home from the sea.
(That"s parade, Pip.) And she grows red as rose, who was so pale; And "Are you sure the church-clock goes?" says she."
(_Pettishly._) I knew I couldn"t take the last note. How do the ba.s.s chords run? (_Puts out her hands and begins playing piano on the sheet._)
CAPT. G. (_Catching up hands._) Ahh! Don"t do that, p.u.s.s.y, if you love me.
VOICE. Love you? Of course I do. Who else should it be? (_A pause._)
VOICE. (_Very clearly._) Pip, I"m going now. Something"s choking me cruelly. (_Indistinctly._) Into the dark--without you, my heart.--But it"s a lie, dear--we mustn"t believe it.--For ever and ever, living or dead. Don"t let me go, my husband--hold me tight.--They can"t--whatever happens. (_A cough._) Pip--_my_ Pip! Not for always--and--so--soon!
(_Voice ceases._)
_Pause of ten minutes._ G. _buries his face in the side of the bed while ayah bends over bed from opposite side and feels_ MRS. G."s _breast and forehead._
CAPT. G. (_Rising._) _Doctor Sahib ko salaam do._
AYAH. (_Still by bedside, with a shriek._) Ai! Ai! _Tuta---phuta!_ My _Memsahib!_ Not getting--not have got!--_p.u.s.s.eena agya!_ (The sweat has come.) (_Fiercely to _G.) TUM _jao Doctor Sahib ko jaldi!_ (_You_ go to the doctor.) _Oh,_ my _Memsahib!_
DOCTOR. (_Entering hastily._) Come away, Gadsby. (_Bends over bed._) Eh! The Dev--What inspired you to stop the punkah? Get out, man--go away--wait outside! _Go!_ Here, Ayah! (_Over his shoulder to_ G.) Mind, I promise nothing.
_The dawn breaks as_ G. _stumbles into the garden._
CAPT. M. (_Reining up at the gate on his way to parade and very soberly._) Old man, how goes?
CAPT. G. (_Dazed._) I don"t quite know. Stay a bit. Have a drink or something. Don"t run away. You"re just getting amusing. Ha! Ha!
CAPT. M. (_Aside._) What _am_ I let in for? Gaddy has aged ten years in the night.
CAPT. G. (_Slowly, fingering charger"s headstall._) Your curb"s too loose.
CAPT. M. So it is. Put it straight, will you? (_Aside._) I shall be late for parade. Poor Gaddy.