Latest / Classic Plays Collection / Sweethearts-W. S. Gilbert

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Sweethearts-W. S. Gilbert · Classic Plays Collection

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  Speaker 1: At one of Sweethearts by W. S. Gilbert. This is
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  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Dramatis Personae Mister Harry.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Spread Brow rid by Algiepage, Miss.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Jennie Northcotte read by Amanda Friday.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Wilcox a gardener as read by Mount Rory Ruth.
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  Speaker 4: A maid Servant read by Elizabeth Klett.
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  Speaker 1: Narration by Chris Cartwright, Act one, date eighteen forty four.
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  Speaker 1: Scene the garden of a pretty country villa. The house
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  Speaker 1: is new and the garden shows signs of having been
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  Speaker 1: recently laid out. The shrubs are small, and the few
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: trees about a moderate in size. Small creepers are trained
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  Speaker 1: against the house. An open country in the distance, a
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  Speaker 1: little bridge over a stream forms the entrance to the garden.
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  Speaker 1: Wilcox is discovered seated on the edge of the garden wheelbarrow,
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  Speaker 1: preparing his bass for tying up plants. He rises and
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  Speaker 1: comes down with sycamore sapling in his hand. It is
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  Speaker 1: carefully done up in matting and has a direction label
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  Speaker 1: attached to it. Wilcox reading the label for.
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  Speaker 5: Miss Northcore with mister Spreadbrow's kindest regards, aesa pseudo plantainous
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  Speaker 5: I I sycamore, I suppose, though it ain't genteel to
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: say so. Humph, Sycamore's are common enough in these parts.
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  Speaker 5: There ain't no call as ark and see to send
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  Speaker 5: one hundred and twenty mile for one ah, mister spread Brow,
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  Speaker 5: No go, no go. It ain't to be done with
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  Speaker 5: ace pseudo plantnesses. Miss Jenny's sent better men nor you
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  Speaker 5: about the business of all this. And as you are
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: gone about yawn of your own free will tonight and
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: a good long wait too what I said, no go,
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  Speaker 5: no go. If I know Miss Jenny, she's a good
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  Speaker 5: long job. And you've sat down looking at your work
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  Speaker 5: too long, and now that it's come to going, you'll
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  Speaker 5: need to hurry it. And miss Jenny ain't a job
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: to be hurried over. Bless her. Take another three months,
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  Speaker 5: and don't say there mightn't be a chance for you.
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  Speaker 5: But I don't take all that, Thank goodness, it'll take
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  Speaker 5: all that.
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  Speaker 1: Enter Jenny from behind the house, prepared for gardening.
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  Speaker 3: Well, will Cox, what have you got there?
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  Speaker 1: He touches his forehead and gives her the sycamore, not
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  Speaker 1: my sycamore.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, miss mister Spreadbrooke left it last night as the
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  Speaker 5: male pest.
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  Speaker 3: Then he's returned already. Why he was not expected for
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  Speaker 3: a week at least?
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  Speaker 5: Hey returned quite sudden last night and left the here
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  Speaker 5: plant with the message that it would call at twelve
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  Speaker 5: o'clock to day.
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  Speaker 3: Miss I shall be very glad to see him. So
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  Speaker 3: this is really a shoot of the dear old tree.
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  Speaker 5: Come all away from London too. There's lots of de mireabouts,
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  Speaker 5: Miss I could have got you an armful for the asking, Yes.
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  Speaker 3: I dare say, but this comes from the dear old
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  Speaker 3: house at Hampstead, do it now? You remember the old
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  Speaker 3: sycamore on the lawn where mister Spreadbrow and I used
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  Speaker 3: to sit and learn our lessons years ago. Well, this
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: is a piece of it. And as mister Spradbrow was
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  Speaker 3: going to London, I asked him to be so kind
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  Speaker 3: as to call and tell the new people with his
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  Speaker 3: compliments that he wanted to cut a shoot from it
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  Speaker 3: for a young lady who had a very pleasant recollection
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  Speaker 3: of many very happy hours spent under it. It was
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  Speaker 3: an awkward thing for a nervous young gentleman to do,
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  Speaker 3: and it's very kind of him to have done.
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  Speaker 1: It gives back the plant, which he places against the
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  Speaker 1: upper porch of house.
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  Speaker 5: So he's coming this morning, yes, miss, to say goodbye.
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  Speaker 1: Jenny busies herself at the standard flowers.
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  Speaker 3: Goodbye. How do you do you mean?
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  Speaker 5: Nor miss?
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  Speaker 2: Goodbye?
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  Speaker 5: I hear mister spreadbros. After injury.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I believe he is going soon soon.
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  Speaker 5: Or soon enough. He joins the ship at Southampton tonight.
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  Speaker 3: So he left work yesterday tonight. No, not for some
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  Speaker 3: weeks yet.
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  Speaker 5: Tonight, Miss, I head it from his own lips, and
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  Speaker 5: he's coming to day to say goodbye.
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  Speaker 1: Jenny aside tonight.
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  Speaker 5: And a good job too, say I though, is a
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  Speaker 5: nice young gentleman too.
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  Speaker 3: I don't see that it's a good job.
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  Speaker 5: I don't want no young gentleman hanging about hen mists.
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  Speaker 5: I know what they comes after. They comes after the flowers.
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  Speaker 3: The flowers? What nonsense?
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  Speaker 5: No, it ain't nonsense. The world's a haphazard garden with
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  Speaker 5: common vegetables like me, and hardy annuals like my horse,
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  Speaker 5: and sour crabs like my old woman, and pretty delicate
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  Speaker 5: flowers like you and your sisters. Grows side by side
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  Speaker 5: it's the flowers they come.
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  Speaker 3: After, really willcocks. If Papa don't object, I don't see
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  Speaker 3: what you have to do with it.
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  Speaker 5: No, your paw don't object, But I can't make your
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  Speaker 5: paw out.
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  Speaker 2: Miss.
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  Speaker 5: Walk off with one of his tuppening tulips and he's
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  Speaker 5: your enemy for life. Walk off with one of his daughters,
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  Speaker 5: and he settles three hundred a year on you. Tell
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  Speaker 5: you what, miss. If i'd a family of grown goals
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  Speaker 5: like you, I'd stick a conservatory label on each of them,
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  Speaker 5: playing not to touch the specimens, and I take jolly
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  Speaker 5: good care they.
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  Speaker 3: Didn't at all events. If mister Spradbrow is going away tonight,
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  Speaker 3: you need not be alarmed on my account. I am
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  Speaker 3: a flower that is not picked in a minute.
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  Speaker 5: Well said, miss. And as he is going, and as
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  Speaker 5: you won't see him no more, I don't mind saying that.
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  Speaker 5: A better spoken young gentleman, I don't know, good, honest,
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  Speaker 5: straightforward young chap he is looks you full in the
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  Speaker 5: face with eyes that seem to say I'm an open book.
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  Speaker 5: Turn me over, look me through and through, read every
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  Speaker 5: page of me, and if you find a line to
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  Speaker 5: be ashamed of, tell me of it, and I'll score
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  Speaker 5: it through, I dare.
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  Speaker 3: Say, mister Spradbrow as much as other young men are.
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  Speaker 5: As other young men. No, no lord forbid miss come
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  Speaker 5: say a good word for him, miss, poor young gentlemen,
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  Speaker 5: he said, many a good word of you. I'll go
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  Speaker 5: bail of me.
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  Speaker 1: Wilcox takes ladder, which is leaning against the house, and
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  Speaker 1: places it against upper porch of the house, and going
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  Speaker 1: a little way up it speaks this speech from it.
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  Speaker 1: Jenny remains seated.
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  Speaker 5: Ay, why only Tuesday when I was at work again
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  Speaker 5: in the high road, he rides up on his little bayance,
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  Speaker 5: and he stands talking to me over the edge and
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  Speaker 5: straining his neck to catch a sight of you at
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  Speaker 5: a window that was Tuesday. Well, Wilcox says he it's
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: a fine day. It rained hard Tuesday, but it's always
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  Speaker 5: a fine day with him. How's miss Northcotte says he
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  Speaker 5: pretty well? Sir says I pretty she always is, and
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  Speaker 5: well she ought to be. If the best of hearts
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  Speaker 5: and the sweetest of natures will do it, well, I
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  Speaker 5: knew that. So off I goes to another subject and
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  Speaker 5: tries to interest him in drainage and subsoils and junction pipes,
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  Speaker 5: but no, nothing would do for him, but he must
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  Speaker 5: bring the top back to you. So at last I
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  Speaker 5: get sick of it, and i Ain says, Look here,
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  Speaker 5: mister Spreadbrough says I. I'm only the gardener. This is
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  Speaker 5: Tuesday in Miss Northcott's paw is in the study, and
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  Speaker 5: I dare say he'll be happy to hear what you've
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  Speaker 5: got to say about Lord. It had done your heart
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  Speaker 5: good to see how he blushed up as he stuck
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  Speaker 5: his spurs into the bay and rode off fifteen miles
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  Speaker 5: to the hour that was Tuesday.
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  Speaker 3: He had no right to talk about me to a servant.
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  Speaker 1: Wilcox coming down from ladder.
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  Speaker 5: But bless you don't be hard on him. They couldn't
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  Speaker 5: help it, Miss, But don't you be alarmed. He's gone
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  Speaker 5: away to night from many and many a long year,
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  Speaker 5: and you won't never be troubled with him again. He's
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  Speaker 5: gone with a heavy heart. Take my work for it.
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  Speaker 5: And I see his eyes all wet when he spoke
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  Speaker 5: about saying goodbye to you. He's a sorrow in his throat,
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  Speaker 5: but he's a brave lad, and he gulped it down
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  Speaker 5: though it was as big as an apple ring. There
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  Speaker 5: he is soothe him kindly, miss, don't you be afraid?
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  Speaker 5: You're safe enough now that he's a good lad and
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  Speaker 5: he can't do no harm.
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  Speaker 1: Now exit Wilcox.
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  Speaker 3: What does he want to go to day?
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  Speaker 5: For?
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  Speaker 3: He wasn't going for three months? He could remain if
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  Speaker 3: he liked India has gone on very well without him
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  Speaker 3: for five thousand years. It could have waited three months longer,
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  Speaker 3: but manaos in such a hurry. He might have told
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  Speaker 3: me before he would have done so if he really
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  Speaker 3: really liked me, I wouldn't have left him, Yes I would,
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  Speaker 3: But then that's different. Well, if some people can go,
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  Speaker 3: some people can remain behind, and some other people will
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  Speaker 3: be only too glad to find some people out of
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  Speaker 3: their way.
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  Speaker 1: Ent spread Brow, followed by Wilcox. Jenny suddenly changes her manner,
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  Speaker 1: rises and crosses.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, mister spread Brow, how do you do quite well?
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  Speaker 3: I'm so glad, sister's quite well, that's right. How kind
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  Speaker 3: of you to ask of my tree? So you are
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  Speaker 3: really truly and gooing to India tonight? That is sudden, Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Very sudden, terribly sudden. I only heard of my appointment
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  Speaker 2: two days ago in London, and I'm to join my
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  Speaker 2: ship tonight. It's very sudden, indeed, and and I've come
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  Speaker 2: to say goodbye.
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  Speaker 1: Goodbye, offering her hand.
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  Speaker 2: Oh but not like that, Jenny. Are you in a hurry?
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  Speaker 3: Oh dear, no, I thought you were. Won't you sit down?
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  Speaker 1: They sit?
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  Speaker 3: And so your sisters are quite well, not very.
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  Speaker 2: They are rather depressed to my going so soon. It
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  Speaker 2: may seem strange.
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  Speaker 3: To you, but they will, I'm sure they will. I
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  Speaker 3: should be terribly distressed at your going if I were
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  Speaker 3: your sister, and you're going for so long.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not likely to return for a great many years.
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  Speaker 3: I'm so sorry we shall not see you again. Papa
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  Speaker 3: will be very sorry.
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  Speaker 2: More sorry than you will be.
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  Speaker 3: Well. No, I shall be very sorry, too, very very sorry.
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  Speaker 2: There a very kind of you to say. So.
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  Speaker 3: We have known each other so long, so many years,
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  Speaker 3: and we've always been good friends. And it's always sad
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  Speaker 3: to say goodbye for the last time to anybody. It's
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  Speaker 3: so very sad when one knows for certain that it
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  Speaker 3: must be the last time.
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  Speaker 2: I can't tell you how happy I am to hear
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  Speaker 2: you say it's so sad. But my prospects are not
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  Speaker 2: altogether hopeless. There's one chance for me yet, I'm happy
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  Speaker 2: to say. I'm extremely delicate, and there's no knowing. The
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  Speaker 2: climate may not agree with me, and I may be
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  Speaker 2: invalided home.
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  Speaker 3: Oh but that would be very dreadful.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, of course it would be dreadful in one sense,
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  Speaker 2: but it would have its advantages.
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  Speaker 1: Looking uneasily at Wilcox, who is hard.
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  Speaker 2: At work, Wilcox is hard at work, I see.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, Wilcox is hard at work.
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  Speaker 2: He is very industrious, confoundedly industrious. He is working in
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  Speaker 2: the sun without.
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  Speaker 3: His hat, poor fellow.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't it injudicious at his age?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? I don't think it will hurt him.
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  Speaker 2: I really think it will.
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  Speaker 1: He motions to her to send him away.
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  Speaker 3: Do you, Wilcox, mister Spradbrow is terribly distressed because you
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  Speaker 3: are working in the sun.
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  Speaker 5: That's not good of him.
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  Speaker 1: Aside winking, they want me to go.
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  Speaker 5: All right, you can't do much harm now allowed, Well, sir,
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  Speaker 5: the sun is hot, and I'll go and look after
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: the cucumbers are away yonder right at the other end
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  Speaker 5: of the garden.
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  Speaker 1: Wilcox going spread. I was delighted.
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  Speaker 3: No, no, no, don't go away. Stop here. Only put
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  Speaker 3: on your hat. That's what mister spradbrow meant.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Wilcox puts on his hat.
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  Speaker 3: There now, are you happy?
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I suppose it will soon be his dinner time.
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  Speaker 3: Oh he has dined. You have dined, haven't you, Wilcox.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, yes, miss, I've dined. Thank you kindly, Yes.
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  Speaker 3: He has dined. Oh, I quite forgot what I must
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: interrupt you for a moment. Wilcox, I quite forgot that.
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  Speaker 3: I promised to send some flowers to Captain Dampier this afternoon.
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  Speaker 3: Will you cut them for me?
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  Speaker 2: Yes?
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  Speaker 5: Miss, out of the conservatory, I suppose.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Miss Wilcox going spread brow again, delighted. No, these will do,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: pointing to open air flower beds, spread brow again, disappointed.
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  Speaker 3: Stop on second thoughts, Perhaps you had better take them
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  Speaker 3: out of the conservatory and cut them carefully.
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  Speaker 1: There's no hurry, Wilcox aside, I.
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  Speaker 5: Understand well, poor young chap let him be, Let him be.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: He's going to be turned off tonight, and his last
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: male mate as will be a hoty one.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Exit. Wilcox spread brow rises in great delight.
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  Speaker 2: How good of you, How very.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Kind of you to send Captain Dampier some flowers.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Do you really want to send that fellow some flowers
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to be sure, I do.
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  Speaker 3: Why should I have asked Wilcox to cut them?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I thought I was a grateful to think so. But
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I thought it might have been because we could talk
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: more pleasantly alone.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: I really wanted some flowers. But as you say, we
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: certainly can talk more pleasantly alone.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: She busies herself with preparing the sycamore.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I've often thought that nothing is such a check on
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: a pleasant conversation as the presence of a gardener who
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: is not interested in the subject of conversation.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Jenny gets the tree and cuts off the matting with
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: which it is bound with and scissors which she has
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: brought with her from the table.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, but Willcox is very interested in everything that concerns you.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Do let me call him back.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: No, no, not on my account.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: He and I were having quite a discussion about you.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: When you arrived digging a hole for tree.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: About me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, indeed we almost quarreled about you.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: What was he abusing me? Then?
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: No, he was speaking of you in the highest terms.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Then you were abusing me.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: No, not exactly that. I didn't agree with all he said.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: He is much depressed, She notices this.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: At least not openly.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: And you did secretly.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: I shan't tell you why, because it will make you
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: dreadfully vain.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: There, very very dreadfully vain.
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: He takes her hand, very dreadfully vain. Indeed, don't withdraws
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: her hand. During this, she is digging the hole, kneeling
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: on the edge of the flower bed. He advances to
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: her and kneels on the edge of the bed near her.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know it's most delightful to hear you say that? It's,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: without exception, the most astonishingly pleasant thing I've ever heard
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: in the whole course of my life. It's that the
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: tree I brought.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: You rises from his knees.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Yes, I'm going to plant it just in front of
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: the drawing room window so that I can see it
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: whenever I look out. Will you help me?
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: He prepares to do so. She puts it into the hole.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Is that quite straight? Hold it up, please while I
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: fill in the earth.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: He holds it.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: While she fills in the earth. Gradually his hand slips
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: down till it touches hers.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: It's no use, mister Spradbrow are both holding it to
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: the same place.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: He runs his hand up the stem quickly.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I beg your pardon, very foolly shove me very I'm
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: very glad there will be something here to make you
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: think of me when I'm many, many thousand miles away, Jinny.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: But I shall always be thinking of.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: You, really, Now, that's very nice, and it will be
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  Speaker 3: so delightful and so odd to know that there's somebody
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  Speaker 3: thinking about me right on the other side of the world.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, it will be on the other side of the world.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: But that's the delightful part of it. Right on the
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: other side of the world, it will be such fun fun.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: Of course, the father you are away, the funnier.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: It will seem he is approaching her again.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Now, keep on the other side of the world. It's
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: just the distance that gives the point to it. There
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: are dozens and dozens of people thinking of me close
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: at hand.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: She rises, spread brown, taking her hand.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: But not as I think of you, Jenny, dear, dear Jenny,
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  Speaker 2: Not as I've thought of you for years and years,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: though I never did tell you so till now. I
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: can't bear to think that anybody else is thinking of you, kindly, earnestly,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: seriously as I think of you.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: You may be quite sure, Harry, quite quite sure, that
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: you will be the only one who is thinking of
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: me kindly, seriously and earnestly in India.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: He relapses. She withdraws her hand.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: And when this tree that we have planted together is
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: a big tree, you must promise me that you will
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: sit under it every day and give a thought now
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: and then to the old playfellow who gave it to you.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: A big tree. How but this little plant will never
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: live to be a big tree, surely, yes, if you.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Leave it alone, it grows very rapidly.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: But I'm not going to have a big tree right
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: in front of the drawing room window. It will spoil
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: the view. It will be an ey saw. We had
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: better plant it somewhere else.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: No, let it be. You can cut it down when
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: it becomes an eye saw. It grows very rapidly, but
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: it will, no doubt, have lost all interest in your
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: eyes long before it becomes an eyesaw.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: But Captain Dampier says that a big tree in front
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: of a window checks the current of fresh air.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, if Captain Dampier says, so remove it.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: Now, don't be ridiculous about Captain Dampier. Have a very
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: great respect for his opinion on such matters.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you have you see a great deal of
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Captain Dampier, don't you.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Yes, And we shall see a great deal more of him.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: He's going to take the grange next door.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: That will be very convenient. Harry, you seem to admire
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Captain Dampier very much.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: I think he is very good looking, don't you.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: He's well enough for a small man.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Perhaps he'll grow.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Is Captain Dampier going to live here? Always?
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Yes, until he marries.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Is is he likely to marry?
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Perhaps he may, But whom whom? Heavens
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: you heard? I thought you knew?
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: No, No, I don't know. I've heard nothing. Jenny, Dear Jenny,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: tell me the truth. Don't keep anything from me. Don't
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: leave me to find it out. It will be terrible
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: to hear it out there. And if you have ever
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: liked me, and I'm sure you have, tell me the
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: whole truth at once.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: Perhaps as an old friend, I ought to have told
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: you before. But indeed, indeed I thought you knew. Captain
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Dampier is engaged to be married to to my cousin, Emmy, to.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Your cousin Emmy. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Oh my, dear dear Jenny, do do let me take your.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Hand, takes a hand and shakes it enthusiastically.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: Are you going no?
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Releasing it? Much cast down?
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you to do me a
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: great favor, and I thought I could ask it better
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: if I had hold of your hand. I was going
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: to ask you if you would give me a flower,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: any flower. I don't care what it is.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: A flower? Why, of course I'm will, But why.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: That I may have a token of you and about
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: partying wherever I go, And that I may possess an
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: emblem of you that I shall never never part with.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: That I can carry about with me night and day
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: wherever I go, throughout my whole life.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Jenny, apparently, much as affected, crosses slowly, stoops and takes
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: up large geranium in pot.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: Will this be too big?
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: But I mean a flower, only a flower?
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Oh, but do have a bunch? Will cook shall pick
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: you a beauty?
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: No? No, I want you to pick it for me.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I don't care what it is a daisy. Will do
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: if you pick it for me?
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: What an odd notion?
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Crossing to flower stand and picking a piece of mignonette.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: He puts down flower pot by bed there, picking a
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: flower and giving it to him.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Will that do.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I can't tell you how inestimably I shall prize this flower.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I shall keep it while I live, and whatever good
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: fortune may be in store for me. Nothing can ever
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: be so precious in my eyes.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: I had no idea you are so fond of flowers. Oh,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: do have some more?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: No? No, but you must not be give you this
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: in return. I bought it for you, Jenny. Dear, dear Jenny,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Will you take it from me?
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Takes a rose from his buttonhole and offers it. Oh, yes,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: takes it and puts it down on the table carelessly.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: He notices this with much emotion.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Well, I've got to say goodbye. There's no reason why
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't be.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Said at once, holding out his hand, Goodbye, Jenny, goodbye.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: He stands for a moment with her hand in his.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: She crosses the porch.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Haven't you anything to say to.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Me, Jenny? After thinking it over, No, I.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Don't think there's anything else. No, nothing.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: She leans against the porch. He stands over her.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Jenny, I'm going your way today for years and years,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: or I wouldn't say what I'm going to say, at
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: least not yet. I'm a little more than a boy, Jenny.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: But if I were eighty, I couldn't be more in earnest. Indeed,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I couldn't. Parting for so many years is like death
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: to me. And if I don't say what I'm going
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: to say before I go, I shall never have the
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: pluck to say it. After we were a boy and
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: girl together, and I loved you then, and every year
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I've loved you more and more, And now that I'm
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: a man and you are nearly a woman, I, Jenny, dear,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I have nothing more to say.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: How you astonish me?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Astonish you? Why you know that I loved.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: You, Yes, yes, as a boy loves a girl. But
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: now that I'm a woman, it's impossible that you can
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: care for me.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Impossible because you are a woman who.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: See it's so unexpected.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Unexpected.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Yes, as children it didn't matter, but it seems so
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: shocking for grown people to talk about such things. And
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: they're not gradually, but all at once, in a few minutes.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: It's awful.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, Jenny, think I have no time to delay by
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: having to go? Is maybe desperate? One kind word from
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: you will make me go away happy. Without that word,
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I shall go in unspeakable sorrow. Jenny, say, one kind.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Word, tell me what to say.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: It must come from you, my darli. Say whatever is
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: on your lips, whether for good or ill, I can
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: bear it now.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Well, then I wish you a very very pleasant voyage.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: And I hope you will be happy and prosperous. And
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: you must take great care of yourself. And you can't
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: think how glad I shall be to know that you
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: think of me now. And then in India there.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Is that all.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Yes, I think that's all. Yes, that's all.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Then there's nothing left but to say goodbye.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Music in orchestra till end of act goodbye, sweetheart.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And I hope you'll always be happy, and that when
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: you marry, you will marry a good fellow. Who will?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Who will? Who will? Goodbye?
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Exit rapidly, Jenny watches him out, sits down, leaving the
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: gate open, hums and air Gaily looks round to see
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: if he's coming back, goes on Humming, takes up the
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: flower he has given her, plays with it, gradually falters
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and at last bursts into tears, laying her head on
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the table over the flower he has given her, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: sobbing violently. End of Act one, Act two of Sweethearts
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: by W. S. Gilbert. This is a LibriVox recording. All
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Act two
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: scene the same as in Act one, with such additions
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: and changes as may be supposed to have taken place
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: in thirty years. The house, which was bare in Act one,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: is now entirely covered with Virginia and other creepers. The
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: garden is much more fully planted than in Act one,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and trees that were small in Act one are tall
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and bushy now. The general arrangement of the garden is
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the same, except that the sycamore planted in Act one
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: has developed into a large tree, the boughs of which
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: roof in the stage. The landscape has also undergone a metamorphosis,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: inasmuch as that which was open country in Act one
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: is now covered with picturesque semi detached villas, and there
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: are indications of a large town in the distance. The
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: month is September, and the leaves of the Virginia creepers
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: where their autumn tint. Jenny discovered seated on a bench
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: at the foot of the tree, and Ruth is standing
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: by her side. Holding a skein of cotton which Jenny
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: is winding. Jenny is now a pleasant looking, middle aged lady.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: Have you any fault to find with poor Tom?
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: Nay, Miss, I've no fault to find with Tom. But
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: a girl can't marry every young man she don't find
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: fault with, can she? Now, Miss?
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: Certainly not, Ruth. But Tom seems to think you have
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: given him some cause to believe that you are fond
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: of him.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: It's like his impudence, Miss, to say so fond of him.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Indeed, he hasn't said so, Ruth, but I'm quite sure
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: he thinks so. I have noticed of late that you
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: have taken a foolish pleasure in playing fast and loose
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: with poor Tom, and this has made him very unhappy,
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: very unhappy, indeed, so much so that I think it
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: is very unlikely that he will make up his mind
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: to lean my service altogether.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Oh Miss. If Tom can make up his mind to go,
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: I'm sure I wouldn't stand in his way for worlds.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: But I think you would be sorry if he did.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes, Miss, I should be sorry to part with Tom.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Then I think it's only right to tell you that
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: the foolish fellow talks about enlisting for a soldier, and
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: if he does it at all, he will do it
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: to night.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: Oh miss for that. I do like Tom very much indeed,
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: But if he wants to list, of course he's his
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: own master. And if he's really fond of me, what
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: does he want to go enlist for? One would think
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: you would like to be where we could talk to
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: me and and look at me odd times, I'm sure
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: I don't want Tom to go in list.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Then take the advice of an old lady who knows
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: something of these matters, and tell him so before it's
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: too late. You foolish, foolish girl, ah Ruth, I've no
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: right to be hard on you. I've been a young
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: and foolish girl like yourself in my time, and I've
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: done many thoughtless things that I've learnt to be very
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: sorry for. I'm not reproaching you, but I'm speaking to
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: you out of the fullness of my experience, and take
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: my word for it. If you treat poor harm lightly,
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: you may live to be very sorry for it too.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Taking her hand.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: There, I'm not angry with you, my dear, but if
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: I'd taken the advice I'm giving you, I shouldn't be
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: a lonely old lady at a time of life when
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: a good husband has his greatest value. Ring, Go and
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: see who's at the gate.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Exit Jenny. Ruth goes to the gate, wiping her eyes
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: on her apron. She opens it. Enter spread brow now, sir, Henry.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: My dear, is this mister Braybrooks? Yes, sir, is he
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: at home?
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: No, sir, he's not.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: But mistresses, will you give you a mistress.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: My card feeling for his cardcase?
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Dear me, I've left my cards at home. Never mind.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Will you tell your mistress that a gentleman will be
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: greatly indebted to her if she will kindly spare him
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: a few minutes of her time? Do you think you
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: can charge yourself with that message?
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: Mistress is in the garden, Sir. I'll run and tell
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: her if you'll take a seat.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Exit Ruth.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: That's a good girl.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: He sits on seat.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: He couldn't make up my mind to pass the old
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: house with that framing excuse to take a peep.
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: At it looks round, very nice, very pretty, But dear me,
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: on a very much smaller scale than I had fancied,
• 30:13
  Speaker 7: remarkable changes in thirty.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Years rises and walks round trees looking about.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Why the place is a town and a railway runs
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: right through it? And this is rarely the old garden
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: which I spent so many pleasant hours. Poor little Jenny.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: I wonder what's become of her, pretty little girl but
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: with a tendency to stoutness. If she's alive, I'll be
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: bound she's fat. So this is mister Braybrook's, is it?
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: I wonder who Braybrook is. I don't remember any family
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: of that name hereabouts. Looking off this, I suppose is
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: missus Braybrooke. Now, how in the world am I to
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: account for my.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Visit, answered Jenny. She curtsies. Formerly he bowns.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: I beg your pardon. I hardly know how to explain
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: this intrusion. Perhaps I had better state my facts. They
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: will plead my apology. I am an old Indian civilian who,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: having returned to England after many years absence, is wiling
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: away a day in his native place and amusing himself
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: with polishing old memories, bright enough ones, but sadly tardished.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Sadly tardished.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: Indeed, I hope that you have succeeded.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Indifferently well, indifferently well, The fact is I hardly know
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: where I am, for all my old landmarks are swept away.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: I assure you I am within the mark when I
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: say this house is positively the only place I can identify.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: The town has increased very rapidly.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Of late, rapidly. When I left, there were not twenty
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: houses in the place. But that was long before your time.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: I left a village, I find a town. I left
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: a beadle. I found a mayor and corporation. I left
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: a pump. I found a statue to a borrow member.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: The inn is a palace hotel company, The lmshouse a
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: county jail. The Pound is a police station, and the
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: common a colony of semi detached bungalows. Everything changed, including myself,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Everything new except myself.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: I should be glad to offer you any assistance in
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: my power. I should be a good guide, for I
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: have lived here thirty two years.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Thirty two years? Is it possible? And surely I ought
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: to know you?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: He feels for his glasses.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: My name is spreadbrow, Sir Henry Spreadbrow.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: Spread brow putting on spectacles.
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: Is it possible? Why my very dear old friend.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Offering both her hands, don't you recollect me. He puts
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: on his double eye glass, takes both her hands.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: God, bless me. Is it possible? And this is really you?
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: You don't say, sir, dear me, dear me, Well, well, well,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: I assure you I am delighted, most unaffectedly delighted to
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: renew our friendship.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Shaking hands again, they sit under tree and look at
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: each other curiously.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Not changed a bit, My dear Jane, you really must
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: allow me.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: They shake hands again.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: And now tell me how is mister Braybrooke.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, mister Braybrook is very well. I expect him home presently.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: He will be very glad to see you, for he
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: has often heard me speak of.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: You, has he? Indeed, he will give me the greatest,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: the very greatest possible pleasure. Believe me to make his acquaintance.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: I'm sure he would be delighted.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Now tell me all about yourself. Any family? I beg
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: your pardon, any family.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Mister Braybrooke. Well, yes, mister Braybrook is a bachelor.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: A bachelor. Then let me understand. Am I not speaking
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: to missus Braybrooke.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: No, indeed you are not. Mister Braybrook is my nephew.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: The place belongs to him.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Now. Oh, then, my dear Jane, may I ask who
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: you are?
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: I am not married, not married? No, I keep house
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: for my nephew.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: Why you don't mean to sit there and look me
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: in the face and tell me, after thirty years that
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: you are still Jane Northbrook, north Cart north goold. Of
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: course I beg your pardon, I should have said, north God,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: and you are not missus Braybrooke. You are not even married.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Why what were they about? What were they about? No?
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Not married? Well, now do you know? I am very
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: sorry to hear that. I'm really more sorry and disappointed
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: than I can tell you. You'd have made an admirable wife, Jane,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: and an admirable mother. I can't tell you how sorry
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: I am to find that you are still Jane Northbrook.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: I should say Northcotte, the same in.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Name, much changed, and everything else.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Changed not a bit. I won't hear of it. I
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: knew you the moment I saw you. We are neither
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: of us changed. Millard, perhaps a little Millard, But what
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: of that? Who shall say that the blossom is pleasant
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: to look upon than the fruit? Not I, for one Jane,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: not I for one?
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: Time has dealt very kindly with us. But we're old
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: folks now. Henry spradbrow rises.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: I won't allow it, Jane, I won't hear it rises.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: What constitutes youth? The head of hair? Not at all.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: I was as bold as an egg at five and twenty.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Babies are always bold, I said, Some people are born blind.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Years years are an arbitrary impertinence. Am I an old
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: man or you an old woman? Because the earth contrives
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: to hurry round the sun in three hundred and sixty
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: five days, why Saturn can't do it in thirty years?
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: If I had been born on Saturin, I should be
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: two years old. Ma'am a public nuisance in petticates. Let
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: us be thankful that I was not born on Saturn. No, no,
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: as long as I can ride to cover twice a week,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: walk my fave in twenty miles without turning a hair,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: go to bed at twelve, get up at six, turn
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: into a cold tub, and like it. I'm a boy, Jane,
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: a boy, a boy.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: And you are still unmarried?
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: I oh, dear, yes very much, sir. No time to
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: think of marriage. Plenty of opportunity mine, but no leisure
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: to avail myself of it. I've had a bustling time
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: of it, I assure you, Jane, working hard at the
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: bar and on the bench, with some success, with some.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Success, sits again.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: And now that I've done my work, I threw myself
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: back into my easy chair, folded my hands, crossed my legs,
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: and prepare to enjoy myself. Life is before me, Jane,
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to begin it. Ha ha. And so
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: we are really Jane Northcott.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: Still still Jane Northcott.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: I'm indignant to hear it. I assure you that I
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: am positively indignant to hear it. You should have made
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: some fellow so infairly happy rises. I'm sorry for that
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: fellow's sake. I didn't know him, but still I am sorry. Ah,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: I wish that I had remained in England. I do
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: wish for the very first time since I left it
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: that I had remained in England.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: Indeed, and why why?
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Because I should have done my best to remove that
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: reproach from society. I should, indeed, Jane, ha ha. After all,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: it don't matter much, for you wouldn't have had me. Oh, yes,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: you had no idea of it. But do you know
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: I've a great mind to tell you. I will tell you.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: Do you know I was in love with you at
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: one time? Boy and girl? You know, boy and girl?
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Ha ha, You'd no idea of it, But I was.
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: Oh yes, I knew it very well.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: You knew it. You knew that I was attached to you.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: Why of course I did, did you?
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: Indeed? Bless me? You don't say so. Now, that's amazingly curious.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Leave a woman alone to find that out. It's instinctive,
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: positively instinctive. Now, my dear Jane, I'm a very close
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: student of human nature, and in pursuit of that study,
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: I should like, above all things to know about what
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: signs you detected by secret admiration for you.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: Takes her hand, I bless the man. There was no
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: mystery in the matter. You told me all about it.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: I told you all about it.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Certainly you did here in this garden.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: That I admired you, loved you most assuredly.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: Surely you have not forgotten.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: It, He drops her hand.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: I haven't.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I remember that I had the impertinence to be very
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: fond of you. I forgot that I had the impertinence
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: to tell you. So I remember it now. I made
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: a fool myself. I remember it by that I told
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: you that I adored you, didn't I that you were
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: as essential to me as the air. I breathed that
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: it was impossible to support existence without you, that your
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: name should be the most hallowed of earthly words, and
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: so forth. Ah, my dear Jeane. Before I'd been a
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: week on board, I was saying the same thing to
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: a middle aged governess whose name his entirely escaped me.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: She has exhibited some of pleasure during the earlier part
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: of this speech, and disappointment at the last two lines.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: What fools we make of ourselves and of others. Oh,
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: I meant it, Jane. I made every word I said.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: To you and the governess.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: And the governess. I'd have married her if she had
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: accepted me, but she didn't. Perhaps it was just as well.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: She was a widow with five children. I cursed my
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: destiny at the time, but I've forgiven it. Since I
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: talked of blowing out my brains, I'm glad I didn't
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: do it, as I found them useful in my abbrevation.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: Ha ha.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Looking round, Jenny stands watching him.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: This place has changed a good deal since my time improved, improved.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: We've all three improved. I don't quite like this tree though,
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: as in the way, what is it? Kind of beach,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: isn't it?
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: No, it's a sycamore.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: Ha I don't underst stand English trees. But a securious
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: place for a big tree like this just outside the
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: drawing room window. Isn't it in the way?
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: It is? Rather in the way.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: I don't like a tree before a window. It checks
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: the current of fresh air.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: Don't you find that it does check the current of
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: fresh air.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: Then the leaves blow into the house in autumn, and
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: that's a nuisance, and besides it impedes the view.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: It is certainly open to these objections.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: Then cut it down, my dear Jane, why don't you
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: cut it down?
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Cut it down? I wouldn't cut it down. For worlds.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: That tree is identified in my mind with many happy recollections.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Remarkable the influence exercised by associations over a woman's mind. Observe.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: You take a house mainly because it commands a beautiful view.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: You portion the rooms principally with reference to that view.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: You lay out your garden a great expense to harmonize
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: with that view. And having brought that view into the
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: very best of all possible conditions for the full enjoyment
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: of it. You allow a gigantic and wholly irrelevant tree
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: to block it all out for the sake of the
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: sentimental ghost of some dead and gone sentimental reality. Take
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: my advice and have it down. If I had had
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: anything to do with it, you would never have planted it.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't have allowed it.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: You had so much to do with it that it
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: was planted there at your suggestion at mine.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: Never saw it before in my life.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: We planted it together thirty years ago, the day you
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: sailed for India.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: It appears to me that that was a very eventful
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: day in my career. We planted it together. I have
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: no recollection of having ever planted the gigantic sycamore anywhere,
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: and we did it together. Why I would take a
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: dozen men to move it.
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: It was a sapling. Then you cut it for me from.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: The old sycamore in the old garden at Hampstead. Why
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: I remember I went to London Ex's Preshley to get
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: it for you. Ha ha. On the next day I
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: called to say goodbye, and I found you planting it,
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: and I helped. And as I was helping, I found
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to seize your hand. So I grasped it,
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: pressed it to my lips, does so, and said, my dear,
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: dear Jenny.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: He drops her hands suddenly.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: And so forth, never mind what I said, But I
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: meant it. I meant it. Ha ha laughs heartily.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: She joins him, but her laughter is evidently forced. Eventually
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: she shows signs of tears, which she doesn't notice.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: It all comes back with a distinctness which is absolutely photographic.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: I begged you to give me a flower. He gave
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: me one, a sprig of geranium.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: Mignonette.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Was it Mignonette? I think you're right it was Mignonette.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: Seized it, pressed it to my trembling lips, placed it
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: next my fluttering heart, and swore that come what might,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: I would never never part with it. I wonder what
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: I did with that flower. Then I took one from
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: my button hole, begged you to take it. You took it,
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: and ha ha. You threw it out carelessly on the
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: table and thought no more about it, you heartless creature. Oh,
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: I was very angry. I remember it perfectly.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: It was a camellia, not a camellia.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: I think, yes, a camellia, a large white camellia.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think it was a camellia. I rather think
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: it was a rose.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Nonsense, Jane, Come come, You hardly looked at a miserable
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: little flirt that you were, and you pretend, after thirty
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: years to take your recollection to the circumstance against mine. No, no, Jane,
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: take my word for it. It was a camelle.
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: I'm sure it was a rose.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: No, I'm sure it was a camellia.
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: Indeed, indeed it was a rose.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: Produces a withered rose from a pocket book. He is
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: very much impressed, looks at it and at her, and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: seems much affected.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: Why, Jane, my dear Jane, you don't mean to say
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: that this is the very flower.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: That is the very flower rising strange.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: You seemed to attach no value to it. When I
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: gave it to you, you threw it away, something utterly insignificant.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: And when I leave, you pick it up and keep
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: it for thirty years rising, My dear Jane, how like
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: a woman, and.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: You seize the flower I gave you, pressed it to
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: your lips, and swore that wherever you're good or ill
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: fortune might carry you, you would never part with it,
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: and then you quite forgot what became of it. My
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: dear Harry, how like.
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: A man I was deceived, my dear Jane deceived. I
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: had no idea that you attached so much value to
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: my flower.
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: We were both deceived, Henry spread brow.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: Then is it possible that in treating me as you did, Jane,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: you were acting a part?
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: We were both acting parts. But the play is over,
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: and there's an end of it. Let us talk of
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: something else.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: No, no, Janet, the play is not over. We will
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: talk of nothing else. The play is not nearly over.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Music in orchestra, John Anderson, My Joe.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: My dear Jane, my very dear.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: Jane, rising and taking her hand.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: Believe me, for I speak from my heartened old heart.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: So far from the play being over, the serious interest
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: is only just beginning.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: He kisses her hand, They walk towards the house. End
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: of Act two. End of Sweet Heart Dootts by W. S.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Gilbert