第 5 页

to you, you will see that you must. It is not an ordinary case, not like

any other case. He is not like anybody else in the world: oh, believe

me, he is not. I can prove it to you: [fingering her portfolio] I have

brought some things to shew you. And you can save him: the papers say

you can.

RIDGEON. Whats the matter? Tuberculosis?

MRS DUBEDAT. Yes. His left lung--

RIDGEON Yes: you neednt tell me about that.

MRS DUBEDAT. You can cure him, if only you will. It is true that you

can, isnt it? [In great distress] Oh, tell me, please.

RIDGEON [warningly] You are going to be quiet and self-possessed, arnt

you?

MRS DUBEDAT. Yes. I beg your pardon. I know I shouldnt--[Giving way

again] Oh, please, say that you can; and then I shall be all right.

RIDGEON [huffily] I am not a curemonger: if you want cures, you must go

to the people who sell them. [Recovering himself, ashamed of the tone of

his own voice] But I have at the hospital ten tuberculous patients whose

lives I believe I can save.

MRS DUBEDAT. Thank God!

RIDGEON. Wait a moment. Try to think of those ten patients as ten

shipwrecked men on a raft--a raft that is barely large enough to save

them--that will not support one more. Another head bobs up through the

waves at the side. Another man begs to be taken aboard. He implores the

captain of the raft to save him. But the captain can only do that by

pushing one of his ten off the raft and drowning him to make room for

the new comer. That is what you are asking me to do.

MRS DUBEDAT. But how can that be? I dont understand. Surely--

RIDGEON. You must take my word for it that it is so. My laboratory, my

staff, and myself are working at full pressure. We are doing our utmost.

The treatment is a new one. It takes time, means, and skill; and there

is not enough for another case. Our ten cases are already chosen cases.

Do you understand what I mean by chosen?

MRS DUBEDAT. Chosen. No: I cant understand.

RIDGEON [sternly] You must understand. Youve got to understand and to

face it. In every single one of those ten cases I have had to consider,

not only whether the man could be saved, but whether he was worth

saving. There were fifty cases to choose from; and forty had to be

condemned to death. Some of the forty had young wives and helpless

children. If the hardness of their cases could have saved them they

would have been saved ten times over. Ive no doubt your case is a hard

one: I can see the tears in your eyes [she hastily wipes her eyes]: I

know that you have a torrent of entreaties ready for me the moment I

stop speaking; but it's no use. You must go to another doctor.

MRS DUBEDAT. But can you give me the name of another doctor who

understands your secret?

RIDGEON. I have no secret: I am not a quack.

MRS DUBEDAT. I beg your pardon: I didnt mean to say anything wrong. I

dont understand how to speak to you. Oh, pray dont be offended.

RIDGEON [again a little ashamed] There! there! never mind. [He relaxes

and sits down]. After all, I'm talking nonsense: I daresay I AM a quack,

a quack with a qualification. But my discovery is not patented.

MRS DUBEDAT. Then can any doctor cure my husband? Oh, why dont they do

it? I have tried so many: I have spent so much. If only you would give

me the name of another doctor.

RIDGEON. Every man in this street is a doctor. But outside myself and

the handful of men I am training at St Anne's, there is nobody as yet

who has mastered the opsonin treatment. And we are full up? I'm sorry;

but that is all I can say. [Rising] Good morning.

MRS DUBEDAT [suddenly and desperately taking some drawings from her

portfolio] Doctor: look at these. You understand drawings: you have good

ones in your waiting-room. Look at them. They are his work.

RIDGEON. It's no use my looking. [He looks, all the same] Hallo! [He

takes one to the window and studies it]. Yes: this is the real thing.

Yes, yes. [He looks at another and returns to her]. These are very

clever. Theyre unfinished, arnt they?

MRS DUBEDAT. He gets tired so soon. But you see, dont you, what a genius

he is? You see that he is worth saving. Oh, doctor, I married him just

to help him to begin: I had money enough to tide him over the hard years

at the beginning--to enable him to follow his inspiration until his

genius was recognized. And I was useful to him as a model: his drawings

of me sold quite quickly.

RIDGEON. Have you got one?

MRS DUBEDAT [producing another] Only this one. It was the first.

RIDGEON [devouring it with his eyes] Thats a wonderful drawing. Why is

it called Jennifer?

MRS DUBEDAT. My name is Jennifer.

RIDGEON. A strange name.

MRS DUBEDAT. Not in Cornwall. I am Cornish. It's only what you call

Guinevere.

RIDGEON [repeating the names with a certain pleasure in them] Guinevere.

Jennifer. [Looking again at the drawing] Yes: it's really a wonderful

drawing. Excuse me; but may I ask is it for sale? I'll buy it.

MRS DUBEDAT. Oh, take it. It's my own: he gave it to me. Take it. Take

them all. Take everything; ask anything; but save him. You can: you

will: you must.

REDPENNY [entering with every sign of alarm] Theyve just telephoned from

the hospital that youre to come instantly--a patient on the point of

death. The carriage is waiting.

RIDGEON [intolerantly] Oh, nonsense: get out. [Greatly annoyed] What do

you mean by interrupting me like this?

REDPENNY. But--

RIDGEON. Chut! cant you see I'm engaged? Be off.

Redpenny, bewildered, vanishes.

MRS DUBEDAT [rising] Doctor: one instant only before you go--

RIDGEON. Sit down. It's nothing.

MRS DUBEDAT. But the patient. He said he was dying.

RIDGEON. Oh, he's dead by this time. Never mind. Sit down.

MRS DUBEDAT [sitting down and breaking down] Oh, you none of you care.

You see people die every day.

RIDGEON [petting her] Nonsense! it's nothing: I told him to come in and

say that. I thought I should want to get rid of you.

MRS DUBEDAT [shocked at the falsehood] Oh!

RIDGEON [continuing] Dont look so bewildered: theres nobody dying.

MRS DUBEDAT. My husband is.

RIDGEON [pulling himself together] Ah, yes: I had forgotten your

husband. Mrs Dubedat: you are asking me to do a very serious thing?

MRS DUBEDAT. I am asking you to save the life of a great man.

RIDGEON. You are asking me to kill another man for his sake; for as

surely as I undertake another case, I shall have to hand back one of

the old ones to the ordinary treatment. Well, I dont shrink from that. I

have had to do it before; and I will do it again if you can convince me

that his life is more important than the worst life I am now saving. But

you must convince me first.

MRS DUBEDAT. He made those drawings; and they are not the best--nothing

like the best; only I did not bring the really best: so few people like

them. He is twenty-three: his whole life is before him. Wont you let me

bring him to you? wont you speak to him? wont you see for yourself?

RIDGEON. Is he well enough to come to a dinner at the Star and Garter at

Richmond?

MRS DUBEDAT. Oh yes. Why?

RIDGEON. I'll tell you. I am inviting all my old friends to a dinner to

celebrate my knighthood--youve seen about it in the papers, havnt you?

MRS DUBEDAT. Yes, oh yes. That was how I found out about you.

RIDGEON. It will be a doctors' dinner; and it was to have been a

bachelors' dinner. I'm a bachelor. Now if you will entertain for me, and

bring your husband, he will meet me; and he will meet some of the most

eminent men in my profession: Sir Patrick Cullen, Sir Ralph Bloomfield

Bonington, Cutler Walpole, and others. I can put the case to them; and

your husband will have to stand or fall by what we think of him. Will

you come?

MRS DUBEDAT. Yes, of course I will come. Oh, thank you, thank you. And

may I bring some of his drawings--the really good ones?

RIDGEON. Yes. I will let you know the date in the course of to-morrow.

Leave me your address.

MRS DUBEDAT. Thank you again and again. You have made me so happy: I

know you will admire him and like him. This is my address. [She gives

him her card].

RIDGEON. Thank you. [He rings].

MRS DUBEDAT [embarrassed] May I--is there--should I--I mean--[she

blushes and stops in confusion].

RIDGEON. Whats the matter?

MRS DUBEDAT. Your fee for this consultation?

RIDGEON. Oh, I forgot that. Shall we say a beautiful drawing of his

favorite model for the whole treatment, including the cure?

MRS DUBEDAT. You are very generous. Thank you. I know you will cure him.

Good-bye.

RIDGEON. I will. Good-bye. [They shake hands]. By the way, you know,

dont you, that tuberculosis is catching. You take every precaution, I

hope.

MRS DUBEDAT. I am not likely to forget it. They treat us like lepers at

the hotels.

EMMY [at the door] Well, deary: have you got round him?

RIDGEON. Yes. Attend to the door and hold your tongue.

EMMY. Thats a good boy. [She goes out with Mrs Dubedat].

RIDGEON [alone] Consultation free. Cure guaranteed. [He heaves a great

sigh].

ACT II

After dinner on the terrace at the Star and Garter, Richmond. Cloudless

summer night; nothing disturbs the stillness except from time to time

the long trajectory of a distant train and the measured clucking of oars

coming up from the Thames in the valley below. The dinner is over; and

three of the eight chairs are empty. Sir Patrick, with his back to the

view, is at the head of the square table with Ridgeon. The two chairs

opposite them are empty. On their right come, first, a vacant chair,

and then one very fully occupied by B. B., who basks blissfully in the

moonbeams. On their left, Schutzmacher and Walpole. The entrance to the

hotel is on their right, behind B. B. The five men are silently enjoying

their coffee and cigarets, full of food, and not altogether void of

wine.

Mrs Dubedat, wrapped up for departure, comes in. They rise, except

Sir Patrick; but she takes one of the vacant places at the foot of the

table, next B. B.; and they sit down again.

MRS DUBEDAT [as she enters] Louis will be here presently. He is shewing

Dr Blenkinsop how to work the telephone. [She sits.] Oh, I am so sorry

we have to go. It seems such a shame, this beautiful night. And we have

enjoyed ourselves so much.

RIDGEON. I dont believe another half-hour would do Mr Dubedat a bit of

harm.

SIR PATRICK. Come now, Colly, come! come! none of that. You take your

man home, Mrs Dubedat; and get him to bed before eleven.

B. B. Yes, yes. Bed before eleven. Quite right, quite right. Sorry to

lose you, my dear lady; but Sir Patrick's orders are the laws of--er--of

Tyre and Sidon.

WALPOLE. Let me take you home in my motor.

SIR PATRICK. No. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Walpole. Your

motor will take Mr and Mrs Dubedat to the station, and quite far enough

too for an open carriage at night.

MRS DUBEDAT. Oh, I am sure the train is best.

RIDGEON. Well, Mrs Dubedat, we have had a most enjoyable evening.

WALPOLE. {Most enjoyable.

B. B. {Delightful. Charming. Unforgettable.

MRS DUBEDAT [with a touch of shy anxiety] What did you think of Louis?

Or am I wrong to ask?

RIDGEON. Wrong! Why, we are all charmed with him.

WALPOLE. Delighted.

B. B. Most happy to have met him. A privilege, a real privilege.

SIR PATRICK [grunts]!

MRS DUBEDAT [quickly] Sir Patrick: are YOU uneasy about him?

SIR PATRICK [discreetly] I admire his drawings greatly, maam.

MRS DUBEDAT. Yes; but I meant--

RIDGEON. You shall go away quite happy. He's worth saving. He must and

shall be saved.

Mrs Dubedat rises and gasps with delight, relief, and gratitude. They

all rise except Sir Patrick and Schutzmacher, and come reassuringly to

her.

B. B. Certainly, CER-tainly.

WALPOLE. Theres no real difficulty, if only you know what to do.

MRS DUBEDAT. Oh, how can I ever thank you! From this night I can begin

to be happy at last. You dont know what I feel.

She sits down in tears. They crowd about her to console her.

B. B. My dear lady: come come! come come! [very persuasively] come come!

WALPOLE. Dont mind us. Have a good cry.

RIDGEON. No: dont cry. Your husband had better not know that weve been

talking about him.

MRS DUBEDAT [quickly pulling herself together] No, of course not. Please

dont mind me. What a glorious thing it must be to be a doctor! [They

laugh]. Dont laugh. You dont know what youve done for me. I never knew

until now how deadly afraid I was--how I had come to dread the worst. I

never dared let myself know. But now the relief has come: now I know.

Louis Dubedat comes from the hotel, in his overcoat, his throat wrapped

in a shawl. He is a slim young man of 23, physically still a stripling,

and pretty, though not effeminate. He has turquoise blue eyes, and a

trick of looking you straight in the face with them, which, combined

with a frank smile, is very engaging. Although he is all nerves, and

very observant and quick of apprehension, he is not in the least shy. He

is younger than Jennifer; but he patronizes her as a matter of course.

The doctors do not put him out in the least: neither Sir Patrick's years

nor Bloomfield Bonington's majesty have the smallest apparent effect

on him: he is as natural as a cat: he moves among men as most men move

among things, though he is intentionally making himself agreeable to

them on this occasion. Like all people who can be depended on to take

care of themselves, he is welcome company; and his artist's power of

appealing to the imagination gains him credit for all sorts of qualities

and powers, whether he possesses them or not.

LOUIS [pulling on his gloves behind Ridgeon's chair] Now, Jinny-Gwinny:

the motor has come round.

RIDGEON. Why do you let him spoil your beautiful name like that, Mrs

Dubedat?

MRS DUBEDAT. Oh, on grand occasions I am Jennifer.

B. B. You are a bachelor: you do not understand these things, Ridgeon.

Look at me [They look]. I also have two names. In moments of domestic

worry, I am simple Ralph. When the sun shines in the home, I am

Beedle-Deedle-Dumkins. Such is married life! Mr Dubedat: may I ask you