The Mousetrap and Other Plays (104 page)

HELEN
. (
moving up
R
of
ANYA
) How are you, Mrs. Hendryk? I do hope you are feeling better.

ANYA
. I never feel better.

HELEN
. (
devoid of feeling
) I am sorry. (
She goes above the table
RC
)

The front door bell rings.
KARL
goes to the desk, puts the books down, then moves up
C
.

KARL
. That'll be Dr. Stoner now.

KARL
exits up
C
to
R
.
MRS
.
ROPER
enters down
R
, carrying a wastepaper basket. She goes to the shelf below the bookcase
R
and empties an ashtray into the basket.
HELEN
glances idly through a book on the table
RC
.

MRS
.
ROPER
. I'll finish the bedroom later. I'd better slip out for the tea before he shuts.

KARL
. (
off
) Hello, Doctor. Come in.

DOCTOR
. (
off
) Well, Karl, it's a lovely day.

KARL
enters up
C
from
R
and stands
L
of the doorway. The
DOCTOR
follows him on.

KARL
. I'd like a word with you alone, Doctor.

MRS
.
ROPER
exits up
C
to
L
, leaving the door open.

DOCTOR
. Yes, of course. (
He moves to
L
of
ANYA
) Well, Anya, it's a lovely spring day.

ANYA
. Is it?

KARL
. (
moving down
C
) Will you excuse us a moment? (
He crosses below the sofa to the door down
R
)

HELEN
. (
moving to
R
of the table
RC
) Yes, of course.

DOCTOR
. Good afternoon, Miss Rollander.

HELEN
. Good afternoon, Doctor.

The
DOCTOR
crosses below
KARL
and exits down
R
.
KARL
follows him off, closing the door behind him.
MRS
.
ROPER
comes into the hall from
L
.
She carries her coat and shopping bag. She leaves the bag in the hall, comes into the room and puts on her coat.

MRS
.
ROPER
. It's too hot for the time of the year—

HELEN
moves around
R
of the sofa and sits on it at the right end, takes a cigarette case from her handbag and lights a cigarette.

—gets me in the joints it does when it's like that. So stiff I was this morning I could hardly get out of bed. I'll be right back with the tea, Mrs. Hendryk. Oh, and about the tea, I'll get half a pound shall I?

ANYA
. If you like, if you like.

MRS
.
ROPER
. Ta-ta, so long.

MRS
.
ROPER
goes into the hall, collects her shopping bag and exits to
R
.

ANYA
. It is she who drinks the tea. She always says we need more tea, but we use hardly any. We drink coffee.

HELEN
. I suppose these women always pinch things, don't they?

ANYA
. And they think we are foreigners and we shall not know.

There is a pause.
ANYA
knits.

I'm afraid it is very dull for you, Miss Rollander, with only me to talk to. Invalids are not very amusing company.

HELEN
rises, moves up
R
and looks at the books in the bookcase.

HELEN
. I really only came to bring back those books.

ANYA
. Karl has too many books. Look at this room—look at the books everywhere. Students come and borrow the books and read them and leave them about, and then take them away and lose them. It is maddening—quite maddening.

HELEN
. Can't be much fun for you.

ANYA
. I wish I were dead.

HELEN
. (
turning sharply to look at
ANYA
) Oh, you mustn't say that.

ANYA
. But it's true. I'm a nuisance and a bore to everybody. To my cousin, Lisa, and to my husband. Do you think it is nice to know one is a burden on people?

HELEN
. Do you? (
She turns away to the bookcase
)

ANYA
. I'd be better dead, much better dead. Sometimes I think I will end it all. It will be quite easy. Just a little overdose of my heart medicine and then everybody will be happy and free and I'd be at peace. Why should I go on suffering?

HELEN
crosses above the armchair to the desk and looks out of the window.

HELEN
. (
bored and unsympathetic; with a sigh
) Must be awful for you.

ANYA
. You don't know, you can't possibly understand. You're young and good-looking and rich and have everything you want. And here am I, miserable, helpless, always suffering, and nobody cares. Nobody really cares.

The
DOCTOR
enters down
R
and crosses to
R
of
ANYA
.
KARL
follows him on and stands below the sofa.
HELEN
turns.

DOCTOR
. Well, Anya, Karl tells me you're going into the clinic in about two weeks' time.

ANYA
. It won't do any good. I'm sure of it.

DOCTOR
. Come, come, you mustn't say that. I was reading a most interesting article in The Lancet the other day, which dealt with the matter. Only an outline, but it was interesting. Of course we're very cautious in this country about the prospect of this new treatment. Afraid to commit ourselves. Our American cousins rush ahead, but there certainly seems to be a good chance of success with it.

ANYA
. I don't really believe in it, it won't do any good.

DOCTOR
. Now, Anya, don't be a little misery. (
He pushes the wheelchair towards the door down
R
)

KARL
moves to the door down
R
and holds it open.

We'll have your weekly overhaul now and I'll see whether you're doing me credit as a patient or not.

ANYA
. I can't knit any more, my hands shake so, I drop the stitches.

KARL
takes the chair from the
DOCTOR
and pushes
ANYA
off down
R
.

KARL
. There's nothing in that, is there, Doctor?

DOCTOR
. No, no, nothing at all.

KARL
exits with
ANYA
down
R
.
The
DOCTOR
follows them off.
KARL
re-enters and closes the door. He rather ignores
HELEN
who stubs out her cigarette in the ashtray on the desk and crosses to
LC
.

KARL
. (
collecting his brief-case
) I'm afraid I have to go out, I have a lecture at half past four.

HELEN
. Are you angry with me for coming?

KARL
. (
formally
) Of course not. It is very kind of you to return the books.

HELEN
. (
moving to
L
of
KARL
) You are angry with me. You've been so brusque—so abrupt, lately. What have I done to make you angry? You were really cross yesterday.

KARL
. (
crossing above
HELEN
to the desk
) Of course I was cross. (
He takes a book from the desk and crosses below
HELEN
to
L
of the sofa
) You say that you want to learn, that you want to study and take your diploma, and then you do not work.

HELEN
. Well, I've been rather busy lately—there's been a lot on . . .

KARL
. You're not stupid, you've got plenty of intelligence and brains, but you don't take any trouble. How are you getting on with your German lessons?

HELEN
. (
very off-handedly
) I haven't arranged about them yet.

KARL
. But you must, you must. It's essential that you should be able to read German. (
He crosses above the table
RC
to the bookcase
R
and takes a book
) The books I give you to read, you do not read properly. I ask you questions and your answers are superficial. (
He puts the books in his brief-case
)

HELEN
moves below the sofa.

HELEN
. (
kneeling on the sofa in rather a languid pose
) It's such a bore, working.

KARL
. But you were eager to study, to take your diploma.

HELEN
. The diploma can go to hell for all I care.

KARL
. (
dumping his brief-case on the left arm of the sofa in amazement
) Then I don't understand. You force me to teach you, you made your father come to me.

HELEN
. I wanted to see you, to be near you. Are you quite blind, Karl? I'm in love with you.

KARL
. (
turning and taking a pace to
C
; amazed
) What? But, my dear child . . .

HELEN
. Don't you like me even a little bit?

KARL
. (
crossing and standing down
R
) You're a very desirable young woman but you must forget this nonsense.

HELEN
. (
rising and standing behind
KARL
) It's not nonsense, I tell you I love you. Why can't we be simple and natural about it all? I want you and you want me. You know you do—you're the kind of man I want to marry. Well, why not? Your wife's no good to you.

KARL
. How little you understand. You talk like a child. I love my wife. (
He crosses to
C
)

HELEN
. (
sitting on the sofa
) Oh, I know. You're a terribly kind person. You look after her and bring her cups of Bengers and all that, no doubt. But that isn't love.

KARL
. (
crossing below the sofa to
R
; rather at a loss what to say
) Isn't it? I think it is. (
He sits on the right arm of the sofa
)

HELEN
. Of course you must see that she's properly looked after, but it needn't interfere with your life as a man. If we have an affair together your wife needn't know about it.

KARL
. (
firmly
) My dear child, we're not going to have an affair.

HELEN
. I had no idea you were so straight-laced. (
She is struck by an idea
) I'm not a virgin, you know, if that's what's worrying you. I've had lots of experience.

KARL
. Helen, don't delude yourself. I am not in love with you.

HELEN
. You may go on saying that till you're blue in the face, but I don't believe you.

KARL
. Because you don't want to believe me. But it is true. (
He rises and moves down
R
) I love my wife. She is dearer to me than anyone in the world.

HELEN
. (
like a bewildered child
) Why? Why? I mean, what can she possibly give you? I could give you everything. Money for research or for whatever you wanted.

KARL
. But you would still not be Anya. (
He sits on the right arm of the sofa
) Listen . . .

HELEN
. I dare say she was pretty and attractive once, but she's not like that now.

KARL
. She is. We don't change. There is the same Anya there still. Life does things to us. Ill health, disappointment, exile, all these things from a crust covering over the real self. But the real self is still there.

HELEN
. (
rising, impatiently, moving down
LC
and turning to face
KARL
) I think you're talking nonsense. If it were a real marriage—but it isn't. It can't be, in the circumstances.

KARL
. It is a real marriage.

HELEN
. Oh, you're impossible! (
She moves down
L
)

KARL
. (
rising
) You see, you are only a child, you don't understand.

HELEN
crosses above the armchair to
L
of
KARL
.
She is losing her temper.