The Mousetrap and Other Plays (99 page)

LESTER
. (
moving to the doors up
C
) You've been awfully good about it. Awfully good. Some people wouldn't have lent me any more books.

KARL
. Tcha! That would have been foolish. Go on, my boy.

LESTER
exits rather unwillingly by the hall to
R
.

(
To
LISA
) How is Anya?

LISA
. She has been very depressed and fretful this afternoon, but she settled down for a little sleep. I hope she is asleep, now.

KARL
. I won't wake her if she is asleep. My poor darling, she needs all the sleep she can get.

LISA
. I'll get some water for the flowers.

LISA
takes a vase from the shelf
R
and comes back into the room. He glances quickly round, makes sure he is alone with Karl and moves to
R
of the armchair.

LESTER
. (
with a rush
) I've got to tell you, sir, I must. I—I didn't lose that book.

LISA
enters from up
C
and
L
with the flowers in the vase, crosses very quietly to
L
of the table and
RC
and puts the vase on it.

I—I sold it.

KARL
. (
not turning and not really surprised but kindly nodding his head
) I see. You sold it.

LESTER
. I never meant to tell you. I don't know why I have. But I just felt you'd got to know. I don't know what you'll think of me.

KARL
. (
turning round; thoughtfully
) You sold it. For how much?

LESTER
. (
slightly pleased with himself
) I got two pounds for it. Two pounds.

KARL
. You wanted the money?

LESTER
. Yes, I did. I wanted it badly.

KARL
. (
rising
) What did you want the money for?

LESTER
. (
giving
KARL
a rather shifty glance
) Well, you see, my mother's been ill lately and . . . (
He breaks off and moves away from
KARL
down
C
) No, I won't tell you any more lies. I wanted it—you see, there was a girl. I wanted to take her out, and . . .

KARL
suddenly smiles at
LESTER
and crosses below the armchair to
L
of him.

KARL
. Ah! You wanted it to spend on a girl. I see. Good. Very good—very good, indeed.

LESTER
. Good? But . . .

KARL
. So natural. Oh, yes, it was very wrong of you to steal my book and to sell it and to lie to me about it. But if you have to do bad things I am glad that you do them for a good motive. And at your age there is no better motive than that—to go out with a girl and enjoy yourself. (
He pats
LESTER
on the shoulder
) She is pretty, your girl?

LESTER
. (
self-consciously
) Well, naturally, I think so. (
He gains confidence
) Actually, she's pretty marvellous.

KARL
. (
with a knowing chuckle
) And you had a good time on the two pounds?

LESTER
. In a way. Well, I mean, I began by enjoying it awfully. But—but I did feel rather uncomfortable.

KARL
. (
sitting on the right arm of the armchair
) You felt uncomfortable—yes, that's interesting.

LESTER
. Do believe me, sir, I am terribly sorry and ashamed, and it won't happen again. And I'll tell you this, too, I'm going to save up and buy that book back and bring it back to you.

KARL
. (
gravely
) Then you shall do so if you can. Now, cheer up—that's all over and forgotten.

LESTER
throws
KARL
a grateful glance and exits by the hall to
R
.
LISA
comes slowly forward towards
KARL
.

(
He nods his head
) I'm glad he came and told me about it himself. I hoped he would, but of course I wasn't at all sure.

LISA
. (
moving
RC
) You knew, then, that he'd stolen it?

KARL
. Of course I knew.

LISA
. (
puzzled
) But you didn't let him know that you knew.

KARL
. No.

LISA
. Why?

KARL
. Because, as I say, I hoped he would tell me about it himself.

LISA
. (
after a pause
) Was it a valuable book?

KARL
. (
rising and moving to the desk
) Actually, it's quite irreplaceable.

LISA
. (
turning away
) Oh, Karl.

KARL
. Poor devil—so pleased to have got two pounds for it. The dealer who bought it off him will probably have sold it for forty or fifty pounds by now.

LISA
. So he won't be able to buy it back?

KARL
. (
sitting at the desk
) No.

LISA
. (
crossing to
R
of the armchair
) I don't understand you, Karl. (
She begins to lose her temper
) It seems to me sometimes you go out of your way to let yourself be played upon—you allow yourself to have things stolen from you, to be deceived . . .

KARL
. (
gently but amused
) But, Lisa, I wasn't deceived.

LISA
. Well, that makes it worse. Stealing is stealing. The way you go on positively encourages people to steal.

KARL
. (
becoming thoughtful
) Does it? I wonder. I wonder.

LISA
is very angry now and starts pacing below the sofa and back up
C
.

LISA
. How angry you make me.

KARL
. I know. I always make you angry.

LISA
. (
moving up
R
) That miserable boy . . .

KARL
. (
rising and standing up
LC
) That miserable boy has the makings of a very fine scholar—a really fine scholar. That's rare, you know, Lisa. That's very rare. There are so many of these boys and girls, earnest, wanting to learn, but not the real thing.

LISA
sits on left arm of the sofa.

(
He moves to
L
.
of
LISA
) But Lester Cole is the real stuff of which scholars are made.

LISA
has calmed down by now and she puts her arm affectionately on
KARL
's arm.

(
He smiles ruefully. After a pause
) You've no idea of the difference one Lester Cole makes to a weary professor's life.

LISA
. I can understand that. There is so much mediocrity.

KARL
. Mediocrity and worse. (
He gives
LISA
a cigarette, lights it, then sits
C
of the sofa
) I'm willing to spend time on the conscientious plodder, even if he isn't very bright, but the people who want to acquire learning as a form of intellectual snobbery, to try it on as you try on a piece of jewellery, who want just a smattering and only a smattering, and who ask for their food to be pre-digested, that I won't stand for. I turned one of them down today.

LISA
. Who was that?

KARL
. A very spoiled young girl. Naturally she's at liberty to attend classes and waste her time, but she wants private tuition—special lessons.

LISA
. Is she prepared to pay for them?

KARL
. That is her idea. Her father, I gather, has immense wealth and has always bought his daughter everything she wanted. Well, he won't buy her private tuition from me.

LISA
. We could do with the money.

KARL
. I know. I know, but it's not a question of money—it's the time, you see, Lisa. I really haven't got the time. There are two boys, Sydney Abrahamson—you know him—and another boy. A coal miner's son. They're both keen, desperately keen, and I think they've got the stuff in them. But they're handicapped by a bad superficial education. I've got to give them private time if they're to have a chance.

LISA
rises, crosses above the armchair and flicks her cigarette ash into the ashtray on the desk.

And they're worth it, Lisa, they're worth it. Do you understand?

LISA
. I understand that one cannot possibly change you, Karl. You stand by and smile when a student helps himself to a valuable book, you refuse a rich pupil in favour of a penniless one. (
She crosses to
C
) I'm sure it is very noble, but nobility doesn't pay the baker and the butcher and the grocer.

KARL
. But surely, Lisa, we are really not so hard up.

LISA
. No, we are not really so hard up, but we could always do with some more money. Just think what we could do with this room.

The thumping of a stick is heard off
R
.

Ah! Anya is awake.

KARL
. (
rising
) I'll go to her.

KARL
exits down
R
.
LISA
smiles, sighs and shakes her head, then collects the books from the armchair and puts them on the table
RC
.
The music of a barrel organ is heard off.
LISA
picks up the “Walter Savage Landor” from the table
RC
, sits on the left arm of the sofa and reads,
MRS
.
ROPER
enters the hall from
R
.
She carries a large parcel of washing. She exits in the hall to
L
, deposits the parcel, then re-enters and comes into the room with her shopping bag.

MRS
.
ROPER
. I got the washing. (
She goes to the desk
) And I got a few more fags for the professor—he was right out again. (
She takes a packet of cigarettes from her shopping bags and puts them on the desk
) Oh! Don't they carry on when they run out of fags? You should have heard Mr. Freemantel at my last place. (
She puts her bag on the floor
R
of the armchair
) Screamed blue murder he did if he hadn't got a fag. Always sarcastic to his wife, he was. They were incompatible—you know, he had a secretary. Saucy cat! When the divorce came up, I could have told them a thing or two, from what I saw. I would have done, too, but for Mr. Roper. I thought it was only right, but he said, “No, Ivy, never spit against the wind.”

The front door bell rings.

Shall I see who it is?

LISA
. (
rising
) If you please, Mrs. Roper.

MRS
.
ROPER
exits by the hall to
R
.

DOCTOR
. (
off
) Good evening, Mrs. Roper.

MRS
.
ROPER
re-enters.
DOCTOR
STONER
follows her on. He is a typical family doctor of the old school, aged about sixty. He is affectionately at home.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
as she enters
) It's the doctor.

DOCTOR
. Good evening, Lisa, my dear. (
He stands up
R
and looks around the room at the masses of books everywhere
)

LISA
. (
moving to
R
of the table
RC
) Hello, Doctor Stoner.

MRS
.
ROPER
. (
picking up her bag
) Well, I must be off. Oh, Miss Koletzky, I'll bring in another quarter of tea in the morning, we're right out again. 'Bye!

MRS
.
ROPER
exits up
C
, closing the doors behind her. The
DOCTOR
crosses below the sofa to
R
of it.

DOCTOR
. Well, Lisa, and how goes it?

LISA
moves about the table
RC
and marks her place in the book, with a piece of flower wrapping paper.

Has Karl been buying books again, or is it only my fancy that there are more than usual? (
He busies himself clearing the books from the sofa and putting them on the table
RC
)

LISA
picks up the remainder of the wrapping paper, crosses to the wastepaper basket above the desk and drops the paper in it.

LISA
. (
moving to
L
of the sofa
) I have forbidden him to buy more, Doctor. Already there is practically nowhere to sit down.

DOCTOR
. You are quite right to read him the riot act, Lisa, but you won't succeed. Karl would rather have a book for dinner than a piece of roast beef. How is Anya?