Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays - Various

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knew what they owed to their position. This is the first time in my life that I have witnessed such an outburst of passion.... Helen, the temptation comes to me daily to step with some woman into an idyllic Arcadia. But every human being has his duties; you have your duties as I have mine, and the call of duty is the highest thing in the world....

      Helen. I know better than you do what the highest duty is.

      Gerardo. What, then? Your love for me? That's what they all say. Whatever a woman has set her heart on winning is to her good; whatever crosses her plans is evil. It is the fault of our playwrights. To draw full houses they set the world upside down, and when a woman abandons her children and her family to follow her instincts they call that—oh, broad-mindedness. I personally wouldn't mind living the way turtle doves live. But since I am a part of this world I must obey my duty first. Then whenever the opportunity arises I quaff of the cup of joy. Whoever refuses to do his duty has no right to make any demands upon another fellow being.

      Helen [staring absent-mindedly]. That does not bring the dead back to life.

      Gerardo [nervously]. Helen, I will give you back your life. I will give you back what you have sacrificed for me. For God's sake take it. What does it come to, after all? Helen, how can a woman lower herself to that point? Where is your pride? What am I in the eyes of the world? A man who makes a puppet of himself every night! Helen, are you going to kill yourself for a man whom hundreds of women loved before you, whom hundreds of women will love after you without letting their feelings disturb their life one second? Will you, by shedding your warm red blood, make yourself ridiculous before God and the world?

      Helen [looking away from him]. I know I am asking a good deal, but—what else can I do?

      Gerardo. Helen, you said I should bear the consequences of my acts. Will you reproach for not refusing to receive you when you first came here, ostensibly to ask me to try your voice? What can a man do in such a case? You are the beauty of this town. Either I would be known as the bear among artists who denies himself to all women callers, or I might have received you and pretended that I didn't understand what you meant and then pass for a fool. Or the very first day I might have talked to you as frankly as I am talking now. Dangerous business. You would have called me a conceited idiot. Tell me, Helen—what else could I do?

      Helen [staring at him with, imploring eyes, shuddering and making an effort to speak]. O God! O God! Oscar, what would you say if to-morrow I should go and be as happy with another man as I have been with you? Oscar—what would you say?

      Gerardo [after a silence]. Nothing. [He looks at his watch.] Helen—

      Helen. Oscar! [She kneels before him.] For the last time, I implore you.... You don't know what you are doing.... It isn't your fault—but don't let me die.... Save me—save me!

      Gerardo [raising her up]. Helen, I am not such a wonderful man. How many men have you known? The more men you come to know, the lower all men will fall in your estimation. When you know men better you will not take your life for any one of them. You will not think any more of them than I do of women.

      Helen. I am not like you in that respect.

      Gerardo. I speak earnestly, Helen. We don't fall in love with one person or another; we fall in love with our type, which we find everywhere in the world if we only look sharply enough.

      Helen. And when we meet our type, are we sure then of being loved again?

      Gerardo [angrily]. You have no right to complain of your husband. Was any girl ever compelled to marry against her will? That is all rot. It is only the women who have sold themselves for certain material advantages and then try to dodge their obligations who try to make us believe that nonsense.

      Helen [smiling]. They break their contracts.

      Gerardo [pounding his chest]. When I sell myself, at least I am honest about it.

      Helen. Isn't love honest?

      Gerardo. No! Love is a beastly bourgeois virtue. Love is the last refuge of the mollycoddle, of the coward. In my world every man has his actual value, and when two human beings make up a pact they know exactly what to expect from each other. Love has nothing to do with it, either.

      Helen. Won't you lead me into your world, then?

      Gerardo. Helen, will you compromise the happiness of your life and the happiness of your dear ones for just a few days' pleasure?

      Helen. No.

      Gerardo [much relieved]. Will you promise me to go home quietly now?

      Helen. Yes.

      Gerardo. And will you promise me that you will not die....

      Helen. Yes.

      Gerardo. You promise me that?

      Helen. Yes.

      Gerardo. And you promise me to fulfill your duties as mother and—as wife?

      Helen. Yes.

      Gerardo. Helen!

      Helen. Yes. What else do you want? I will promise anything.

      Gerardo. And now may I go away in peace?

      Helen [rising]. Yes.

      Gerardo. A last kiss?

      Helen. Yes, yes, yes. [They kiss passionately.]

      Gerardo. In a year I am booked again to sing here, Helen.

      Helen. In a year! Oh, I am glad!

      Gerardo [tenderly]. Helen!

      [Helen presses his hand, takes a revolver out of her muff, shoots herself and falls.]

      Gerardo. Helen! [He totters and collapses in an armchair.]

      Bell Boy [rushing in]. My God! Mr. Gerardo! [Gerardo remains motionless; the Bell Boy rushes toward Helen.]

      Gerardo [jumping up, running to the door and colliding with the manager of the hotel]. Send for the police! I must be arrested! If I went away now I should be a brute, and if I stay I break my contract. I still have [looking at his watch] one minute and ten seconds.

      Manager. Fred, run and get a policeman.

      Bell Boy. All right, sir.

      Manager. Be quick about it. [To Gerardo.] Don't take it too hard, sir. Those things happen once in a while.

      Gerardo [kneeling before Helen's body and taking her hand]. Helen!... She still lives—she still lives! If I am arrested I am not wilfully breaking my contract.... And my trunks? Is the carriage at the door?

      Manager. It has been waiting twenty minutes, Mr. Gerardo. [He opens the door for the porter, who takes down one of the trunks.]

      Gerardo [bending over her]. Helen! [To himself.] Well, after all.... [To Muller.] Have you called a doctor?

      Manager. Yes, we had the doctor called at once. He will be here at any minute.

      Gerardo [holding her under the arms]. Helen! Don't you know me any more? Helen! The doctor will be here right away, Helen. This is your Oscar.

      Bell Boy [appearing in the door at the center]. Can't find any policeman, sir.

      Gerardo [letting Helen's body drop back]. Well, if I can't get arrested, that settles it. I must catch that train and sing in Brussels to-morrow night. [He takes up his score and runs out through the center door, bumping against several chairs.]

      [Curtain.]

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