Scanned and proofed by David Price,
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In a rare fit of editorial prerogative, I have added Henley's
poem "Invictus" as a prefatory note. . .Michael S. Hart
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson
Contents
Deacon Brodie
Beau Austin
Admiral Guinea
Robert Macaire
-------------------------------------------------------------
Play: DEACON BRODIE - OR THE DOUBLE LIFE. A MELODRAMA IN FIVE
ACTS AND EIGHT TABLEAUX
PERSONS REPRESENTED
WILLIAM BRODIE, Deacon of the Wrights, Housebreaker and Master
Carpenter.
OLD BRODIE, the Deacon's Father.
WILLIAM LAWSON, Procurator-Fiscal, the Deacon's Uncle.
ANDREW AINSLIE, }
HUMPHREY MOORE } Robbers in the Deacon's gang.
GEORGE SMITH, } C
APTAIN RIVERS, an English Highwayman.
HUNT, a Bow Street Runner.
A DOCTOR.
WALTER LESLIE.
MARY BRODIE, the Deacon's Sister.
JEAN WATT, the Deacon's Mistress.
VAGABONDS, OFFICERS OF THE WATCH, MEN-SERVANTS.
The Scene is laid in Edinburgh. The Time is towards the close of
the Eighteenth Century. The Action, some fifty hours long,
begins at eight p.m. on Saturday and ends before midnight on
Monday.
NOTE. - PASSAGES SUGGESTED FOR OMISSION IN REPRESENTATION ARE
ENCLOSED IN SQUARE BRACKETS, THUS [ ].
SYNOPSIS OF ACTS AND TABLEAUX
ACT I.
TABLEAU I. The Double Life.
TABLEAU II. Hunt the Runner.
TABLEAU III. Mother Clarke's.
ACT II.
TABLEAU IV. Evil and Good.
ACT III.
TABLEAU V. King's Evidence. TABLEAU VI. Unmasked.
ACT IV.
TABLEAU VII. The Robbery.
ACT V.
TABLEAU VIII. The Open Door.
LONDON: PRINCE'S THEATRE 2D JULY 1884
DEACON BRODIE, MR. E. J. HENLEY.
WALTER LESLIE, MR. CHARLES CARTWRIGHT.
WILLIAM LAWSON, MR. JOHN MACLEAN.
ANDREW AINSLIE, MR. FRED DESMOND.
HUMPHREY MOORE, MR. EDMUND GRACE.
GEORGE SMITH, MR. JULIAN CROSS.
HUNT, MR. HUBERT AKHURST.
OLD BRODIE, MR. A. KNIGHT.
CAPTAIN RIVERS, MR. BRANDON THOMAS.
MARY BRODIE, MISS LIZZIE WILLIAMS.
JEAN WATT, MISS MINNIE BELL.
MONTREAL 26TH SEPTEMBER 1887
DEACON BRODIE, MR. E. J. HENLEY.
WALTER LESLIE, MR. GRAHAM STEWART.
WILLIAM LAWSON, MR. EDMUND LYONS.
ANDREW AINSLIE, MR. FRED DESMOND.
HUMPHREY MOORE, MR. EDMUND GRACE.
GEORGE SMITH, MR. HORATIO SAKER.
HUNT, MR. HENRY VERNON.
CAPTAIN RIVERS, MR. BRUCE PHILIPS.
MARY BRODIE, MISS ANNIE ROBE.
JEAN WATT, MISS CARRIE COOTE.
ACT I.
TABLEAU I. THE DOUBLE LIFE.
The Stage represents a room in the Deacon's house, furnished
partly as a sitting-, partly as a bed-room, in the style of an
easy burgess of about 1780. C., a door; L. C., a second and
smaller door; R. C., practicable window; L., alcove, supposed to
contain bed; at the back, a clothes-press and a corner cupboard
containing bottles, etc. MARY BRODIE at needlework; OLD BRODIE,
a paralytic, in wheeled chair, at the fireside, L.
SCENE I
To these LESLIE, C.
LESLIE. May I come in, Mary?
MARY. Why not?
LESLIE. I scarce knew where to find you.
MARY. The dad and I must have a corner, must we not? So when my
brother's friends are in the parlour he allows us to sit in his
room. 'Tis a great favour, I can tell you; the place is sacred.
LESLIE. Are you sure that 'sacred' is strong enough?
MARY. You are satirical!
LESLIE. I? And with regard to the Deacon? Believe me, I am not
so ill-advised. You have trained me well, and I feel by him as
solemnly as a true-born Brodie.
MARY. And now you are impertinent! Do you mean to go any
further? We are a fighting race, we Brodies. Oh, you may laugh,
sir! But 'tis no child's play to jest us on our Deacon, or, for
that matter, on our Deacon's chamber either. It was his father's
before him: he works in it by day and sleeps in it by night; and
scarce anything it contains but is the labour of his hands. Do
you see this table, Walter? He made it while he was yet a
'prentice. I remember how I used to sit and watch him at his
work. It would be grand, I thought, to be able to do as he did,
and handle edge-tools without cutting my fingers, and getting my
ears pulled for a meddlesome minx! He used to give me his mallet
to keep and his nails to hold; and didn't I fly when he called
for them! and wasn't I proud to be ordered about with them! And
then, you know, there is the tall cabinet yonder; that it was
that proved him the first of Edinburgh joiners, and worthy to be
their Deacon and their head. And the father's chair, and the
sister's workbox, and the dear dead mother's footstool - what are
they all but proofs of the Deacon's skill, and tokens of the
Deacon's care for those about him?
LESLIE. I am all penitence. Forgive me this last time, and I
promise you I never will again.
MARY. Candidly, now, do you think you deserve forgiveness?
LESLIE. Candidly, I do not.
MARY. Then I suppose you must have it. What have you done with
Willie and my uncle?
LESLIE. I left them talking deeply. The dear old Procurator has
not much thought just now for anything but those mysterious
burglaries -
MARY. I know! -
LESLIE. Still, all of him that is not magistrate and official is
politician and citizen; and he has been striving his hardest to
undermine the Deacon's principles, and win the Deacon's vote and
interest.
MARY. They are worth having, are they not?
LESLIE. The Procurator seems to think that having them makes the
difference between winning and losing.
MARY. Did he say so? You may rely upon it that he knows. There
are not many in Edinburgh who can match with our Will.
LESLIE. There shall be as many as you please, and not one more.
MARY. How I should like to have heard you! What did uncle say?
Did he speak of the Town Council again? Did he tell Will what a
wonderful Bailie he would make? O why did you come away?
LESLIE. I could not pretend to listen any longer. The election
is months off yet; and if it were not - if it were tramping
upstairs this moment - drums, flags, cockades, guineas,
candidates, and all! - how should I care for it? What are Whig
and Tory to me?
MARY. O fie on you! It is for every man to concern himself in
the common weal. Mr. Leslie - Leslie of the Craig! - should know
that much at least.
LESLIE. And be a politician like the Deacon? All in good time,
but not now. I hearkened while I could, and when I could no more
I slipped out and followed my heart. I hoped I should be
welcome.
MARY. I suppose you mean to be unkind.
LESLIE. Tit for tat. Did you not ask me why I came away? And
is it usual for a young lady to say 'Mr.' to the man she means to
marry?
MARY. That is for the young lady to decide, sir.
LESLIE. And against that judgment there shall be no appeal?
MARY. O, if you mean to argue! -
LESLIE. I do not mean to argue. I am content to love and be
loved. I think I am the happiest man in the world.
MARY. That is as it should be; for I am the happiest girl.
LESLIE. Why not say the happiest wife? I have your word, and
you have mine. Is not that enough?
MARY. Have you so soon forgotten? Did I not tell you how it
must be as my brother wills? I can do only as he bids me.
LESLIE. Then you have not spoken as you promised?
MARY. I have been too happy to speak.
LESLIE. I am his friend. Precious as you are, he will trust you
to me. He has but to know how I love you, Mary, and how your
life is all in your love of me, to give us his blessing with a
full heart.
MARY. I am sure of him. It is that which makes my happiness
complete. Even to our marriage I should find it hard to say
'Yes' when he said 'No.'
LESLIE. Your father is trying to speak. I'll wager he echoes
you.
MARY (TO OLD BRODIE). My poor dearie! Do you want to say
anything to me? No? Is it to Mr. Leslie, then?
LESLIE. I am listening, Mr. Brodie.
MARY. What is it, daddie?
OLD BRODIE. My son - the Deacon - Deacon Brodie - the first at
school.
LESLIE. I know it, Mr. Brodie. Was I not the last in the same
class? (TO MARY.) But he seems to have forgotten us.
MARY. O yes! his mind is wellnigh gone. He will sit for hours
as you see him, and never speak nor stir but at the touch of
Will's hand or the sound of Will's name.
LESLIE. It is so good to sit beside you. By and by it will be
always like this. You will not let me speak to the Deacon? You
are fast set upon speaking yourself? I could be so eloquent,
Mary - I would touch him. I cannot tell you how I fear to trust
my happiness to any one else - even to you!
MARY. He must hear of my good fortune from none but me. And
besides, you do not understand. We are not like families, we
Brodies. We are so clannish, we hold so close together.
LESLIE. You Brodies, and your Deacon!
OLD BRODIE. Deacon of his craft, sir - Deacon of the Wrights -
my son! If his mother - his mother - had but lived to see!
MARY. You hear how he runs on. A word about my brother and he
catches it. 'Tis as if he were awake in his poor blind way to
all the Deacon's care for him and all the Deacon's kindness to
me. I believe he only lives in the thought of the Deacon.
There, it is not so long since I was one with him. But indeed I
think we are all Deacon-mad, we Brodies. Are we not, daddie
dear?
BRODIE (WITHOUT, AND ENTERING). You are a mighty magistrate,
Procurator, but you seem to have met your match.
SCENE II
To these, BRODIE and LAWSON.
MARY (CURTSEYING). So, uncle! you have honoured us at last.
LAWSON. QUAM PRIMUM, my dear, QUAM PRIMUM.
BRODIE. Well, father, do you know me? (HE SITS BESIDE HIS
FATHER AND TAKES HIS HAND.)
[OLD BRODIE. William - ay - Deacon. Greater man - than - his
father.
BRODIE. You see, Procurator, the news is as fresh to him as it
was five years ago. He was struck down before he got the
Deaconship, and lives his lost life in mine.
LAWSON. Ay, I mind. He was aye ettling after a bit handle to
his name. He was kind of hurt when first they made me
Procurator.]
MARY. And what have you been talking of?
LAWSON. Just o' thae robberies, Mary. Baith as a burgher and a
Crown offeecial, I tak' the maist absorbing interest in thae
robberies.
LESLIE. Egad, Procurator, and so do I.
BRODIE (WITH A QUICK LOOK AT LESLIE). A dilettante interest,
doubtless! See what it is to be idle.
LESLIE. Faith, Brodie, I hardly know how to style it.
BRODIE. At any rate, 'tis not the interest of a victim, or we
should certainly have known of it before; nor a practical tool-
mongering interest, like my own; nor an interest professional and
official, like the Procurator's. You can answer for that, I
suppose?
LESLIE. I think I can; if for no more. It's an interest of my
own, you see, and is best described as indescribable, and of no
manner of moment to anybody. [It will take no hurt if we put off
its discussion till a month of Sundays.]
BRODIE. You are more fortunate than you deserve. What do you
say, Procurator?
LAWSON. Ay is he! There is no a house in Edinburgh safe. The
law is clean helpless, clean helpless! A week syne it was auld
Andra Simpson's in the Lawnmarket. Then, naething would set the
catamarans but to forgather privily wi' the Provost's ain butler,
and tak' unto themselves the Provost's ain plate. And the day,
information was laid before me offeecially that the limmers had
made infraction, VI ET CLAM, into Leddy Mar'get Dalziel's, and
left her leddyship wi' no sae muckle's a spune to sup her
parritch wi'. It's unbelievable, it's awful, it's
anti-christian!
MARY. If you only knew them, uncle, what an example you would
make! But tell me, is it not strange that men should dare such
things, in the midst of a city, and nothing, nothing be known of
them - nothing at all?
LESLIE. Little, indeed! But we do know that there are several
in the gang, and that one at least is an unrivalled workman.
LAWSON. Ye're right, sir; ye're vera right, Mr. Leslie. It had
been deponed to me offeecially that no a tradesman - no the
Deacon here himsel' - could have made a cleaner job wi' Andra
Simpson's shutters. And as for the lock o' the bank - but that's
an auld sang.
BRODIE. I think you believe too much, Procurator. Rumour's an
ignorant jade, I tell you. I've had occasion to see some little
of their handiwork - broken cabinets, broken shutters, broken
doors - and I find them bunglers. Why, I could do it better
myself!
LESLIE. Gad, Brodie, you and I might go into partnership. I
back myself to watch outside, and I suppose you could do the work
of skill within?
BRODIE. An opposition company? Leslie, your mind is full of
good things. Suppose we begin to-night, and give the
Procurator's house the honours of our innocence?
MARY. You could do anything, you two!
LAWSON. Onyway, Deacon, ye'd put your ill-gotten gains to a
right use; they might come by the wind but they wouldna gang wi'
the water; and that's aye A SOLATIUM, as we say. If I am to be
robbit, I would like to be robbit wi' decent folk; and no think
o' my bonnie clean siller dirling among jads and dicers. [Faith,
William, the mair I think on't, the mair I'm o' Mr. Leslie's
mind. Come the night, or come the morn, and I'se gie ye my free
permission, and lend ye a hand in at the window forbye!
BRODIE. Come, come, Procurator, lead not our poor clay into
temptation. (LESLIE AND MARY TALK APART.)
LAWSON. I'm no muckle afraid for your puir clay, as ye ca't.]
But hark i' your ear: ye're likely, joking apart, to be gey and
sune in partnership wi' Mr. Leslie. He and Mary are gey and
pack, a body can see that.
[BRODIE. 'Daffin' and want o' wit' - you know the rest.
LAWSON. VIDI, SCIVI, ET AUDIVI, as we say in a Sasine, William.]
Man, because my wig's pouthered do ye think I havena a green
heart? I was aince a lad mysel', and I ken fine by the glint o'
the e'e when a lad's fain and a lassie's willing. And, man, it's
the town's talk; COMMUNIS ERROR FIT JUS, ye ken.
[OLD BRODIE. Oh!
LAWSON. See, ye're hurting your faither's hand.
BRODIE. Dear dad, it is not good to have an ill-tempered son.
LAWSON. What the deevil ails ye at the match? 'Od, man, he has
a nice bit divot o' Fife corn-land, I can tell ye, and some
Bordeaux wine in his cellar! But I needna speak o' the Bordeaux;
ye'll ken the smack o't as weel's I do mysel'; onyway it's grand
wine. TANTUM ET TALE. I tell ye the PRO'S, find you the CON.'S,
if ye're able.]
BRODIE. [I am sorry, Procurator, but I must be short with you.]
You are talking in the air, as lawyers will. I prefer to drop
the subject [and it will displease me if you return to it in my
hearing].
LESLIE. At four o'clock to-morrow? At my house? (TO MARY).
MARY. As soon as church is done. (EXIT MARY.)
LAWSON. Ye needna be sae high and mighty, onyway.
BRODIE. I ask your pardon, Procurator. But we Brodies - you
know our failings! [A bad temper and a humour of privacy.]
LAWSON. Weel, I maun be about my business. But I could tak' a
doch-an-dorach, William; SUPERFLUA NON NOCENT, as we say; an
extra dram hurts naebody, Mr. Leslie.
BRODIE (WITH BOTTLE AND GLASSES). Here's your old friend,
Procurator. Help yourself, Leslie. Oh no, thank you, not any
for me. You strong people have the advantage of me there. With
my attacks, you know, I must always live a bit of a hermit's
life.
LAWSON. 'Od, man, that's fine; that's health o' mind and body.
Mr. Leslie, here's to you, sir. 'Od, it's harder to end than to
begin wi' stuff like that.
SCENE III
To these, SMITH and JEAN, C.
SMITH. Is the king of the castle in, please?
LAWSON (ASIDE). Lord's sake, it's Smith!
BRODIE (TO SMITH). I beg your pardon?
SMITH. I beg yours, sir. If you please, sir, is Mr. Brodie at
home, sir?
BRODIE. What do you want with him, my man?
SMITH. I've a message for him, sir, a job of work, sir!
BRODIE (TO SMITH; REFERRING TO JEAN). And who is this?
JEAN. I am here for the Procurator, about my rent. There's nae
offence, I hope, sir.
LAWSON. It's just an honest wife I let a flat to in Libberton's
Wynd. It'll be for the rent?
JEAN. Just that, sir.
LAWSON. Weel, ye can just bide here a wee, and I'll step down
the road to my office wi' ye. (EXEUNT BRODIE, LAWSON, LESLIE,
C.)
SCENE IV
SMITH, JEAN WATT, OLD BRODIE.
SMITH (BOWING THEM OUT). Your humble and most devoted servant,
George Smith, Esquire. And so this is the garding, is it? And
this is the style of horticulture? Ha, it is! (AT THE MIRROR.)
In that case George's mother bids him bind his hair. (KISSES HIS
HAND.) My dearest Duchess, - (TO JEAN.) I say, Jean, there's a
good deal of difference between this sort of thing and the way we
does it in Libberton's Wynd.
JEAN. I daursay. And what wad ye expeck?
SMITH. Ah, Jean, if you'd cast affection's glance on this poor
but honest soger! George Lord S. is not the nobleman to cut the
object of his flame before the giddy throng; nor to keep her
boxed up in an old mouse-trap, while he himself is revelling in
purple splendours like these. He didn't know you, Jean: he was
afraid to. Do you call that a man? Try a man that is.
JEAN. Geordie Smith, ye ken vera weel I'll tak' nane o' that
sort of talk frae you. And what kind o' a man are you to even
yoursel' to the likes o' him? He's a gentleman.
SMITH. Ah, ain't he just! And don't he live up to it? I say,
Jean, feel of this chair.
JEAN. My! look at yon bed!
SMITH. The carpet too! Axminster, by the bones of Oliver
Cromwell!
JEAN. What a expense!
SMITH. Hey, brandy! The deuce of the grape! Have a toothful,
Mrs. Watt. [(SINGS) -
'Says Bacchus to Venus,
There's brandy between us,
And the cradle of love is the bowl, the bowl!']
JEAN. Nane for me, I thank ye, Mr. Smith.
SMITH. What brings the man from stuff like this to rotgut and
spittoons at Mother Clarke's; but ah, George, you was born for a
higher spear! And so was you, Mrs. Watt, though I say it that
shouldn't. (SEEING OLD BRODIE FOR THE FIRST TIME.) Hullo! it's
a man!
JEAN. Thonder in the chair. (THEY GO TO LOOK AT HIM, THEIR
BACKS TO THE DOOR.)
GEORGE. Is he alive?
JEAN. I think there's something wrong with him.
GEORGE. And how was you to-morrow, my valued old gentleman, eh?
JEAN. Dinna mak' a mock o' him, Geordie.
OLD BRODIE. My son - the Deacon - Deacon of his trade.
JEAN. He'll be his feyther. (HUNT APPEARS AT DOOR C., AND
STANDS LOOKING ON.)
SMITH. The Deacon's old man! Well, he couldn't expect to have
his quiver full of sich, could he, Jean? (TO OLD BRODIE.) Ah,
my Christian soldier, if you had, the world would have been more
varigated. Mrs. Deakin (TO JEAN), let me introduce you to your
dear papa.
JEAN. Think shame to yoursel'! This is the Deacon's house; you
and me shouldna be here by rights; and if we are, it's the least
we can do to behave dacent. [This is no the way ye'll mak' me
like ye.]
SMITH. All right, Duchess. Don't be angry.
SCENE V
To these, HUNT, C. (He steals down, and claps each one suddenly
on the shoulder.)
HUNT. Is there a gentleman here by the name of Mr. Procurator-
Fiscal?
SMITH (PULLING HIMSELF TOGETHER). D-n it, Jerry, what do you
mean by startling an old customer like that?
HUNT. What, my brave un'? You're the very party I was looking
for!
SMITH. There's nothing out against me this time?
HUNT. I'll take odds there is. But it ain't in my hands. (TO
OLD BRODIE.) You'll excuse me, old genelman?
SMITH. Ah, well, if it's all in the way of friendship! . . . I
say, Jean, [you and me had best be on the toddle.] We shall be
late for church.
HUNT. Lady, George?
SMITH. It's a - yes, it's a lady. Come along, Jean.
HUNT. A Mrs. Deacon, I believe? [That was the name, I think?]
Won't Mrs. Deacon let me have a queer at her phiz?
JEAN (UNMUFFLING). I've naething to be ashamed of. My name's
Mistress Watt; I'm weel kennt at the Wynd heid; there's naething
again me.
HUNT. No, to be sure, there ain't; and why clap on the blinkers,
my dear? You that has a face like a rose, and with a cove like
Jerry Hunt that might be your born father? [But all this don't
tell me about Mr. Procurator-Fiscal.]
GEORGE (IN AN AGONY). Jean, Jean, we shall be late. (GOING WITH
ATTEMPTED SWAGGER.) Well, ta-ta, Jerry.
SCENE VI
To these, C, BRODIE and LAWSON (greatcoat, muffler, lantern).
LAWSON (FROM THE DOOR). Come your ways, Mistress Watt.
JEAN. That's the Fiscal himsel'.
HUNT. Mr. Procurator-Fiscal, I believe?
LAWSON. That's me. Who'll you be?
HUNT. Hunt the Runner, sir; Hunt from Bow Street; English
warrant.
LAWSON. There's a place for a' things, officer. Come your ways
to my office, with me and this guid wife.
BRODIE (ASIDE TO JEAN, AS SHE PASSES WITH A CURTSEY). How dare
you be here? (ALOUD TO SMITH.) Wait you here, my man.
SMITH. If you please, sir. (BRODIE GOES OUT, C.)
SCENE VII
BRODIE, SMITH.
BRODIE. What the devil brings you here?
SMITH. CONfound it, Deakin! Not rusty?
[BRODIE. And not you only: Jean too! Are you mad?
SMITH. Why, you don't mean to say, Deakin, that you have been
stodged by G. Smith, Esquire? Plummy old George?]
BRODIE. There was my uncle the Procurator -
SMITH. The Fiscal? He don't count.
BRODIE. What d'ye mean?
SMITH. Well, Deakin, since Fiscal Lawson's Nunkey Lawson, and
it's all in the family way, I don't mind telling you that Nunkey
Lawson's a customer of George's. We give Nunkey Lawson a good
deal of brandy - G. S. and Co.'s celebrated Nantz.
BRODIE. What! does he buy that smuggled trash of yours?
SMITH. Well, we don't call it smuggled in the trade, Deakin.
It's a wink, and King George's picter between G. S. and the
Nunks.
BRODIE. Gad! that's worth knowing. O Procurator, Procurator, is
there no such thing as virtue? [ALLONS! It's enough to cure a
man of vice for this world and the other.] But hark you hither,
Smith; this is all damned well in its way, but it don't explain
what brings you here.
SMITH. I've trapped a pigeon for you.
BRODIE. Can't you pluck him yourself?
SMITH. Not me. He's too flash in the feather for a simple
nobleman like George Lord Smith. It's the great Capting
Starlight, fresh in from York. [He's exercised his noble art all
the way from here to London. 'Stand and deliver, stap my
vitals!'] And the north road is no bad lay, Deakin.
BRODIE. Flush?
SMITH (MIMICKING). 'The graziers, split me! A mail, stap my
vitals! and seven demned farmers, by the Lard - '
BRODIE. By Gad!
SMITH. Good for trade, ain't it? And we thought, Deakin, the
Badger and me, that coins being ever on the vanish, and you not
over sweet on them there lovely little locks at Leslie's, and
them there bigger and uglier marine stores at the Excise Office .
. .
BRODIE (IMPASSIBLE). Go on.
SMITH. Worse luck! . . . We thought, me and the Badger, you
know, that maybe you'd like to exercise your helbow with our free
and galliant horseman.
BRODIE. The old move, I presume? the double set of dice?
SMITH. That's the rig, Deakin. What you drop on the square you
pick up again on the cross. [Just as you did with G. S. and
Co.'s own agent and correspondent, the Admiral from Nantz.] You
always was a neat hand with the bones, Deakin.
BRODIE. The usual terms, I suppose?
SMITH. The old discount, Deakin. Ten in the pound for you, and
the rest for your jolly companions every one. [THAT'S the way WE
does it!]
BRODIE. Who has the dice?
SMITH. Our mutual friend, the Candleworm.
BRODIE. You mean Ainslie? - We trust that creature too much,
Geordie.
SMITH. He's all right, Marquis. He wouldn't lay a finger on his
own mother. Why, he's no more guile in him than a set of sheep's
trotters.
[BRODIE. You think so? Then see he don't cheat you over the
dice, and give you light for loaded. See to that, George, see to
that; and you may count the Captain as bare as his last grazier.
SMITH. The Black Flag for ever! George'll trot him round to
Mother Clarke's in two twos.] How long'll you be?
BRODIE. The time to lock up and go to bed, and I'll be with you.
Can you find your way out?
SMITH. Bloom on, my Sweet William, in peaceful array. Ta-ta.
SCENE VIII
BRODIE, OLD BRODIE; to whom, MARY
MARY. O Willie, I am glad you did not go with them. I have
something to tell you. If you knew how happy I am, you would
clap your hands, Will. But come, sit you down there, and be my
good big brother, and I will kneel here and take your hand. We
must keep close to dad, and then he will feel happiness in the
air. The poor old love, if we could only tell him! But I
sometimes think his heart has gone to heaven already, and takes a
part in all our joys and sorrows; and it is only his poor body
that remains here, helpless and ignorant. Come, Will, sit you
down, and ask me questions - or guess - that will be better,
guess.
BRODIE. Not to-night, Mary; not to-night. I have other fish to
fry, and they won't wait.
MARY. Not one minute for your sister? One little minute for
your little sister?
BRODIE. Minutes are precious, Mary. I have to work for all of
us, and the clock is always busy. They are waiting for me even
now. Help me with the dad's chair. And then to bed, and dream
happy things. And to-morrow morning I will hear your news - your
good news; it must be good, you look so proud and glad. But
to-night it cannot be.
MARY. I hate your business - I hate all business. To think of
chairs, and tables, and foot-rules, all dead and wooden - and
cold pieces of money with the King's ugly head on them; and here
is your sister, your pretty sister, if you please, with something
to tell, which she would not tell you for the world, and would
give the world to have you guess, and you won't? - Not you! For
business! Fie, Deacon Brodie! But I'm too happy to find fault
with you.
BRODIE. 'And me a Deacon,' as the Procurator would say.
MARY. No such thing, sir! I am not a bit afraid of you - nor a
bit angry neither. Give me a kiss, and promise me hours and
hours to-morrow morning.
BRODIE. All day long to-morrow, if you like.
MARY. Business or none?
BRODIE. Business or none, little sister! I'll make time, I
promise you; and there's another kiss for surety. Come along.
(THEY PROCEED TO PUSH OUT THE CHAIR, L.C.) The wine and wisdom
of this evening have given me one of my headaches, and I'm in
haste for bed. You'll be good, won't you, and see they make no
noise, and let me sleep my fill to-morrow morning till I wake?
MARY. Poor Will! How selfish I must have seemed! You should
have told me sooner, and I wouldn't have worried you. Come
along.
(SHE GOES OUT, PUSHING CHAIR.)
SCENE IX
BRODIE
(HE CLOSES, LOCKS, AND DOUBLE-BOLTS BOTH DOORS)
BRODIE. Now for one of the Deacon's headaches! Rogues all,
rogues all! (GOES TO CLOTHES-PRESS, AND PROCEEDS TO CHANGE HIS
COAT.) On with the new coat and into the new life! Down with
the Deacon and up with the robber! (CHANGING NECK-BAND AND
RUFFLES.) Eh God! how still the house is! There's something in
hypocrisy after all. If we were as good as we seem, what would
the world be? [The city has its vizard on, and we - at night we
are our naked selves. Trysts are keeping, bottles cracking,
knives are stripping; and here is Deacon Brodie flaming forth the
man of men he is!] - How still it is! . . . My father and Mary -
Well! the day for them, the night for me; the grimy cynical night
that makes all cats grey, and all honesties of one complexion.
Shall a man not have HALF a life of his own? - not eight hours
out of twenty-four? [Eight shall he have should he dare the pit
of Tophet.] (TAKES OUT MONEY.) Where's the blunt? I must be
cool to-night, or . . . steady, Deacon, you must win; damn you,
you must! You must win back the dowry that you've stolen, and
marry your sister, and pay your debts, and gull the world a
little longer! (AS HE BLOWS OUT THE LIGHTS.) The Deacon's going
to bed - the poor sick Deacon! ALLONS! (THROWS UP THE WINDOW,
AND LOOKS OUT.) Only the stars to see me! (ADDRESSING THE BED.)
Lie there, Deacon! sleep and be well to-morrow. As for me, I'm a
man once more till morning. (GETS OUT OF THE WINDOW.)
TABLEAU II. HUNT THE RUNNER
THE SCENE REPRESENTS THE PROCURATOR'S OFFICE.
SCENE I
LAWSON, HUNT
[LAWSON (ENTERING). Step your ways in, Officer. (AT WING.) Mr.
Carfrae, give a chair to yon decent wife that cam' in wi' me.
Nae news?
A VOICE WITHOUT. Naething, sir.
LAWSON (SITTING). Weel, Officer, and what can I do for you?]
HUNT. Well, sir, as I was saying, I've an English warrant for
the apprehension of one Jemmy Rivers, ALIAS Captain Starlight,
now at large within your jurisdiction.
LAWSON. That'll be the highwayman?
HUNT. That same, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal. The Captain's given me
a hard hunt of it this time. I dropped on his marks first at
Huntingdon, but he was away North, and I had to up and after him.
I heard of him all along the York road, for he's a light hand on
the pad, has Jemmy, and leaves his mark. [I missed him at York
by four-and-twenty hours, and lost him for as much more. Then I
picked him up again at Carlisle, and we made a race of it for the
Border; but he'd a better nag, and was best up in the road; so I
had to wait till I ran him to earth in Edinburgh here and could
get a new warrant.] So here I am, sir. They told me you were an
active sort of gentleman, and I'm an active man myself. And Sir
John Fielding, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal, he's an active gentleman,
likewise, though he's blind as a himage, and he desired his
compliments to you, [sir, and said that between us he thought
we'd do the trick].
LAWSON. Ay, he'll be a fine man, Sir John. Hand me owre your
papers, Hunt, and you'll have your new warrant QUAM PRIMUM. And
see here, Hunt, ye'll aiblins have a while to yoursel', and an
active man, as ye say ye are, should aye be grinding grist.
We're sair forfeuchen wi' our burglaries. NON CONSTAT DE
PERSONA. We canna get a grip o' the delinquents. Here is the
HUE AND CRY. Ye see there is a guid two hundred pounds for ye.
HUNT. Well, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal [I ain't a rich man, and two
hundred's two hundred. Thereby, sir], I don't mind telling you
I've had a bit of a worry at it already. You see, Mr.
Procurator-Fiscal, I had to look into a ken to-night about the
Captain, and an old cock always likes to be sure of his walk; so
I got one of your Scotch officers - him as was so polite as to
show me round to Mr. Brodie's - to give me full particulars about
the 'ouse, and the flash companions that use it. In his list I
drop on the names of two old lambs of my own; and I put it to
you, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal, as a genleman as knows the world, if
what's a black sheep in London is likely or not to be keeping
school in Edinburgh?
LAWSON. COELUM NON ANIMUM. A just observe.
HUNT. I'll give it a thought, sir, and see if I can't kill two
birds with one stone. Talking of which, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal,
I'd like to have a bit of a confab with that nice young woman as
came to pay her rent.
LAWSON. Hunt, that's a very decent woman.
HUNT. And a very decent woman may have mighty queer pals, Mr.
Procurator-Fiscal. Lord love you, sir, I don't know what the
profession would do without 'em!
LAWSON. Ye're vera richt, Hunt. An active and a watchful
officer. I'll send her in till ye.
SCENE II
HUNT (SOLUS)
Two hundred pounds reward. Curious thing. One burglary after
another, and these Scotch blockheads without a man to show for
it. Jock runs east, and Sawney cuts west; everything's at a
deadlock; and they go on calling themselves thief-catchers! [By
jingo, I'll show them how we do it down South! Well, I've worn
out a good deal of saddle leather over Jemmy Rivers; but here's
for new breeches if you like.] Let's have another queer at the
list. (READS.) 'Humphrey Moore, otherwise Badger; aged forty,
thick-set, dark, close-cropped; has been a prize-fighter; no
apparent occupation.' Badger's an old friend of mine, 'George
Smith, otherwise the Dook, otherwise Jingling Geordie; red-haired
and curly, slight, flash; an old thimble-rig; has been a
stroller; suspected of smuggling; an associate of loose women.'
G. S., Esquire, is another of my flock. 'Andrew Ainslie,
otherwise Slink Ainslie; aged thirty-five; thin, white-faced,
lank-haired; no occupation; has been in trouble for reset of
theft and subornation of youth; might be useful as king's
evidence.' That's an acquaintance to make. 'Jock Hamilton,
otherwise Sweepie,' and so on. ['Willie M'Glashan,' hum - yes,
and so on, and so on.] Ha! here's the man I want. 'William
Brodie, Deacon of the Wrights, about thirty; tall, slim, dark;
wears his own hair; is often at Clarke's, but seemingly for
purposes of amusement only; [is nephew to the Procurator-Fiscal;
is commercially sound, but has of late (it is supposed) been
short of cash; has lost much at cock-fighting;] is proud, clever,
of good repute, but is fond of adventures and secrecy, and keeps
low company.' Now, here's what I ask myself: here's this list
of the family party that drop into Mother Clarke's; it's been in
the hands of these nincompoops for weeks, and I'm the first to
cry Queer Street! Two well-known cracksmen, Badger and the Dook!
why, there's Jack in the Orchard at once. This here topsawyer
work they talk about, of course that's a chalk above Badger and
the Dook. But how about our Mohock-tradesman? 'Purposes of
amusement!' What next? Deacon of the Wrights? and wright in
their damned lingo means a kind of carpenter, I fancy? Why,
damme, it's the man's trade! I'll look you up, Mr. William
Brodie, Deacon of the Wrights. As sure as my name's Jerry Hunt,
I wouldn't take one-ninety-nine in gold for my chance of that
'ere two hundred!
SCENE III
HUNT; to him JEAN
HUNT. Well, my dear, and how about your gentleman friend now?
How about Deacon Brodie?
JEAN. I dinna ken your name, sir, nor yet whae ye are; but this
is a very poor employ for ony gentleman - it sets ill wi' ony
gentleman to cast my shame in my teeth.
HUNT. Lord love you, my dear, that ain't my line of country.
Suppose you're not married and churched a hundred thousand times,
what odds to Jerry Hunt? Jerry, my Pamela Prue, is a cove as
might be your parent; a cove renowned for the ladies' friend [and
he's dead certain to be on your side]. What I can't get over is
this: here's this Mr. Deacon Brodie doing the genteel at home,
and leaving a nice young 'oman like you - as a cove may say - to
take it out on cold potatoes. That's what I can't get over, Mrs.
Watt. I'm a family man myself; and I can't get over it.
JEAN. And whae said that to ye? They lee'd whatever. I get
naething but guid by him; and I had nae richt to gang to his
house; and O, I just ken I've been the ruin of him!
HUNT. Don't you take on, Mrs. Watt. Why, now I hear you piping
up for him, I begin to think a lot of him myself. I like a cove
to be open-handed and free.
JEAN. Weel, sir, and he's a' that.
HUNT. Well, that shows what a wicked world this is. Why, they
told me - . Well, well, 'here's the open 'and and the 'appy
'art.' And how much, my dear - speaking as a family man - now,
how much might your gentleman friend stand you in the course of a
year?
JEAN. What's your wull?
HUNT. That's a mighty fancy shawl, Mrs. Watt. [I should like to
take its next-door neighbour to Mrs. Hunt in King Street, Common
Garden.] What's about the figure?
JEAN. It's paid for. Ye can sweir to that.
HUNT. Yes, my dear, and so is King George's crown; but I don't
know what it cost, and I don't know where the blunt came from to
pay for it.
JEAN. I'm thinking ye'll be a vera clever gentleman.
HUNT. So I am, my dear; and I like you none the worse for being
artful yourself. But between friends now, and speaking as a
family man -
JEAN. I'll be wishin' ye a fine nicht. (CURTSIES AND GOES OUT.)
SCENE IV
HUNT (SOLUS)
HUNT. Ah! that's it, is it? 'My fancy man's my 'ole delight,'
as we say in Bow Street. But which IS the fancy man? George the
Dock, or William the Deacon? One or both? (HE WINKS SOLEMNLY.)
Well, Jerry, my boy, here's your work cut out for you; but if you
took one-nine-five for that 'ere little two hundred you'd be a
disgrace to the profession.
TABLEAU III. MOTHER CLARKE'S
SCENE I
The Stage represents a room of coarse and sordid appearance:
settles, spittoons, etc.; sanded floor. A large table at back,
where AINSLIE, HAMILTON, and others are playing cards and
quarrelling. In front, L. and R. smaller tables, at one of which
are BRODIE and MOORE, drinking. MRS. CLARKE and women serving.
MOORE. You've got the devil's own luck, Deacon, that's what
you've got.
BRODIE. Luck! Don't talk of luck to a man like me! Why not say
I've the devil's own judgment? Men of my stamp don't risk - they
plan, Badger; they plan, and leave chance to such cattle as you
[and Jingling Geordie. They make opportunities before they take
them].
MOORE. You're artful, ain't you?
BRODIE. Should I be here else? When I leave my house I leave an
ALIBI behind me. I'm ill - ill with a jumping headache, and the
fiend's own temper. I'm sick in bed this minute, and they're all
going about with the fear of death on them lest they should
disturb the poor sick Deacon. [My bedroom door is barred and
bolted like the bank - you remember! - and all the while the
window's open, and the Deacon's over the hills and far away.
What do you think of me?]
MOORE. I've seen your sort before, I have.
BRODIE. Not you. As for Leslie's -
MOORE. That was a nick above you.
BRODIE. Ay was it. He wellnigh took me red-handed; and that was
better luck than I deserved. If I'd not been drunk, and in my
tantrums, you'd never have got my hand within a thousand years of
such a job.
MOORE. Why not? You're the King of the Cracksmen, ain't you?
BRODIE. Why not! He asks me why not! Gods, what a brain it is!
Hark ye, Badger, it's all very well to be King of the Cracksmen,
as you call it; but however respectable he may have the
misfortune to be, one's friend is one's friend, and as such must
be severely let alone. What! shall there be no more honour among
thieves than there is honesty among politicians? Why, man, if
under heaven there were but one poor lock unpicked, and that the
lock of one whose claret you've drunk, and who has babbled of
woman across your own mahogany - that lock, sir, were entirely
sacred. Sacred as the Kirk of Scotland; sacred as King George
upon his throne; sacred as the memory of Bruce and Bannockburn.
MOORE. Oh, rot! I ain't a parson, I ain't; I never had no
college education. Business is business. That's wot's the
matter with me.
BRODIE. Ay, so we said when you lost that fight with Newcastle
Jemmy, and sent us all home poor men. That was a nick above YOU.
MOORE. Newcastle Jemmy! Muck: that's my opinion of him: muck.
I'll mop the floor up with him any day, if so be as you or any on
'em 'll make it worth my while. If not, muck! That's my motto.
Wot I now ses is, about that 'ere crib at Leslie's, wos I right,
I ses? or wos I wrong? That's wot's the matter with you.
BRODIE. You are both right and wrong. You dared me to do it. I
was drunk; I was upon my mettle; and I as good as did it. More
than that, black-guardly as it was, I enjoyed the doing. He is
my friend. He had dined with me that day, and I felt like a man
in a story. I climbed his wall, I crawled along his pantry roof,
I mounted his window-sill. That one turn of my wrist - you know
it I - and the casement was open. It was as dark as the pit, and
I thought I'd won my wager, when, phewt! down went something
inside, and down went somebody with it. I made one leap, and was
off like a rocket. It was my poor friend in person; and if he'd
caught and passed me on to the watchman under the window, I
should have felt no viler rogue than I feel just now.
MOORE. I s'pose he knows you pretty well by this time?
BRODIE. 'Tis the worst of friendship. Here, Kirsty, fill these
glasses. Moore, here's better luck - and a more honourable
plant! - next time.
MOORE. Deacon, I looks towards you. But it looks thundering
like rotten eggs, don't it?
BRODIE. I think not. I was masked, for one thing, and for
another I was as quick as lightning. He suspects me so little
that he dined with me this very afternoon.
MOORE. Anyway, you ain't game to try it on again, I'll lay odds
on that. Once bit, twice shy. That's your motto.
BRODIE. Right again. I'll put my ALIBI to a better use. And,
Badger, one word in your ear: there's no Newcastle Jemmy about
ME. Drop the subject, and for good, or I shall drop you. (HE
RISES, AND WALKS BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS, A LITTLE UNSTEADILY.
THEN RETURNS, AND SITS L., AS BEFORE.)
SCENE II
To these, HUNT, disguised He is disguised as a 'flying stationer'
with a patch over his eye. He sits at table opposite BRODIE'S
and is served with bread and cheese and beer.
HAMILTON (FROM BEHIND). The deevil tak' the cairts!
AINSLIE. Hoot, man, dinna blame the cairts.
MOORE. Look here, Deacon, I mean business, I do. (HUNT LOOKS UP
AT THE NAME OF 'DEACON.')
BRODIE. Gad, Badger, I never meet you that you do not. [You
have a set of the most commercial intentions!] You make me
blush.
MOORE. That's all blazing fine, that is! But wot I ses is, wot
about the chips? That's what I ses. I'm after that thundering
old Excise Office, I am. That's my motto.
BRODIE. 'Tis a very good motto, and at your lips, Badger, it
kind of warms my heart. But it's not mine.
MOORE. Muck! why not?
BRODIE. 'Tis too big and too dangerous. I shirk King George; he
has a fat pocket, but he has a long arm. [You pilfer sixpence
from him, and it's three hundred reward for you, and a hue and
cry from Tophet to the stars.] It ceases to be business; it
turns politics, and I'm not a politician, Mr. Moore. (RISING.)
I'm only Deacon Brodie.
MOORE. All right. I can wait.
BRODIE (SEEING HUNT). Ha, a new face, - and with a patch!
[There's nothing under heaven I like so dearly as a new face with
a patch.] Who the devil, sir, are you that own it? And where
did you get it? And how much will you take for it second-hand?
HUNT. Well, sir, to tell you the truth (BRODIE BOWS) it's not
for sale. But it's my own, and I'll drink your honour's health
in anything. BRODIE. An Englishman, too! Badger, behold a
countryman. What are you, and what part of southern Scotland do
you come from?
HUNT. Well, your honour, to tell you the honest truth -
[BRODIE (BOWING). Your obleeged!]
HUNT. I knows a gentleman when I sees him, your honour [and, to
tell your honour the truth -
BRODIE. JE VOUS BAISE LES MAINS! (BOWING.)]
HUNT. A gentleman as is a gentleman, your honour [is always a
gentleman, and to tell you the honest truth] -
BRODIE. Great heavens! answer in three words, and be hanged to
you! What are you, and where are you from?
HUNT. A patter-cove from Seven Dials.
BRODIE. Is it possible? All my life long have I been pining to
meet with a patter-cove from Seven Dials! Embrace me, at a
distance. [A patter-cove from Seven Dials!] Go, fill yourself
as drunk as you dare, at my expense. Anything he likes, Mrs.
Clarke. He's a patter-cove from Seven Dials. Hillo! what's all
this?
AINSLIE. Dod, I'm for nae mair! (AT BACK, AND RISING.)
PLAYERS. Sit down, Ainslie. - Sit down, Andra. - Ma revenge!
AINSLIE. Na, na, I'm for canny goin'. (COMING FORWARD WITH
BOTTLE.) Deacon, let's see your gless.
BRODIE. Not an inch of it.
MOORE. No rotten shirking, Deacon!
[AINSLIE. I'm sayin', man, let's see your gless.
BRODIE. Go to the deuce!]
AINSLIE. But I'm sayin' -
BRODIE. Haven't I to play to-night?
AINSLIE. But, man, ye'll drink to bonnie Jean Watt?
BRODIE. Ay, I'll follow you there. A LA REINE DE MES AMOURS!
(DRINKS.) What fiend put this in your way, you hound? You've
filled me with raw stuff. By the muckle deil! -
MOORE. Don't hit him, Deacon; tell his mother.
HUNT (ASIDE). Oho!
SCENE III
To these, SMITH, RIVERS
SMITH. Where's my beloved? Deakin, my beauty, where are you?
Come to the arms of George, and let him introduce you. Capting
Starlight Rivers! Capting, the Deakin: Deakin, the Capting. An
English nobleman on the grand tour, to open his mind, by the
Lard!
RIVERS. Stupendiously pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr.
Deakin, split me!
[BRODIE. We don't often see England's heroes our way, Captain,
but when we do, we make them infernally welcome.
RIVERS. Prettily put, sink me! A demned genteel sentiment, stap
my vitals!]
BRODIE. Oh Captain! you flatter me. [We Scotsmen have our
qualities, I suppose, but we are but rough and ready at the best.
There's nothing like your Englishman for genuine distinction. He
is nearer France than we are, and smells of his neighbourhood.
That d-d thing, the JE NE SAIS QUOI, too! Lard, Lard, split me!
stap my vitals! O such manners are pure, pure, pure. They are,
by the shade of Claude Duval!]
RIVERS. Mr. Deakin, Mr. Deakin [this is passatively too much].
What will you sip? Give it the Hanar of a neam.
BRODIE. By these most Hanarable hands now, Captain, you shall
not. On such an occasion I could play host with Lucifer
himself. Here, Clarke, Mother Midnight! Down with you, Captain!
(FORCING HIM BOISTEROUSLY INTO A CHAIR.) I don't know if you can
lie, but, sink me! you shall sit. (DRINKING, ETC., IN
DUMB-SHOW.)
MOORE (ASIDE TO SMITH). We've nobbled him, Geordie!
SMITH (ASIDE TO MOORE). As neat as ninepence! He's taking it
down like mother's milk. But there'll be wigs on the green
to-morrow, Badger! It'll be tuppence and toddle with George
Smith.
MOORE. O muck! Who's afraid of him? (TO AINSLIE.) Hang on,
Slinkie.
HUNT (WHO IS FEIGNING DRUNKENNESS, AND HAS OVERHEARD; ASIDE). By
jingo!
[RIVERS. Will you sneeze, Mr. Deakin, sir?
BRODIE. Thanks; I have all the vices, Captain. You must send me
some of your rappee. It is passatively perfect.]
RIVERS. Mr. Deakin, I do myself the Hanar of a sip to you.
BRODIE. Topsy-turvy with the can!
MOORE (ASIDE TO SMITH). That made him wink.
BRODIE. Your high and mighty hand, my Captain! Shall we dice -
dice - dice? (DUMB-SHOW BETWEEN THEM.)
AINSLIE (ASIDE TO MOORE). I'm sayin' -?
MOORE. What's up now?
AINSLIE. I'm no to gie him the coggit dice?
MOORE. The square ones, rot you! Ain't he got to lose every
brass farden?
AINSLIE. What'll like be my share?
MOORE. You mucking well leave that to me.
RIVERS. Well, Mr. Deakin, if you passatively will have me shake
a Helbow -
BRODIE. Where are the bones, Ainslie? Where are the dice, Lord
George? (AINSLIE GIVES THE DICE AND DICE-BOX TO BRODIE; AND
PRIVATELY A SECOND PAIR OF DICE.) Old Fortune's counters the
bonnie money-catching, money-breeding bones! Hark to their dry
music! Scotland against England! Sit round, you tame devils,
and put your coins on me!
SMITH. Easy does it, my lord of high degree! Keep cool.
BRODIE. Cool's the word, Captain - a cool twenty on the first?
RIVERS. Done and done. (THEY PLAY.)
HUNT (ASIDE TO MOORE, A LITTLE DRUNK). Ain't that 'ere Scotch
gentleman, your friend, too drunk to play, sir?
MOORE. You hold your jaw; that's what's the matter with you.
AINSLIE. He's waur nor he looks. He's knockit the box aff the
table.
SMITH (PICKING UP BOX). That's the way we does it. Ten to one
and no takers!
BRODIE. Deuces again! More liquor, Mother Clarke!
SMITH. Hooray our side! (POUTING OUT.) George and his pal for
ever!
BRODIE. Deuces again, by heaven! Another?
RIVERS. Done!
BRODIE. Ten more; money's made to go. On with you!
RIVERS. Sixes.
BRODIE. Deuce-ace. Death and judgment? Double or quits?
RIVERS. Drive on! Sixes.
SMITH. Fire away, brave boys! (TO MOORE) It's Tally-ho-the-
Grinder, Hump!
BRODIE. Treys! Death and the pit! How much have you got there?
RIVERS. A cool forty-five.
BRODIE. I play you thrice the lot.
RIVERS. Who's afraid?
SMITH. Stand by, Badger!
RIVERS. Cinq-ace.
BRODIE. My turn now. (HE JUGGLES IN AND USES THE SECOND PAIR OF
DICE.) Aces! Aces again! What's this? (PICKING UP DICE.)
Sold! . . . You play false, you hound!
RIVERS. You lie!
BRODIE. In your teeth. (OVERTURNS TABLE, AND GOES FOR HIM.)
MOORE. Here, none o' that. (THEY HOLD HIM BACK. STRUGGLE.)
SMITH. Hold on, Deacon!
BRODIE. Let me go. Hands off, I say! I'll not touch him.
(STANDS WEIGHING DICE IN HIS HAND.) But as for that thieving
whinger, Ainslie, I'll cut his throat between this dark and
to-morrow's. To the bone. (ADDRESSING THE COMPANY.) Rogues,
rogues, rogues! (SINGING WITHOUT.) Ha! what's that?
AINSLIE. It's the psalm-singing up by at the Holy Weaver's. And
O Deacon, if ye're a Christian man -
THE PSALM WITHOUT:- 'Lord, who shall stand, if Thou, O Lord,
Should'st mark iniquity? But yet with Thee forgiveness is, That
feared Thou may'st be.'
BRODIE. I think I'll go. 'My son the Deacon was aye regular at
kirk.' If the old man could see his son, the Deacon! I think
I'll - Ay, who SHALL stand? There's the rub! And forgiveness,
too? There's a long word for you! I learnt it all lang syne,
and now . . . hell and ruin are on either hand of me, and the
devil has me by the leg. 'My son, the Deacon . . . !' Eh, God!
but there's no fool like an old fool! (BECOMING CONSCIOUS OF THE
OTHERS.) Rogues!
