I wanted to play in it, but he turned me down.
QUINCY
I told you he was awful severe.
[To VERA] He only allows me comic opera once a week. My wife calls him the Bismarck of the baton.
MENDEL [Reverently]
A great conductor!
QUINCY
Would he have a twenty-thousand-dollar job with me if he wasn't? Not that he'd get half that in the open market-only I have to stick it on to keep him for my guests exclusively.
[Looks at watch.] But he ought to be here, confound him. A conductor should keep time, eh, Miss Revendal?
[He sniggers.]
MENDEL
I'll bring David. Won't you help yourselves to tea?
[To VERA] You see there's lemon for you-as in Russia.
[Exit to kitchen-a moment afterwards the merry music stops in
the middle of a bar.]
VERA
Thank you.
[Taking a cup.] Do you like lemon, Mr. Davenport?
QUINCY [Flirtatiously]
That depends. The last I had was in Russia itself-from the fair hands of your mother, the Baroness.
VERA [Pained]
Please don't say my mother, my mother is dead.
QUINCY [Fatuously misunderstanding]
Oh, you have no call to be ashamed of your step-mother-she's a stunning creature; all the points of a tip-top Russian aristocrat, or Quincy Davenport's no judge of breed! Doesn't speak English like your father-but then the Baron is a wonder.
VERA [Takes up teapot]
Father once hoped to be British Ambassador-that's why I had an English governess. But you never told me you met him in Russia.
QUINCY
Surely! When I gave you all those love messages--
VERA [Pouring tea quickly]
You said you met him at Wiesbaden.
QUINCY
Yes, but we grew such pals I motored him and the Baroness back to St. Petersburg. Jolly country, Russia-they know how to live.
VERA [Coldly]
I saw more of those who know how to die.... Milk and sugar?
QUINCY [Sentimentally]
Oh, Miss Revendal! Have you forgotten?
VERA [Politely snubbing]
How should I remember?
QUINCY
You don't remember our first meeting? At the Settlement Bazaar? When I paid you a hundred dollars for every piece of sugar you put in?
VERA
Did you? Then I hope you drank syrup.
QUINCY
Ugh! I hate sugar-I sacrificed myself.
VERA
To the Settlement? How heroic of you!
QUINCY
No, not to the Settlement. To you!
VERA
Then I'll only put milk in.
QUINCY
I hate milk. But from you--
VERA
Then we must fall back on the lemon.
QUINCY
I loathe lemon. But from--
VERA
Then you shall have your tea neat.
QUINCY
I detest tea, and here it would be particularly cheap and nasty. But--
VERA
Then you shall have a cake!
[She offers plate.]
QUINCY [Taking one]
Would they be eatable?
[Tasting it.] Humph! Not bad.
[Sentimentally] A little cake was all you would eat the only time you came to one of my private concerts. Don't you remember? We went down to supper together.
VERA [Taking his tea for herself and putting in lemon]
I shall always remember the delicious music Herr Pappelmeister gave us.
QUINCY
How unkind of you!
VERA
Unkind?
[She sips the tea and puts down the cup.] To be grateful for the music?
QUINCY
You know what I mean-to forget me!
[He tries to take her hand.]
VERA [Rising]
Aren't you forgetting yourself?
QUINCY
You mean because I'm married to that patched-and-painted creature? She's hankering for the stage again, the old witch.
VERA
Hush! Marriages with comic opera stars are not usually domestic idylls.
QUINCY
I fell a victim to my love of music.
VERA [Murmurs, smiling]
Music!
QUINCY
And I hadn't yet met the right breed-the true blue blood of Europe. I'll get a divorce.
[Approaching her] Vera!
VERA [Retreating]
You will make me sorry I came to you.
QUINCY
No, don't say that-promised the Baron I'd always do all I could for--
VERA
You promised? You dared discuss my affairs?
QUINCY
It was your father began it. When he found I knew you, he almost wept with emotion. He asked a hundred questions about your life in America.
VERA
His life and mine are for ever separate. He is a Reactionary, I a Radical.
QUINCY
But he loves you dreadfully-he can't understand why you should go slaving away summer and winter in a Settlement-you a member of the Russian nobility!
VERA [With faint smile]
I might say, noblesse oblige. But the truth is, I earn my living that way. It would do you good to slave there too!
QUINCY [Eagerly]
Would they chain us together? I'd come to-morrow.
[He moves nearer her. There is a double knock at the door. ]
VERA [Relieved]
Here's Pappelmeister!
QUINCY
Bother Poppy-why is he so darned punctual?
[Enter KATHLEEN from the kitchen.]
VERA [Smiling]
Ah, you're still here.
KATHLEEN
And why would I not be here?
[She goes to open the door.]
PAPPELMEISTER
Mr. Quixano?
KATHLEEN
Yes, come in.
[Enter HERR PAPPELMEISTER, a burly German figure with a leonine
head, spectacles, and a mane of white hair-a figure that makes
his employer look even coarser. He carries an umbrella, which he
never lets go. He is at first grave and silent, which makes any
burst of emotion the more striking. He and QUINCY DAVENPORT
suggest a picture of "Dignity and Impudence." His English, as
roughly indicated in the text, is extremely Teutonic.]
QUINCY
You're late, Poppy!
[PAPPELMEISTER silently bows to VERA.]
VERA [Smilingly goes and offers her hand.]
Proud to meet you, Herr Pappelmeister!
QUINCY
Excuse me--
[Introducing] Miss Revendal!-I forgot you and Poppy hadn't been introduced-curiously enough it was at Wiesbaden I picked him up too-he was conducting the opera-your folks were in my box. I don't think I ever met anyone so mad on music as the Baron. And the Baroness told me he had retired from active service in the Army because of the torture of listening to the average military band. Ha! Ha! Ha!