The Mousetrap and Other Plays (98 page)

When the
CURTAIN
rises, the double doors are open. The stage is in darkness. When the lights come up
LESTER
COLE
is precariously balanced on the library ladder. He is a clumsy but likeable young man of about twenty-four, with a tousled head of hair. He is shabbily dressed. There is a pile of books on the top of the ladder.
LESTER
reaches up to the top shelf, selects a book now and again, pauses to read a passage and either adds it to the pile on the ladder or replaces it on the shelf.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
off
L
in the Hall
) All right, Miss Koletzky, I'll see to it before I go home.

MRS
.
ROPER
enters the hall from
L
.
She is a rather shifty and unpleasant cleaning woman. She is carrying her outdoor clothes and a shopping bag. She crosses to
R
of the hall then returns with great stealth, entering the room with her back against the right-hand door. She obviously does not see
LESTER
who is engrossed in a book. She creeps towards the downstage end of the desk where there is a packet of cigarettes. She is just about to pocket them when
LESTER
shuts his book with a bang.
MRS
.
ROPER
, startled out of her wits, spins round.

Oh, Mr. Cole—I didn't know you were still here.

LESTER
goes to return the book to the top shelf and nearly overbalances.

Do be careful. (
She crosses above the armchair
LC
to
R
of it and puts her bag on the floor
) That thing's not safe, really it isn't. (
She puts on her hat
) Come to pieces any minute, it might, and where would you be then, I'd like to know? (
She puts on her coat
)

LESTER
. Where indeed?

The lights begin to fade slowly for sunset.

MRS
.
ROPER
. Only yesterday I read in the papers of a gentleman as fell off a pair of steps in his library. Thought nothing of it at the time—but later he was took bad and they rushed him to hospital. (
She puts her scarf around her neck
) Broken rib what had peneterated the lung. (
With satisfaction
) And the next day he was—(
She gives her scarf a final pull round her throat
) dead.

LESTER
. What jolly papers you read, Mrs. Roper. (
He becomes engrossed in a book and ignores
MRS
.
ROPER
)

MRS
.
ROPER
. And the same will happen to you if you go stretching over like that. (
She glances at the desk where the cigarettes are, then back at
LESTER
again. Seeing that he is taking no notice of her she starts to sidle over to the desk, humming quietly to herself and keeping an eye on
LESTER
.
She empties the cigarettes from the packet into her pocket then moves
C
holding the empty packet
) Oh, look! The professor's run out of cigarettes again.

A clock strikes five somewhere outside the window.

I'd better slip out and get him another twenty before they shut. Tell Miss Koletzky I won't be long fetching back that washing. (
She picks up her bag, goes into the hall and calls
) 'Bye!

MRS
.
ROPER
exits in the hall to
R
.
The front door is heard opening and closing.

LESTER
. (
without taking his nose out of the book
) I'll tell her.

A door is heard to slam off
L
in the hall.
LESTER
jumps, knocking the pile of books off the top of the steps.
LISA
KOLETZKY
enters up
C
from
L
.
She is a tall, handsome, dark woman of thirty-five, with a strong and rather enigmatic personality. She is carrying a hot-water bottle.

Sorry, Miss Koletzky, I'll pick 'em up. (
He comes down the ladder and picks up the books
)

LISA
. (
moving
C
) It does not matter. A few more books here and there are of no consequence.

LESTER
. (
placing the books on the table
RC
) You startled me, you see. How is Mrs. Hendryk?

LISA
. (
tightening the stopper on the bottle
) The same as usual. She feels the cold. I have a fresh bottle here for her.

LESTER
. (
moving to
R
of the sofa
) Has she been ill for a very long time?

LISA
. (
sitting on the left arm of the sofa
) Five years.

LESTER
. Will she ever get any better?

LISA
. She has her bad and her good days.

LESTER
. Oh, yes, but I mean really better. I say, that's tough going, isn't it?

LISA
. (
rather foreign
) As you say, it is “tough going.”

LESTER
. (
climbing up the ladder and falling up before reaching the top
) Can't the doctors do anything?

LISA
. No. She has one of these diseases for which at present there is no known cure. Some day perhaps they will discover one. In the meantime—(
She shrugs her shoulders
) she can never get any better. Every month, every year, she gets a little weaker. She may go on like that for many, many years.

LESTER
. Yes, that is tough. It's tough on him. (
He comes down the ladder
)

LISA
. As you say, it is tough on him.

LESTER
. (
moving to
R
of the sofa
) He's awfully good to her, isn't he?

LISA
. He cares for her very much.

LESTER
. (
sitting on the right arm of the sofa
) What was she like when she was young?

LISA
. She was very pretty. Yes, a very pretty girl, fair-haired and blue-eyed and always laughing.

LESTER
. (
bewildered by life
) You know, it gets me. I mean, time—what it does to you. How people change. I mean, it's hard to know what's real and what isn't—or if anything is real.

LISA
. (
rising and crossing to the door down
R
) This bottle seems to be real.

LISA
exits down
R
leaving the door open.
LESTER
rises, collects his satchel from the table
RC
,
crosses to the armchair
LC
and puts some books from the chair into the satchel.
LISA
can be heard talking to
ANYA
, but the words are indistinguishable.
LISA
reenters down
R
.

LESTER
. (
guiltily
) The professor said it would be all right to take anything I wanted.

LISA
. (
moving to
R
of the table
RC
and glancing at the books
) Of course, if he said so.

LESTER
. He's rather wonderful, isn't he?

LISA
. (
absorbed in a book
) Hmm?

LESTER
. The Prof., he's wonderful. We all think so, you know. Everybody's terrifically keen. The way he puts things. All the past seems to come alive. (
He pauses
) I mean, when he talks about it you see what everything means. He's pretty unusual, isn't he?

LISA
. He has a very fine brain.

LESTER
. (
sitting on the right arm of the armchair
) Bit of luck for us that he had to leave his own country and came here. But it isn't only his brain, you know, it's something else.

LISA
selects a “Walter Savage Landor,” moves and sits on the sofa at the left end.

LISA
. I know what you mean. (
She reads
)

LESTER
. You just feel that he knows all about you. I mean, that he knows just how difficult everything is. Because you can't get away from it—life is difficult, isn't it?

LISA
. (
still reading
) I do not see why it should be so.

LESTER
. (
startled
) I beg your pardon?

LISA
. I don't see why you say—and so many people say—that life is difficult. I think life is very simple.

LESTER
. Oh, come now—hardly simple.

LISA
. But, yes. It has a pattern, the sharp edges, very easy to see.

LESTER
. Well, I think it's just one unholy mess. (
Doubtfully, but hoping he is right
) Perhaps you're a kind of Christian Scientist?

LISA
. (
laughing
) No, I'm not a Christian Scientist.

LESTER
. But you really think life's easy and happy?

LISA
. I did not say it was easy or happy. I said it was simple.

LESTER
. (
rising and crossing to
L
of the sofa
) I know you're awfully good—(
Embarrassed
) I mean, the way you look after Mrs. Hendryk and everything.

LISA
. I look after her because I want to do so, not because it is good.

LESTER
. I mean, you could get a well-paid job if you tried.

LISA
. Oh, yes, I could get a job quite easily. I am a trained physicist.

LESTER
. (
impressed
) I'd no idea of that. But then, surely you ought to get a job, oughtn't you?

LISA
. How do you mean—ought?

LESTER
. Well, I mean it's rather a waste, isn't it, if you don't? Of your ability, I mean.

LISA
. A waste of my training, perhaps, yes. But ability—I think what I am doing now I do well, and I like doing it.

LESTER
. Yes, but . . .

The front door is heard opening and closing.
KARL
HENDRYK
enters up
C
from
R
.
He is a virile and good-looking man of forty-five. He is carrying a brief-case and a small bunch of spring flowers. He switches on the wall-brackets, the table-lamp
R
and the table-lamp
RC
by the switches
L
.
of the door. He smiles at
LISA
who rises as he moves
C
, and his face lights up with pleasure to see
LESTER
.

KARL
. Hello, Lisa.

LISA
. Hello, Karl.

KARL
. Look—spring. (
He hands her the flowers
)

LISA
. How lovely. (
She moves round below the sofa, puts the flowers on the table
RC
, then continues round the table and takes
KARL
's coat and hat.
)

LISA
exits of
C
to
L
with the hat and coat.

KARL
. So you have come for more books? Good. Let me see what you are taking.

They look over the books together.

Yes, Loshen is good—very sound. And the Verthmer. Salzen—I warn you—he is very unsound.

LESTER
. Then, perhaps, sir, I'd better not . . .

KARL
. No. No, take it. Read it. I warn you out of my own experience, but you must make your own judgements.

LESTER
. Thank you, sir. I'll remember what you say. (
He crosses above
KARL
to the table
RC
and picks up a book
) I brought the Loftus back. It is just as you said—he really makes one think. (
He replaces the book on the table
)

KARL
crosses above the armchair to the desk, takes some books from his brief-case and puts them on the desk.

KARL
. Why not stay and have some supper with us? (
He switches on the desk lamp
)

LESTER
. (
putting books in his satchel
) Thank you so much, sir, but I've got a date.

KARL
. I see. Well, good-bye till Monday, then. Take care of the books.

LISA
enters up
C
from
L
and crosses to
R
of the table
RC
.

LESTER
. (
flushing guiltily
) Oh, I will, sir. I'm awfully sorry—more sorry than I can tell you—about losing that other one.

KARL
. (
sitting at the desk
) Think no more about it. I have lost books myself in my time. It happens to all of us.