James Joyce

“ Richard
And I do too. You may be his and mine. I will trust you, Bertha, and him too. I must. I cannot hate him since his arms have been around you. You have drawn us near together. There is something wiser than wisdom in your heart. Who am I that I should call myself master of your heart or of any woman's? Bertha, love him, be his, give yourself to him if you desire—or if you can. ”

“ Only the impulse towards youth and beauty does not die. [He points towards the porch.] Listen!
Bertha
[In alarm.] What?
Robert
The rain falling. Summer rain on the earth. Night rain. The darkness and warmth and flood of passion. Tonight the earth is loved—loved and possessed. Her lover's arms around her; and she is silent. Speak, dearest!
Bertha
[Suddenly leans forward and listens intently.] Hush!
Robert
[Listening, smiles.] Nothing. Nobody. We are alone.
[A gust of wind blows in through the porch, with a sound of shaken leaves. The flame of the lamp leaps.] ”

“ Brigid
[Delighted.] Yes. I can see him sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his legs and spinning out of him yards of talk about you and him and Ireland and all kinds of devilment—to an ignorant old woman like me. But that was always his way. But if he had to meet a grand highup person he'd be twice as grand himself. [Suddenly looks at Bertha.] Is it crying you are now? Ah, sure, don't cry. There's good times coming still.
Bertha
No, Brigid, that time comes only once in a lifetime. The rest of life is good for nothing except to remember that time. ”

“ Robert
[Draws back at once.] My dear Richard, my dear friend, I swear to you I could not make you suffer.
Richard
[Continuing.] You may then know in soul and body, in a hundred forms, and ever restlessly, what some old theologian, Duns Scotus, I think, called a death of the spirit.
Robert
[Eagerly.] A death. No; its affirmation! A death! The supreme instant of life from which all coming life proceeds, the eternal law of nature herself.
Richard
And that other law of nature, as you call it: change. How will it be when you turn against her and against me ”

“ Bertha—you and I.
Bertha
[Almost inaudibly.] Are you sure?
Robert
[Still more warmly.] I am sure that no law made by man is sacred before the impulse of passion. [Almost fiercely.] Who made us for one only? It is a crime against our own being if we are so. There is no law before impulse. Laws are for slaves. Bertha, say my name! ”

“ Richard
I never tried to do such a thing. Bertha. You know I cannot be severe with a child.
Bertha
Because you never loved your own mother. A mother is always a mother, no matter what. I never heard of any human being that did not love the mother that brought him into the world, except you. ”

“ Beatrice
Why do you accuse me?
Bertha
[Going to her impulsively.] I am in such suffering. Excuse me if I was rude. I want us to be friends. [She holds out her hands.] Will you?
Beatrice
[Taking her hands.] Gladly.
Bertha
[Looking at her.] What lovely long eyelashes you have! And your eyes have such a sad expression!
Beatrice
[Smiling.] I see very little with them. They are very weak.
Bertha
[Warmly.] But beautiful.
[She embraces her quietly and kisses her. Then withdraws from her a little shyly. Brigid comes in from the left.]
Brigid
I gave it to himself, ma'am. ”

“ Robert
[Looks full at her.] To make him—Richard—suffer.
Bertha
He does not suffer.
Robert
[Bowing his head.] Yes, yes. He does.
Bertha
He knows we like each other. Is there any harm, then?
Robert
[Raising his head.] No, there is no harm. Why should we not? He does not know yet what I feel. He has left us alone here at night, at this hour, because he longs to know it—he longs to be delivered.
Bertha
From what?
Robert
[Moves closer to her and presses her arm as he speaks.] From every law, Bertha, from every bond. All his life he has sought to deliver himself. ”

“ Robert Hand, in evening dress, is seated at the piano. The candles are not lit but the lamp on the table is lit. He plays softly in the bass the first bars of Wolfram's song in the last act of "Tannhäuser." Then he breaks off and, resting an elbow on the ledge of the keyboard, meditates. Then he rises and, pulling out a pump from behind the piano, walks here and there in the room ejecting from it into the air sprays of perfume. He inhales the air slowly and then puts the pump back behind the piano. ”

“ Bertha
[Quietly.] You mean because others have been here?
Robert
Yes.
[He walks away from her a few paces. A gust of wind makes the lamp on the table flicker. He lowers the wick slightly.]
Bertha
[Following him with her eyes.] But I knew that before I came. I am not angry with you for it.
Robert
[Shrugs his shoulders.] Why should you be angry with me after all? You are not even angry with him—for the same thing—or worse.
Bertha
Did he tell you that about himself?
Robert
Yes. He told me. We all confess to one another here. Turn about. ”

“ I will not do it. I cannot and I will not. I dare not.
[He leans back in his chair breathless, with shining eyes. Robert rises quietly, and stands behind his chair.]
Robert
Look here, Richard. We have said all there is to be said. Let the past be past.
Richard
[Quickly and harshly.] Wait. One thing more. For you, too, must know me as I am—now.
Robert
More? Is there more?
Richard
I told you that when I saw your eyes this afternoon I felt sad. Your humility and confusion, I felt, united you to me in brotherhood. [He turns half round towards him.] ”

“ Bertha! [In a softer voice.] In all my life only that dream is real. I forget the rest. [He kisses her hands again.] And now I can tell him the truth. Call him.
[Bertha goes to the door of Richard's study and knocks. There is no answer. She knocks again.]
Bertha
Dick! [There is no answer.] Mr Hand is here. He wants to speak to you, to say goodbye. He is going away. [There is no answer. She beats her hand loudly on the panel of the door and calls in an alarmed voice.] Dick! Answer me!
[Richard Rowan comes in from the study. He comes at once to Robert but does not hold out his hand.] ”

“ Robert
Is that the truth, Bertha?
Bertha
Yes, because it annoyed me that you could think I was like . . . like the other women I suppose you knew that way. I think that Dick is right too. Why should there be secrets?
Robert
[Softly.] Still, secrets can be very sweet. Can they not?
Bertha
[Smiles.] Yes, I know they can. But, you see, I could not keep things secret from Dick. Besides, what is the good? They always come out in the end. Is it not better for people to know? ”

“ There is nothing to thank me for, Richard. Now and always I am your friend. Now more than ever before. Do you believe me, Richard?
[Richard sits down on a chair and buries his face in his hands. Bertha and Robert gaze at each other in silence. Then she turns away and goes out quietly on the right. Robert goes towards Richard and stands near him, resting his hands on the back of a chair, looking down at him. There is a long silence. A Fishwoman is heard crying out as she passes along the road outside.] ”

“ Bertha
[Pushes his hand aside and starts to her feet.] Don't touch me! You are a stranger to me. You do not understand anything in me—not one thing in my heart or soul. A stranger! I am living with a stranger!
[A knock is heard at the halldoor. Bertha dries her eyes quickly with her handkerchief and settles the front of her gown. Richard listens for a moment, looks at her keenly and, turning away, walks into his study. Robert Hand enters from the left. He is dressed in dark brown and carries in his hand a brown Alpine hat.]
Robert
[Closing the door quietly behind him.] ”

“ Richard
By all means.
Robert.
[Archly.] I have come up from a lower world and I am filled with astonishment when I find that people have any redeeming virtue at all.
Richard
[Sits up suddenly and leans his elbows on the table.] You are my friend, then?
Robert
[Gravely.] I fought for you all the time you were away. I fought to bring you back. I fought to keep your place for you here. I will fight for you still because I have faith in you, the faith of a disciple in his master. I cannot say more than that. It may seem strange to you . . . Give me a match. ”

“ Robert
Eight. But, like yourself, he is free and easy about time. Now, Richard, you must go there. That is all. I feel tonight will be the turningpoint in your life. You will live here and work here and think here and be honoured here—among our people. ”

“ Bertha
Did you not enjoy yourself down there, Miss Justice?
Robert
[Intervenes.] She did not, Mrs Rowan. She goes there on retreat, when the protestant strain in her prevails—gloom, seriousness, righteousness.
Beatrice
I go to see my father.
Robert
[Continuing.] But she comes back here to my mother, you see. The piano influence is from our side of the house.
Bertha
[Hesitating.] Well, Miss Justice, if you would like to play something . . . But please don't fatigue yourself with Archie.
Robert
[Suavely.] Do, Beatty. That is what you want. ”

“ There are those who left her to seek the bread by which men live and there are others, nay, her most favoured children, who left her to seek in other lands that food of the spirit by which a nation of human beings is sustained in life. Those who recall the intellectual life of Dublin of a decade since will have many memories of Mr Rowan. Something of that fierce indignation which lacerated the heart . . .
[He raises his eyes from the paper and sees Bertha standing in the doorway. Then he lays aside the paper and looks at her. A long silence.]
Beatrice
[With an effort.] ”

“ Robert
[Nodding again.] Yes, you won.
Richard
[Rises.] Excuse me for forgetting. Will you have some whisky?
Robert
All things come to those who wait.
[Richard goes to the sideboard and brings a small tray with the decanter and glasses to the table where he sets it down.]
Richard
[Sits down again, leaning back on the lounge.] Will you please help yourself?
Robert
[Does so.] And you? Steadfast? [Richard shakes his head.] Lord, when I think of our wild nights long ago—talks by the hour, plans, carouses, revelry . . . ”

“ Beatrice walks slowly towards the davenport. Robert remains standing. A short silence. Archie and Bertha come in through the door on the left. Bertha is a young woman of graceful build. She has dark grey eyes, patient in expression, and soft features. Her manner is cordial and self-possessed. She wears a lavender dress and carries her cream gloves knotted round the handle of her sunshade. ”

“ Brigid
The mistress and Master Archie is at the bath. They never expected you. Did you send word you were back, Miss Justice?
Beatrice
No. I arrived just now.
Brigid
[Points to the easychair.] Sit down and I'll tell the master you are here. Were you long in the train?
Beatrice
[Sitting down.] Since morning.
Brigid
Master Archie got your postcard with the views of Youghal. You're tired out, I'm sure.
Beatrice
O no. [She coughs rather nervously.] ”

“ I am a descendant of the dark foreigners: that is why I like to be here. I may be childish. But where else in Dublin can I get a bandit cigar like this or a cup of black coffee? The man who drinks black coffee is going to conquer Ireland. And now I will take just a half measure of that whisky, Richard, to show you there is no ill feeling.
Richard
[Points.] Help yourself.
Robert
[Does so.] Thanks. [He drinks and goes on as before.] Then you yourself, the way you loll on that lounge: then your boy's voice and also—Bertha herself. Do you allow me to call her that, Richard? ”

“ While you have a thing it can be taken from you.
Archie
By robbers? No?
Richard
But when you give it, you have given it. No robber can take it from you. [He bends his head and presses his son's hand against his cheek.] It is yours then for ever when you have given it. ”

“ Robert
[Pulling round a chair.] Here you are. You are lucky to find me in. Why didn't you tell me today? You were always a devil for surprises. I suppose my evocation of the past was too much for your wild blood. See how artistic I have become. [He points to the walls.] The piano is an addition since your time. I was just strumming out Wagner when you came. Killing time. ”

“ You forget that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence: and the kingdom of heaven is like a woman. ”