Complete Plays of John Galsworthy (Paperback)

Excerpt: ... GWYN. Softly. Don't bother about my money, Maurice. I don't want you to do anything not quite-- LEVER. Evasively. Oh There's my brother's and my sister's too. I 'm not going to let any of you run any risk. When we all went in for it the thing looked splendid; it 's only the last month that we 've had doubts. What bothers me now is your Uncle. I don't want him to take these shares. It looks as if I'd come here on purpose. MRS. GWYN. Oh he mustn't take them LEVER. That 's all very well; but it 's not so simple. MRS. GWYN. Shyly. But, Maurice, have you told him about the selling? LEVER. Gloomily, under the hollow tree. It 's a Board secret. I'd no business to tell even you. MRS. GWYN. But he thinks he's taking shares in a good-a permanent thing. LEVER. You can't go into a mining venture without some risk. MRS. GWYN. Oh yes, I know-but-but Uncle Tom is such a dear LEVER. Stubbornly. I can't help his being the sort of man he is. I did n't want him to take these shares; I told him so in so many words. Put yourself in my place, Molly: how can I go to him and say, "This thing may turn out rotten," when he knows I got you to put your money into it? But JOY, the lost shadow, has come back. She moves forward resolutely. They are divided from her by the hollow tree; she is unseen. She stops. MRS. GWYN. I think he ought to be told about the selling; it 's not fair. LEVER. What on earth made him rush at the thing like that? I don't understand that kind of man. MRS. GWYN. Impulsively. I must tell him, Maurice; I can't let him take the shares without-- She puts her hand on his arm. Joy turns, as if to go back whence she came, but stops once more. LEVER. Slowly and very quietly. I did n't think you'd give me away, Molly. MRS. GWYN. I don't think I quite understand. LEVER. If you tell the Colonel about this sale the poor old chap will think me a man that you ought to have nothing to do with. Do you want that? MRS. GWYN, ...