Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (1979 page)

           
Vendale
. (
to
O
BENREIZER
). You know the mountain. If you will risk it, I will!

           
Obenreizer
. (
to the
G
UIDES
). I risk it, at my friend’s request. (
To
V
ENDALE
.) I’m your man! I’ll guide you to your journey’s end! Say when — and I am ready!

           
Vendale
. (
leading the way out
) Now!

           
Baptiste Senior
(
stopping
V
ENDALE
). One last warning, sir!
You
didn’t tell me I was to be bribed. There are five places of shelter on the road. Past the five places, there is the wooden cross, and there is the convent. When the storm comes on, don’t try to brave it. If there is shelter near, take shelter instantly!

           
Obenreizer
. (
to
V
ENDALE
). How they stick to their trade! Our old friend here is inimitable. He hasn’t given up the hope of plundering you yet!

           
Vendale
. Are you ready?

           
Obenreizer
. Come along!

(
They go out. Great excitement among the
G
UIDES
,
who follow a few steps
,
and remain at the side
,
looking after the travellers eagerly
.)

           
Jean-Paul
(
calling after them
). Not too fast, gentlemen! Spare your strength at starting!

           
Jean-Baptiste
(
calling
). Don’t forget the shelter on the road!                                       

           
Jean-Marie
(
calling
). Don’t rush on your own destruction. Come back!

           
The Waiter
(
calling
). When the snow falls, sound the way with your sticks. Keep the Track!

           
Baptiste Senior
. Spare your breath! They have as much chance of keeping the Track — as you have of being master of this inn.

           
The Waiter
. I don’t know that. They are both stout walkers.

           
Baptiste Senior
. They are both dead men!

(
He leads the way into the inn. The others follow. The Scene changes.
)

T
HIRD
S
CENE
. —
The Pass on the Mountain. On the right of the stage
,
at the back
,
a steep path winds downward through rock and snow. The path is supposed to lead down from the convent — which is not shown in the Scene — and to connect it with the Track over the mountain. The Track itself crosses the stage longitudinally
,
from the bottom of the convent path
,
and is continued
,
sloping downwards
,
until it is lost to view off the stage on the left. Along its farther side from the audience
,
the ground composing the Track rises to a sharp edge
,
which represents the brink of an unseen precipice. Opposite the Track
,
and beyond it
,
the mountain rises again on the other side of the abyss
,
in steep walls of rock
,
snow
,
and ice
,
and is lost to view at the top of the stage. There is supposed to be a lull in the storm. The snow still falls. But the howling of the wind is low
,
the lighting comes at long intervals
,
and the rolling of the thunder in prolonged echoes is only heard faintly in the distance. The wind and the thunder — both low — must continue through the Scene
,
the voices of the actors being heard above it. On the Scene being disclosed
, O
BENREIZER
and V
ENDALE
are discovered descending the path from the convent. They both stop when they get to the level Track
. V
ENDALE
cautiously peers over the brink of the precipice
.

           
Vendale
. (
pointing to the precipice
). Another precipice! A gulf frightful to see! Have we struck the Track once more?

           
Obenreizer
. (
sternly
). We have struck the Track.

           
Vendale
. The storm seems to have passed over.

           
Obenreizer
. The storm will come again.

           
Vendale
. I’m numbed and sleepy. I feel the drowsiness I felt last night at the inn. What does it mean?

           
Obenreizer
. It means the journey is over!

           
Vendale
. Over — in this desolate pass? Over — before we have reached Milan?

           
Obenreizer
. Over — before
you
have reached Milan. I promised to guide you to your journey’s end; and I have kept my promise. The journey of your life ends here.

           
Vendale
. What!

           
Obenreizer
. Fool! — I have drugged you at the convent. — I drugged you last night at the inn! Fool! — I am the thief and the forger. In a minute more, I shall take the proof from your dead body!

           
Vendale
. (
confusedly; feeling the influence of the laudanum
). You villain! What have I done to you?

           
Obenreizer
. Done? George Vendale! you shall hear what you have done. I love Marguerite! I sacrificed my honour, I took the money which was not mine, to buy luxuries for
her!
I love Marguerite — and you are the man who has come between us! You are the man who hounded me into buying the diamonds!
You
maddened me into spending the money which would have replaced the missing sum!
You
led to the discovery that the sum was missing!
You
carry my ruin at this moment in the pocket of your coat!
You
disgrace me in her eyes, if you live to see her again! You die! If you had a thousand lives, you die!

           
Vendale
. Stand off! Coward! murderer! Stand off!

           
Obenreizer
. Murderer? I don’t touch you! I take the paper — I leave you here — and you die. I can wait! You will be asleep in two minutes; any sleep in the snow is death; you are sleeping as you stand.

(
Approaches
V
ENDALE
.)

            Vendale
. (
shaking off the stupor for the moment
). Stop! Stand back from me! God bless my Marguerite — may she never know how I died! Stand back, and let me look at your murderous face! Let it remind me of something left to say!

           
Obenreizer
. (
approaching
V
ENDALE
,
and stopping again
). Curse him! how he glares at me!

           
Vendale
. (
wildly — lapsing back into the stupor
). No! no! no! Villain as you are, I must say the words. Obenreizer! the trust of the dead — Obenreizer! —
 
—

           
Obenreizer
. Come! the paper!

           
Vendale
. No!

           
Obenreizer
. My courage fails me. I’ll wait no longer. Give it up!

           
Vendale
. No!

           
Obenreizer
. Now — or never!

           
Vendale
. Never!

(
He thrusts
O
BENREIZER
back
,
with a last effort
—
rushes to the end of the Track — and throws himself over the precipice
.)

           
Obenreizer
. (
looks over the brink with a cry of horror
—
then starts back from the precipice. The sky darkens
,
the lightning quickens; the thunder and the wind grow louder. The bells of the convent are heard faintly in the far distance
). Lost! lost! and I with him!

(
He falls senseless on the snow. At the same moment
,
the dogs from the convent
,
and a
M
ONK
,
appear at the top of the path
,
on the right. They are followed by
M
ARGUERITE
and
J
OEY
L
ADLE
,
and by other
M
ONKS
,
who carry ropes. The
M
ONK
and
M
ARGUERITE
look over into the abyss
. M
ARGUERITE
rushes down to the track
,
and crouches on the brink of the precipice
.

           
Marguerite
. George! I see him! The ropes! the ropes!

(
As the
M
ONKS
hurry to her with the ropes
,
the curtain falls
.)

THE END OF THE FOURTH ACT
.

ACT V.

S
CENE
. —
A room in the mountain convent. Time
,
evening. Entrances in the flat scene
,
and on the left. Also
,
in the flat scene
,
a practicable door representing solid oak
,
studded with large nails. Neither lock nor handle to the door. Invisible means of opening it from inside. Table and two chairs. Lamp
,
and writing materials near it. A second table and chair. Enter a
M
ONK
,
showing in
B
INTREY
,
followed by
J
OEY
L
ADLE
.
The
M
ONK
goes out
.

           
Bintrey
. Well, Master Joey! What next, I wonder? Here’s a revolution produced in my professional life. I am discharged by a railway into a wilderness, I am taken up a mountain by a mule, and I am shown into a convent by a monk. All because Miss Marguerite chose to go to Switzerland after George Vendale, with you for a courier.

           
Joey
. How do you make that out, Mr. Bintrey?