Ann-Marie MacDonald - Belle Moral - A Natural History

Scene 4 The Drawing Room

DR REID waits in his finery. His neck is bandaged. He stares at the painting. Approaches, about to touch it, when PEARL enters, wearing the wedding gown and veil. She lifts the veil . DR REID is overwhelmed at the sight: she is beautiful .

PEARL [all but paralyzed with grief] . My brother is dead, Seamus.

DR REID. No, my dear, we’ll find him, I promise you.

PEARL. The sea has him. She’s rocking him gently now.

DR REID. Hush.

PEARL [wiping tears] . She loves him. She loves us all.

DR REID. You are beautiful, Pearl. More beautiful, even, than your mother. [Holding out his hand.] Come. There’s a good girl.

He is about to take her hand when WEE FARLEIGH enters .

WEE FARLEIGH. The Justice of the Peace has arrived.

PEARL. What are you doing here? Why aren’t you out looking for my brother?

WEE FARLEIGH. Your brother —?

DR REID [to WEE FARLEIGH]. That will be all –

FLORA [from off] . Help!!

PEARL. Victor!

FLORA [entering] . She’s dead! Lord help us, Seamus, she’s —!

DR REID. Hush, Flora —!

FLORA. I canna wake her!

PEARL. Who? Who is dead?

FLORA. Och, I told ee, Seamus, I warned ee, the banshee niver lies —!

DR REID. She’s alive, I tell you!

PEARL. What is going on in this house?!

DR REID. Pearl –

PEARL. Tell me!

DR REID. Wait until we are wed, I beseech you.

PEARL. Why?

DR REID. Because …

PEARL. Because it is a horror.

DR REID. Because it is a gift. My gift to you.

FLORA. Seamus —!

PEARL. Show me this instant. Or leave my sight.

He holds out his hand. She takes it. Thunder. They exit . FLORA goes to follow but turns back .

FLORA. Why have you given up the search?

WEE FARLEIGH. What search, Miss?

FLORA. Did Dr Reid not ask you to find young Master MacIsaac?

WEE FARLEIGH. No, Miss. Miss, the Justice of Peace is waiting in the conservatory. Shall I offer him some refreshment?

Scene 5 The Attic

PEARL, DR REID at her side, gazes at THE CREATURE who lies, immobile on the cot, dressed in a white nightgown . THE CREATURE’S long hair is spread out around her, the tartan shawl lies discarded on the floor . PEARL goes to approach, but hesitates .

DR REID. Go ahead. It is quite safe.

PEARL. Who is she?

DR REID. Pearl, approach the subject. Closer examination may prompt you to revise your question.

PEARL goes closer. She sees something on one side of THE CREATURE ’s head and is startled, then drawn in .

Ay. “What” is she? That is the question you and I shall dedicate our lives to answering. Oh, Pearl; I worship you.

FLORA enters . THE CREATURE stirs .

You see, Flora? She is not dead. Merely sedated.

FLORA. Why?

DR REID. She’s my patient. I’m treating her.

PEARL, speechless, smooths the hair back from the other side of the woman’s face to reveal a scar in place of an ear. She looks to DR REID.

I’ll answer your questions, my darling, every one. Come away now, the Justice of the Peace is waiting –

FLORA. No he’s not. I sent him away.

DR REID. Have you taken leave of your senses?

FLORA. You never told Wee Farleigh to go out after Victor. You left the lad to wander all alone, weeping and raging, and on such a night, why? When you know what can happen?

DR REID. Pearl, your brother is more histrionic than hysterical, the best thing for it is to ignore him.

FLORA [to PEARL]. She’s your sister.

DR REID. Flora —!

FLORA. She is your sister, Pearl, your flesh and blood, I wanted to tell you, but Dr Reid –

DR REID [icy] . As I recall, Flora, we agreed –

FLORA [outraged, to DR REID]. Fiend!

DR REID [forced calm, to PEARL]. My dearest girl. There is no reason why this need alter, in the slightest degree, the course of your life. Look away now and we shall never mention this night again.

VICTOR and WEE FARLEIGH enter . VICTOR is soaked .

FLORA [seeing VICTOR safe]. Oh thank God.

VICTOR sees THE CREATURE. His breathing becomes slightly laboured .

PEARL. She’s our sister, Victor.

VICTOR draws near. He sees what PEARL saw. His breathing calms .

FLORA [gentle] . Victor, sweetheart, she’s your twin.

A beat .

PEARL. Am I to understand that … she has been here, under this roof –

FLORA. No, no –

DR REID. No, your father sent her away –

FLORA. For your sakes –

DR REID. The child was placed in a home.

PEARL. What “home”?

FLORA [making excuses] . A decent one, in the north–

DR REID [in contrast to FLORA, determined not to mince words] . A home for lunatics.

PEARL. Is she a lunatic?

DR REID. She is not compos mentis in the usual sense, but nor is she clinically mad.

PEARL. Then why was she in a mad house?

FLORA. Your father wanted her cared for … elsewhere.

DR REID. It was a diagnosis of convenience. And I made it, God forgive me, out of loyalty to Ramsay. But you can imagine the calibre of care.

FLORA. It was respectable haim, Young Farleigh visited –

DR REID. How often did you visit, Flora?

A beat . FLORA is too ashamed to answer . DR REID addresses PEARL.

A remote and antiquated facility designed solely for the warehousing of the blighted, the delinquent, the feeble-minded, mad, and otherwise unwanted members of “respectable” families. Ay, Flora, you’ve taken “good care” of the children. She’s lucky to be alive. [to VICTOR and PEARL] She’s here now only because your aunt ran out of money, [to FLORA] isn’t that so? But now that she is here, I vow upon my honour that I shall spend the rest of my life, restoring purpose to hers.

VICTOR. What’s wrong with her?

DR REID. She was born like that.

VICTOR. No, why doesn’t she wake up? You’ve drugged her, why?

DR REID. Would you rather see her in a strait-jacket?

PEARL. Did Mother … see her?

FLORA weeps .

DR REID. Your mother wanted to keep the child. Régine was … tender-hearted. I tried to convince Ramsay. I thought I could heal the poor thing — or at least remove the deformity. And I made a start. But Ramsay changed his mind before I could finish.

PEARL. She was an infant, then, when you operated?

DR REID. Of course; infants, like animals, feel no pain, but Ramsay took it into his head that the creature was suffering. Then your mother passed away and … [struggling; it is difficult for him to talk about Régine, and the painful events of those days] . I hadn’t the heart to continue even if your father had permitted it, so I … laid my research to rest, along with Régine’s dear … dear memory. But Pearl, your passion has rekindled my own. And I’m glad I did not proceed with the crude methods of my youth, for I realize now that her anatomy conceals treasures beyond the reach of a mere scalpel. You were right: she is an original; a real-life chimera; a brave new world, undiscovered, unclaimed. Oh Pearl, she has so much to teach us: about what we are; where we come from; where we are going and where we must not go. We stand poised to breach Nature’s last frontier. Within our grasp is the knowledge and the power: to select the best of Earth’s bounty; to combine what is there, to create what is not, to make a heaven of this hell. To chart Utopia in our time. The work begins here. With her offspring.