Henry Arthur Jones

“ Come to me as a penitent, and I will try to give you peace! Come to me as a woman of the world, and I will tell you “The friendship of the world is enmity with God. It always has been so, it always will be. The Church has no need of you, of your pretended devotions, of your gifts, of your presence at her services. Go your way back to the world, and leave her alone.” But you come neither as a penitent, nor as a woman of the world. You come like—like some bad angel, to mock, and hint, and question, and suggest. How dare you play with sacred things? ”

“ AUDR. What a world there is within oneself that one never dares speak of! I wish to hide nothing from you. I would have you know me through and through for just the woman that I am, just that and no other, because, don’t you see—I don’t want to cheat you of a farthing’s-worth of esteem on false pretences—I want you to like me, Audrie Lesden, and not some myth of your imagination. But if you were armed with all the tortures of hell for plucking the truth about myself from my lips, I should still hide myself from you. ”

“ Renie. After all, your husband isn't a machine. He is a human being!
Dolly. Oh, Harry's a perfect dear in most things, but he has got a temper!
Renie. My husband never even swears at me! Oh, Dolly, you are lucky! ”

“ Jones has, with the power of a master, constructed a play of engrossing interest, knit together with a strength and breadth of grasp which leaves a feeling of astonishment at the close of the play, astonishment, because the picturesqueness, and the sorrowful reality of the play are borne down upon you with a force and intenseness that leave no escape for the mind to speculate or to anticipate. The fascination of the picture is absorbing and complete, and one bounds back to stalls and human faces at the close of each act with a thud in the brain. ”

“ Giving the bill to Matt.
Harry. Aren't you glad, Doll, that you made that resolution not to have any more bills?
Dolly. It will be heavenly! To go about all day with the blessed thought that I don't owe a farthing to anybody. It's awful! ”

“ MICH. Religion is not simple—or easy-going.
SIR LYOLF. No. Subtlety again. I want a plain “yes” or “no,” a plain black or white, a plain right or wrong, and none of our teachers or preachers is prepared to give it to me. Oh dear! This world has grown too subtle for me! I’ll step over to Island House and ask Mrs. Lesden to dinner to-morrow.
MARK. I’ll come with you and pay my respects to her. You don’t mind, Michael?
MICH. Not at all. I want to set Andrew to work at once to keep him from dwelling on his trouble.
SIR LYOLF. I didn’t come to the church this morning. ”

“ Sport? What sport? Can we join?
Matt. That's just what I was going to propose. There are four of you here, who heard Mr. Pilcher's excellent discourse last night. And you are all determined to turn over a new leaf this year. Isn't that so?
Dolly. Yes!
Harry. I know I am.
Matt. Mrs. Sturgess?
Renie. Yes, indeed!
Matt. Lucas, you?
Lucas. Yes, Uncle.
Matt. On the first of January next, I am prepared to put a sovereign in that money-box for every one of you who can honestly declare that he has broken himself or herself of his bad habits during the year.
Lucas. I say, not all our bad habits? ”

“ MICH. I have done to you this morning as I would wish to be done by if I had followed a course of continued deception.
ANDR. Ah, sir, it’s easy for you to talk. You aren’t likely to be tempted, so you aren’t likely to fall.
MICH. I trust not! I pray God to keep me. But if ever I did, I should think him my true friend who made me confess and rid my soul of my guilt. And you think me your true friend, don’t you, Andrew? (Holding out hand.) Won’t you shake hands with me?
(ANDREW takes MICHAEL’S hand reluctantly, shakes it half-heartedly; is going off at door.) ”

“ Dolly. Unless what?
Harry. It's something too awful.
Dolly. Oh, it isn't. Not at all. Not at all. [Goes up to the desk, brings down about ten more bills with great affected cheerfulness.] There! You see, it's nothing.
Harry. [Hastily looking at the totals.] Nothing? You call these nothing!!? [76]
Dolly. Nothing to speak about—nothing awful!
Harry. Good heavens! How any woman with the least care for her husband, or her home—— [looking at one total after another] how any woman with the least self-respect—— [Dolly goes to him, puts her arms round him, tries to embrace—he repulses her.] ”

“ If her soul is swinging between heaven and hell, it would only be kind of you to give it a jog towards heaven.
MICH. Very well—ask her. But I would rather you didn’t speak lightly of——
SIR LYOLF. Of her soul?
MICH. Of anyone’s soul?
SIR LYOLF. I won’t—even of a woman’s. But I wish they wouldn’t swing about. Women’s souls oughtn’t to swing anywhere, except towards heaven. Ah, Michael, you must let me have my fling. Remember when I was a boy, religion was a very simple, easy-going affair. Parson—clerk—old three-decker pulpit—village choir. What a village choir! ”

“ Matt. Well, here you are, on the first day of the year, after listening to a most eloquent sermon, after making a solemn resolution to give up all your bad habits——
Lucas. Excuse me, I expressly stated that I didn't mean to give up all my bad habits. And I don't call this a bad habit.
Matt. You don't call making love to a married woman a bad habit?!
Lucas. Of course in one sense it is a bad habit. But it isn't a bad habit in the sense that other bad habits are bad habits. Look at all the decent chaps who've been led into it! ”

“ To-morrow before the dedication service begins, I shall stand where I’m standing now and confess that I have been guilty of deadly sin and deceit. Then I shall go out from this place and never return.
(They come away from him, staring at him in speechless surprise for some moments.)
SIR LYOLF. But—Good Heaven!—what have you done?
MICH. (after a long pause) . Guess.
SIR LYOLF. But you won’t proclaim yourself?
MICH. Yes.
SIR LYOLF. But your career—your reputation—your opportunities of doing good——
MARK. Have you thought what this will mean to you, to us, to the church? ”

“ Dolly. I don't see anything to laugh at.
Matt. Twelve miles in the snow—— I say, Doll, we're making a splendid start for the New Year! [Laughing.
Dolly. Dad! Will you please leave off? [Shaking his shoulder.] Will you be serious?
Matt. Yes, my dear!! [Pulling himself together and straightening his features.] Yes, I will. After all, it's a serious matter.
Dolly. It's very serious for me, in a neighbourhood like this!
Matt. It's serious for me, as I was Lucas's guardian. And it's serious for him. If he goes and plays the fool, it may spoil his career—the young ass! ”

“ She seizes the box, brings it up to him, puts it irritatingly in front of him; he seizes it, they struggle for it, trying to take it out of each other's hands; she screams, he tries to get it; there is a scuffle round the room; he tries to rub her knuckles; she makes a little feint to bite him; in the struggle the box drops on the floor a little below the table, right.
Dolly. Jobling! Jobling! Jobling!
Harry. Now, madam, for the last time, have I all your bills?
Dolly. Jobling! Jobling! Jobling!
Harry. Have I all your bills?
Dolly. Jobling! Jobling! Jobling! ”

“ In some respects the loves of Michael Feversham and Audrie Lesden seem to take rank with the masterpieces of human passion, if not with Romeo and Juliet, with Cupid and Psyche, with Paul and Virginia, and shall I add with Edgar of Ravenswood and Lucy Ashton, at least with Helen and Paris, Antony and Cleopatra, and Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier des Grieux. Just enough of fatefulness as well as of human wilfulness is there to add the crowning grace of tragedy by showing man the sport of circumstance. ”

“ It’s more horrible than any creature that was ever seen. It comes and sits in my heart and watches me with those cold eyes that never shut, and never sleep, and never pity. At first it came only very seldom; these last few months it has scarcely left me day or night, only at night it’s deadlier and more distorted and weighs more upon me. It’s not fancy. Mark, I know, I know, that if I do not get rid of my sin, my hell will be to have that thing sitting beside me for ever and ever, watching me with its cold eyes. But (hopefully) I shall be rid of it after to-morrow. ”

“ Dolly looks frightened, sees him off, goes up to writing-desk, takes out bills, looks at them, throws up her arms in despair, groans, slams down the writing-desk, looks at the chair she has touched in first act, shows great resolution, marches up and touches it. ”

“ It’s an awful delight to think that a man would dare to risk hell for one! There aren’t many men who would dare lose this world for the woman they love—how many men are there that would dare to lose the other? ”