Лорд Дансейни - Plays for Earth and Air

LILY: Here she comes.

BILL: Yes, that’s her. We’ll tell her about it.

Enter MRS. LUMLEY.

MRS. LUMLEY: Here you are, sir. I’d just made it for myself, and I’ve put an extra cup on the tray.

BILL: Oh, but Mrs. Lumley——

MRS. LUMLEY: Oh, that’s all right, sir, any time will do for me. But this young lady, she’ll want her tea while she’s here.

BILL: Well, it’s very kind of you. And Mrs. Lumley, I wanted to tell you something about that window. It’s very queer really.

MRS. LUMLEY: I’m sure it is, sir.

BILL: But, Mrs. Lumley, it’s very queer indeed . You only see the sky through it, sitting here. It’s all blue, you see. But if you’ll stand up on this chair, Mrs. Lumley, and take a look, you’ll see it’s really very queer indeed. You see, it’s a city, Mrs. Lumley. You see?

MRS. LUMLEY: Why! Why, so it is.

BILL: And according to the law; according to the law, you know; we think it would belong to you.

MRS. LUMLEY: To me, sir?

BILL: Well, you see, it’s straight underneath. You did buy this house?

MRS. LUMLEY: Yes, I saved up and bought it.

BILL: Then I think that it would.

MRS. LUMLEY: What? The whole city?

BILL: Oh no, Mrs. Lumley. Only what’s straight underneath.

MRS. LUMLEY: Well, the law’s an odd thing, and I never quite understood it. But I don’t quite understand that city either. How did it get there, sir, underneath your window?

BILL: Well, that’s what we don’t quite know.

LILY: No; do we?

MRS. LUMLEY: With battlements on it and all, and a doorway with spikes over it.

BILL: A portcullis, Mrs. Lumley.

MRS. LUMLEY: Shouldn’t think they’d pay much taxes with a gate like that.

BILL: Why, Mrs. Lumley?

MRS. LUMLEY: Shut it when the man comes round from Somerset House. Nor rates neither. And they’ve a bit of a walk at the top all under the battlements, and acrobats walking along it.

BILL: Archers, Mrs. Lumley.

MRS. LUMLEY: Yes, with their bows and arrows.

BILL: Thank you so much for the tea, Mrs. Lumley.

LILY: Yes, thank you very much.

MRS. LUMLEY: I like their little flags.

BILL: I expect they’re quite big flags really, but it’s such a long way below us.

MRS. LUMLEY: And flat country out in front of it. Reminds me of Oxfordshire. Flat, that. I went there once for a holiday. But it was a long time ago. Two hay–waggons coming in on two different roads. Don’t they move slowly.

Motors hooting in the street outside.

BILL: Well, not really, Mrs. Lumley. Only it’s such a long way below us.

MRS. LUMLEY: And red roofs. I like tiles for a roof. And a woman coming out to feed a goat.

BILL: Another cup of tea, Lily?

LILY: Thanks.

BILL: It was very kind of you to get us the tea, Mrs. Lumley.

MRS. LUMLEY: And the archers’ green jackets, and their tight pinkish trousers. I like that little town.

BILL: Well, part of it’s yours, I think.

MRS. LUMLEY: I’ve been a hard–working woman all my life, and I don’t much bother with things I can get no good out of. You can’t fool me with any of them. It’s like big shares in companies that don’t pay any dividends.

BILL: Well, it’s the law, Mrs. Lumley.

MRS. LUMLEY: Let it be.

LILY: But isn’t it a jolly city, Mrs. Lumley?

MRS. LUMLEY: Yes, I’d do anything for it.

BILL: Yes, so would I.

LILY: Yes, wouldn’t one?

BILL: What a pity we can’t.

MRS. LUMLEY: Well, I don’t suppose it wants us to, however it got there. It looks happy enough.

LILY: Yes, doesn’t it?

MRS. LUMLEY: And a man singing in the street, I should say. He’s got some kind of instrument that he’s holding, and he’s throwing his head up. Yes, he must have been singing, for there’s a girl looked out from a window. I don’t like cobbles I must say; but that’s what they’ve got.

BILL: Have the hay–waggons got in yet, Mrs. Lumley?

MRS. LUMLEY: Lord no, sir. They’ve a long way to go. But I can’t see them so clearly now. It’s getting dark.

BILL: Dark, Mrs. Lumley? No, it’s not.

MRS. LUMLEY: It is down there, sir.

BILL: Dark?

MRS. LUMLEY: Getting dark.

BILL: The sun doesn’t set for another three hours; does it, Lily?

LILY: No, I don’t think so.

MRS. LUMLEY: It must have set down there, sir.

BILL: Well, I never!

MRS. LUMLEY: That’s what I said, sir, when you bought the window.

LILY: Well, I’m very glad you did.

MRS. LUMLEY: But, I like that little town.

BILL: Have some more tea, Lily.

LILY: No thanks.

MRS. LUMLEY: I’ll get you some muffins if you like, miss. But, wait a moment, there’s another man singing down there. I like to see them singing.

BILL: What a pity that no sound of it comes up here.

LILY: Let’s listen.

BILL: No, not a sound.

MRS. LUMLEY: But he’s singing.

BILL: Lily, let’s spend an hour up on those chairs after tea, instead of going to the pictures.

LILY: Yes, let’s.

MRS. LUMLEY: The lights are coming out. Windows and lanterns. I like to see lights in the evening. Pale like primroses, and the evening all blue, and the blue of it running like rivers down the old streets. It’s a queer old town certainly. But I’ll get your muffin.

LILY: Oh, but it doesn’t matter really, Mrs. Lumley. Wouldn’t you like to stop and see more?

MRS. LUMLEY: I’ll take a look later on, if I might.

BILL: But certainly, Mrs. Lumley; certainly. It’s your city, you know.

MRS. LUMLEY: Well, I don’t know. I once bought some shares in a gold–mine in Paraguay. I wouldn’t do it now. But I once bought some shares in a gold–mine. They said I owned a fiftieth part of the mine.

LILY: And did you, Mrs. Lumley?

MRS. LUMLEY: Not as I could see, miss.

Exit MRS. LUMLEY.

LILY: Let’s go and have another look.

BILL: Have your muffin first, Lily.

LILY: All right.

BILL: You know, I think we ought to keep this to ourselves. It will be just our city, and of course Mrs. Lumley’s. In fact Mrs. Lumley is queen of it. Well, as far as we know. Right down to the centre of the earth: that’s what the law says. But I don’t think we’d better go letting in any one else. And I tell you why not. The Press would get hold of it, and you’d have people going there.

LILY: But how would they get there?

BILL: I don’t know, but you’d never be able to keep reporters out. And they’d be the thin end of the wedge. You’d have town–planning next, and trams and posters and motors. Let’s keep it just as it is.

LILY: Yes, let’s.

BILL: Why, that’s Mrs. Lumley again.

MRS. LUMLEY ( entering ): I brought the muffin for your young lady, sir.

BILL: Well, that’s very kind of you.

LILY: Thank you so much, Mrs. Lumley.

BILL: Won’t you take another look at your city, Mrs. Lumley?

MRS. LUMLEY: Not now, thank you, sir. I’ve a few things to do. I’ll take a good look later. I’m glad we’ve got it down there. Come to think of it, I really am. I’ll be going now, sir.

Exit.

BILL: Well, Lily, when you’ve finished your muffin we’ll take another look at the city.

LILY ( mouth full ): Yes.

BILL: I’ll put the chairs ready.

LILY: There’s a bell ringing down there in the city.

BILL: Yes. ( He goes to the earthly window. ) No, it’s the muffin–man going home. We hear nothing from down there. And I suppose they don’t hear the muffin–man.

LILY: I wonder.

BILL: No, I don’t expect they do.

LILY: Let’s see what the archers are doing.

BILL: Yes. Come on.

LILY: But what a dark blue it’s turned.