The Squire Part 15

{Dormer.} I hope--no! Answer me one question honestly--do you love this young soldier whom I saw here to-day?

{Kate.} Suppose I say--"no."

{Dormer.} Then I _leave you_ without another word.

{Kate.} If I say--"yes?"

{Dormer.} Then I deliver to you a message.

{Kate.} A message! From whom?

{Dormer.} From the one who has returned to life.

Yes or No?

{Kate.} Heaven help me--I love Eric!

"There's a jingle,"

_(In the distance there is the faint sound of Fel's song, supposed to proceed from the room above through the open window. Dor. crosses at back and listens.)_

"Sun is s.h.i.+ning,"

{Dormer.} What is that? _(crosses behind table to c.)_

{Kate.} _(calmly)_ The child singing. She is happy.

Go on--I want the message. _(Dormer takes some papers from pocket-book)_

--"Hear the jingle,"

{Dormer.} It is here--in writing, _(at bureau)_

{Kate.} Addressed--to whom?

"--while you may."

{Dormer.} To the woman who loves Eric Thornd.y.k.e.

{Kate.} I am she--who sends it?

"--above her."

{Dormer.} The stranger at the White Lion.

{Kate.} _(after a pause)_ Who is the stranger at the White Lion?

"--lover."

{Dormer.} _(L. of table)_ Eric Thornd.y.k.e's wife.

_(Kate rises slowly, supporting herself upon the table; she and Dor. stand face to face. The song above ceases.)_

{Kate.} Eric--Thornd.y.k.e's--wife. Yes? _(falls back into chair)_

{Dormer.} Shall I read the message?

{Kate.} If you please.

_(Dormer goes up to the bureau, puts on his spectacles and by the light of the lamp arranges his papers.)_

{Dormer.} It is written in French. I have translated it faithfully, _(he places a paper before Kate)_ That is the original.

_(She takes it mechanically, looks at it, then lets it fall upon the floor. At the same moment the shadow of a man is seen at the window L., and the curtains move slightly.)_

Shall I read the translation to you? _(opens paper with one hand; pushes it off table)_

{Kate.} If you please, _(goes toward lamps)_

_(The movement of the curtain stops. Dor. reads slowly.)_

{Dormer.} _(reading)_ "I was a singer in Brussels, with a sweet voice. They called me La Sirene."

{Kate.} _(in a low tone)_ Stop--the Siren. Yes.

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I am a Protestant, born at Chaudefontaine, five miles from Liege. My father was an Englishman, my mother a Belgian woman.

They died when I was a child."

{Kate.} An orphan, like me. _(touches lamp again)_

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "Three years ago a student, Eric Thornd.y.k.e--

_(Eric appears at L. C., holding back curtain.)_

married me secretly but legally at the Protestant church in the Rue de Sta.s.sart in Brussels." Are you listening?

{Kate.} Yes.

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "I married for money and station. I won neither. I found myself wedded to a man who was dependent on a wretched allowance, and who dared not disclose his marriage. We were never happy, and I grew to hate him. One terrible night he discovered me in a gaming house pledging his name to pay my losses. I feared him for the first time in my life, and I fled."

{Kate.} Is this--a woman?

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "The fatigue of my journey threw me into a fever. For many a day I lay at death's door, and throughout the country where the Siren's was a familiar voice I was thought dead."

{Kate.} Dead. I see.

{Dormer.} _(continuing)_ "When I recovered, my sweet voice and pretty face had gone from me forever.

I had nothing but a mad loathing for the man whom I had never loved, and I formed a plan to ruin him."

{Kate.} Oh!