Six Short Plays | Page 2

KEITH. When--when--what----?
LARRY. Last night.
KEITH. Good God! How? Where? You'd better tell me quietly from
the beginning. Here, drink this coffee; it'll clear your head.
He pours out and hands him a cup of coffee. LARRY drinks it off.
LARRY. My head! Yes! It's like this, Keith--there's a girl----
KEITH. Women! Always women, with you! Well?
LARRY. A Polish girl. She--her father died over here when she was
sixteen, and left her all alone. There was a mongrel living in the same
house who married her--or pretended to. She's very pretty, Keith. He
left her with a baby coming. She lost it, and nearly starved. Then
another fellow took her on, and she lived with him two years, till that
brute turned up again and made her go back to him. He used to beat her
black and blue. He'd left her again when--I met her. She was taking
anybody then. [He stops, passes his hand over his lips, looks up at
KEITH, and goes on defiantly] I never met a sweeter woman, or a truer,
that I swear. Woman! She's only twenty now! When I went to her last
night, that devil had found her out again. He came for me--a bullying,
great, hulking brute. Look! [He touches a dark mark on his forehead] I
took his ugly throat, and when I let go--[He stops and his hands drop.]
KEITH. Yes?
LARRY. [In a smothered voice] Dead, Keith. I never knew till
afterwards that she was hanging on to him--to h-help me. [Again he
wrings his hands.]
KEITH. [In a hard, dry voice] What did you do then?
LARRY. We--we sat by it a long time.
KEITH. Well?
LARRY. Then I carried it on my back down the street, round a corner,
to an archway.
KEITH. How far?

LARRY. About fifty yards.
KEITH. Was--did anyone see?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. What time?
LARRY. Three in the morning.
KEITH. And then?
LARRY. Went back to her.
KEITH. Why--in heaven's name?
LARRY. She way lonely and afraid. So was I, Keith.
KEITH. Where is this place?
LARRY. Forty-two Borrow Square, Soho.
KEITH. And the archway?
LARRY. Corner of Glove Lane.
KEITH. Good God! Why, I saw it in the paper this morning. They were
talking of it in the Courts! [He snatches the evening paper from his
armchair, and runs it over anal reads] Here it is again. "Body of a man
was found this morning under an archway in Glove Lane. >From marks
about the throat grave suspicion of foul play are entertained. The body
had apparently been robbed. "My God! [Suddenly he turns] You saw
this in the paper and dreamed it. D'you understand, Larry?--you
dreamed it.
LARRY. [Wistfully] If only I had, Keith!
[KEITH makes a movement of his hands almost like his brother's.]
KEITH. Did you take anything from the-body?
LARRY. [Drawing au envelope from his pocket] This dropped out
while we were struggling.
KEITH. [Snatching it and reading] "Patrick Walenn"--Was that his
name? "Simon's Hotel, Farrier Street, London." [Stooping, he puts it in
the fire] No!--that makes me----[He bends to pluck it out, stays his hand,
and stamps it suddenly further in with his foot] What in God's name
made you come here and tell me? Don't you know I'm--I'm within an
ace of a Judgeship?
LARRY. [Simply] Yes. You must know what I ought to do. I didn't,
mean to kill him, Keith. I love the girl--I love her. What shall I do?
KEITH. Love!
LARRY. [In a flash] Love!--That swinish brute! A million creatures die
every day, and not one of them deserves death as he did. But but I feel

it here. [Touching his heart] Such an awful clutch, Keith. Help me if
you can, old man. I may be no good, but I've never hurt a fly if I could
help it. [He buries his face in his hands.]
KEITH. Steady, Larry! Let's think it out. You weren't seen, you say?
LARRY. It's a dark place, and dead night.
KEITH. When did you leave the girl again?
LARRY. About seven.
KEITH. Where did you go?
LARRY. To my rooms.
KEITH. To Fitzroy Street?
LARRY. Yes.
KEITH. What have you done since?
LARRY. Sat there--thinking.
KEITH. Not been out?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. Not seen the girl?
[LARRY shakes his head.]
Will she give you away?
LARRY. Never.
KEITH. Or herself hysteria?
LARRY. No.
KEITH. Who knows of your relations with her?
LARRY. No one.
KEITH. No one?
LARRY. I don't know who should, Keith.
KEITH. Did anyone see you go in last night, when you first went to
her?
LARRY. No. She lives on the ground floor. I've got keys.
KEITH. Give them to me.
LARRY takes two keys from his pocket and hands them to his brother.
LARRY. [Rising] I can't be cut off