MENDIP. Thank you. Good-night, Mrs. More. Stop him! It"s perdition.
[He and THE DEAN go out. KATHERINE puts her arm in HELEN"S, and takes her out of the room. HUBERT remains standing by the door]
SIR JOHN. I knew your views were extreme in many ways, Stephen, but I never thought the husband of my daughter would be a Peace-at-any-price man!
MORE. I am not! But I prefer to fight some one my own size.
SIR JOHN. Well! I can only hope to G.o.d you"ll come to your senses before you commit the folly of this speech. I must get back to the War Office. Good-night, Hubert.
HUBERT. Good-night, Father.
[SIR JOHN goes out. HUBERT stands motionless, dejected.]
HUBERT. We"ve got our orders.
MORE. What? When d"you sail?
HUBERT. At once.
MORE. Poor Helen!
HUBERT. Not married a year; pretty bad luck! [MORE touches his arm in sympathy] Well! We"ve got to put feelings in our pockets. Look here, Stephen--don"t make that speech! Think of Katherine--with the Dad at the War Office, and me going out, and Ralph and old George out there already! You can"t trust your tongue when you"re hot about a thing.
MORE. I must speak, Hubert.
HUBERT. No, no! Bottle yourself up for to-night. The next few hours "ll see it begin. [MORE turns from him] If you don"t care whether you mess up your own career--don"t tear Katherine in two!
MORE. You"re not shirking your duty because of your wife.
HUBERT. Well! You"re riding for a fall, and a G.o.dless mucker it"ll be. This"ll be no picnic. We shall get some nasty knocks out there.
Wait and see the feeling here when we"ve had a force or two cut up in those mountains. It"s awful country. Those fellows have got modern arms, and are jolly good fighters. Do drop it, Stephen!
MORE. Must risk something, sometimes, Hubert--even in my profession!
[As he speaks, KATHERINE comes in.]
HUBERT. But it"s hopeless, my dear chap--absolutely.
[MORE turns to the window, HUBERT to his sister--then with a gesture towards MORE, as though to leave the matter to her, he goes out.]
KATHERINE. Stephen! Are you really going to speak? [He nods] I ask you not.
MORE. You know my feeling.
KATHERINE. But it"s our own country. We can"t stand apart from it.
You won"t stop anything--only make people hate you. I can"t bear that.
MORE. I tell you, Kit, some one must raise a voice. Two or three reverses--certain to come--and the whole country will go wild. And one more little nation will cease to live.
KATHERINE. If you believe in your country, you must believe that the more land and power she has, the better for the world.
MORE. Is that your faith?
KATHERINE. Yes.
MORE. I respect it; I even understand it; but--I can"t hold it.
KATHERINE. But, Stephen, your speech will be a rallying cry to all the cranks, and every one who has a spite against the country.
They"ll make you their figurehead. [MORE smiles] They will. Your chance of the Cabinet will go--you may even have to resign your seat.
MORE. Dogs will bark. These things soon blow over.
KATHERINE. No, no! If you once begin a thing, you always go on; and what earthly good?
MORE. History won"t say: "And this they did without a single protest from their public men!"
KATHERINE. There are plenty who----
MORE. Poets?
KATHERINE. Do you remember that day on our honeymoon, going up Ben Lawers? You were lying on your face in the heather; you said it was like kissing a loved woman. There was a lark singing--you said that was the voice of one"s worship. The hills were very blue; that"s why we had blue here, because it was the best dress of our country. You do love her.
MORE. Love her!
KATHERINE. You"d have done this for me--then.
MORE. Would you have asked me--then, Kit?
KATHERINE. Yes. The country"s our country! Oh! Stephen, think what it"ll be like for me--with Hubert and the other boys out there.
And poor Helen, and Father! I beg you not to make this speech.
MORE. Kit! This isn"t fair. Do you want me to feel myself a cur?
KATHERINE. [Breathless] I--I--almost feel you"ll be a cur to do it [She looks at him, frightened by her own words. Then, as the footman HENRY has come in to clear the table--very low] I ask you not!
[He does not answer, and she goes out.]
MORE [To the servant] Later, please, Henry, later!
The servant retires. MORE still stands looking down at the dining-table; then putting his hand to his throat, as if to free it from the grip of his collar, he pours out a gla.s.s of water, and drinks it of. In the street, outside the bay window, two street musicians, a harp and a violin, have taken up their stand, and after some tw.a.n.gs and sc.r.a.pes, break into music.
MORE goes towards the sound, and draws aside one curtain. After a moment, he returns to the table, and takes up the notes of the speech. He is in an agony of indecision.
MORE. A cur!
He seems about to tear his notes across. Then, changing his mind, turns them over and over, muttering. His voice gradually grows louder, till he is declaiming to the empty room the peroration of his speech.
MORE.... We have arrogated to our land the t.i.tle Champion of Freedom, Foe of Oppression. Is that indeed a bygone glory? Is it not worth some sacrifice of our pettier dignity, to avoid laying another stone upon its grave; to avoid placing before the searchlight eyes of History the spectacle of yet one more piece of national cynicism? We are about to force our will and our dominion on a race that has always been free, that loves its country, and its independence, as much as ever we love ours. I cannot sit silent to-night and see this begin. As we are tender of our own land, so we should be of the lands of others. I love my country. It is because I love my country that I raise my voice. Warlike in spirit these people may be--but they have no chance against ourselves. And war on such, however agreeable to the blind moment, is odious to the future.
The great heart of mankind ever beats in sense and sympathy with the weaker. It is against this great heart of mankind that we are going.
In the name of Justice and Civilization we pursue this policy; but by Justice we shall hereafter be judged, and by Civilization--condemned.