The entire action of the play takes place in Helen's villa at Capri, the music room. Two French windows at the back open on a balcony overlooking Naples; white awnings with a stripe of terra-cotta red shut off the view. The balcony has a flight of stairs descending into the garden. The furniture of the room is more American than Italian; rugs, a grand piano. A door at the left into the hall; at the right into the living rooms.

7

Ailsa

Yes, Villa Rhaba ni. I believe the new edition of Baedeker
calls attention to us. Its history is short and awful.
It was built by a German banker, Geyerhoffer. He named it
after his mother who was a Turkish woman. He was a sort
of Rikus Bluebeard, and there are legends about the last
of his wives killing him in his bath. But of course, that's
told of every house in Capri. Then it was bought by a
painter with a hundred pupils who all died here one night
of something they'd been eaten.

Dr. Kemper

But this is no house for Mrs. Darrall. Do you suppose it's
good for her, in her condition, to live in a place like this ?

Ailsa

(strongly moved)

What can I do ? I tell you, she loves it; she likes that
Rud of thing. I can't prevent her moving into a house
like this. You yourself told me not to cross her in anything.

Dr. Kemper

But a thing like that.....

Ailsa

After all, what sort of life do you suppose we lead here ?
We can do nothing but brood until you set some sort of date
for the operation. Doctor, Doctor, when are you going to tell
us ? -- as soon as you can, I beg of you, -- at least tell
us whether its next week next month or next year. Look at
us sitting here, with nothing to do, and waiting for this
awful experience. Give us something definite to be brave
about.

8

(She sinks back weeping violently and silently)

Dr. Kemper

I'm not ready to say. It would be very unwise for me even to
guess. But I think we'll not operate until next Spring, perhaps
not for a year yet.

Ailsa

I know! I know! I've done wrong to ask you.

Dr. Kemper

I shall tell you, of course, as soon as I can.

Ailsa

Forgive me, Doctor. I promised not to speak of Helen's illness.
I live under such a strain. -- There!

(She dabs her eyes.)

What was I saying? Oh, yes. Helen bought this house, in spite
of all my protests, and filled it with her pictures.

Dr. Kemper

I suppose there are always people coming in, like this Baroness,
to look at the collection, besides the guests you entertain.

AilsaN

No. one. Almost no one comes to the house. And then only with
very special letters, like the Baroness von Dorrn. As for
American friends touring Europe, Helen refuses to see them.

Dr. Kemper

But you said that half-a-dozen adventurers fell into conversation
with Mrs. Darrall every time she goes to Naples. She snubs them,
of course. course?

Ailsa

Oh, no. She loves them -- anything precocious or clever or
adrift. She'd be glad enough to fill the house with them in

9

a minute.

Dr. Kemper

Really!

Ailsa

As I say, they know her on sight, and exactly how many millions she has. Half of them are on their way to Capri with the sole intention of striking up an acquaintance and borrowing five thousand lire. And generally its she who speaks to them first!

Dr. Kemper

Do any of them succeed?

Ailsa

No. You see there's always I! Helen invites them to lunch and I send them over to the hotel. It's a most unpleasant task for me, because they're so charming, you know. They speak such be beautiful French and such beautiful English. And if they're men they have such heads as God gives only to Neapolitans.

Dr. Kemper

You have your father's gift of exaggeration, Miss Morrow. Now tell me about this in plain fact. I have reasons for being interested in it professionally.

Ailsa

Well, let me see! -- Four or five times Helen has scraped acquaintance with these charming unaccompanied men, usually Italian and usually young. They come from nowhere; they can't produce any friends; they have no occupation; they don't even sing. Poor Helen, of course, now, cries out for distraction and this is the only type that appeals to her.

Dr. Kemper

Why, let her have one around, of course.

10

### Ailsa

But, Doctor, they're nothing but money-seekers, frightful
dissipated --

### Dr. Kemper

Trust her judgment. Give her one by all means. Have you
routed them all away ? Is she to be cut off from the few things
that keep her interest alive, just because they're a little
unconventional ? I tell you it may be the only thing we can
do for her. She may not live I tell you.

### Ailsa

Doctor, you've promised us! -

### Dr. Kemper

It's ridiculous! I can promise you nothing. I tell you again
its our business as Mrs. Darrall's friends to provide her
with the greatest possible desire to live. Her very cure
depends on keeping her enthusiasm and her hope. Good God,
Miss Morrow, give her anything she wants.

### Ailsa

Doctor, what are you saying? She's perfectly capable of
becoming infatuated with one of these wretches --

### Dr. Kemper

Exactly. Give her purpose! Give her life! Are there any
of these characters about now ?

### Ailsa

Yes, there's Dario.

### Dr. Kemper

Who's Dario ?

Ailsa

No one knows. A cultivated Roman youth who appears and disappears mysteriously. Age, perfectly incomputable; between twenty-three and twenty-nine. A pair of eyes without a shadow of character in them.

Dr. Kemper

Does he speak English ?

Ailsa

Perfectly.

Dr. Kemper

Where does he say he learnt it ?

Ailsa

Oh, from a friend. - He's always as vague as that.

Dr. Kemper

Where did you meet him ?

Ailsa

At an obscure little church in the slums of Naples, Saint James of Spain. We don't know to this day whether he was a professional guide or just an adventurer lurking about. Anyway there he was leaning against a column and bowing charmingly to us. He accompanied us about the church, with a stream of comment, learned and witty as it could be. When we came away we couldn't think of giving a tip to such a gentleman, so Helen gave him her card and asked him over here to lunch. Now he comes over here quite often. My idea is that it happened this way : We had had lunch at Bertolini's and it seems to me now that I saw him there on the terrace,

3

## The Baroness

Mrs. Darrall is not well? ...I had heard...

## Ailsa

Her health is very uneven. She is quite all right today, but she asked me to receive you and see that you are provided with everything you need.

## The Baroness

Will you thank her for her kind note? Some people make it so difficult for me to do my work! Will you thank her?

## Ailsa

(a little repelled)

It's a pleasure to us, I assure you, Baroness. Mrs Darrall has been meaning to have her collection of pictures catalogued for some time. When you wrote us, it seemed to be exactly the thing we had been looking for.

## The Baroness

But I'm not really an expert, you know. I've been making a few studies of old Italian masters for an art society of ours in Vienna, but I can't say I'm a specialist. I don't know where I got the courage to break in on your beautiful quiet life here!

## Ailsa

It's no intrusion at all, I assure you. You're most welcome. You'll want to go right in and see them, won't you? Perhaps you'll interrupt your work a little later and have a cup of tea with us?

## The Baroness

No, no. I don't take tea. Besides, I shan't begin my work today. I want just to take a "look round" as you say. I've

4

brought my microscope and reflectors and so on, but I really
can't start today; I shall make a note or two. Besides I
find it's always best to work in the morning, and that will
be more convenient for you.

### Ailsa

Whatever you're accustomed to. You're not to consult our con-
venience at all. The fact is we never use those rooms at all.
We practically never receive any friends. We live very
quietly, and for the most part in the garden.

### The Baroness

Good.

### Ailsa

You won't hesitate to ring for Alviero for anything you need?

(Enter from the right, Dr. George Kemper,
a distinguished American surgeon of about
fifty.)

Oh, Dr. Kemper, how do you do! --Baroness von Dorrn,
may I present Dr. Kemper? -- The Baroness is making a
study of Helen's pictures, and its going to be immensely
interesting.

### Dr. Kemper

I remember Mrs. Darrall's telling us.

### The Baroness

However, I won't trouble you now. Will I find them in here?
I'm so eager to see the little Judith by Mantegna again; I
studied it first in the Foxbury collection.

(pushing toward the right)

In here, no?

5

Ailsa

(leading the way)

Yes. You'll know how to arrange the light better than I
could. ++-

(The two women go out. Presently Ailsa returns,
shutting the door behind her.)

Well, Doctor!

Dr. Kemper

Peculiar woman, isn't it ?

Ailsa

Attractive enough to look at, but with a peculiar manner, yes.
++ that dull ingratiating manner of ladies who feel they must
apologize for making a living. She'll write a whole book
about Helen's ton pictures, proving that they're not originals
at all. -- Helen refuses to meet her. Says she'll never so
much as come downstairs when the woman's in the house. But
don't let's talk about her. Tell me about your first morning
at Capri.

Dr. Kemper

Of course, its very beautiful. - But there are so few Italians.

Ailsa

I know what you mean. You didn't expect to find so many
Russian sculptors and operatic tenors and American divorcees
even down at the wharf. Well, Doctor, you have to take it
for what it is. The old Capri of the postcards is gone.
The boatmen no longer wear red sashes.

Dr. Kemper

Oh, well, the color of the water hasn't changed, or the view.

6

### Ailsa

Oh, it's the most beautiful island in the world. And Helen
and I, we've come to love even the tourists. Not the
permanent ones, the residents, but the tourists. We've
come to love the Capri boat, Doctor. Such company. We are
always sure, we say, of being able to pick out half-a-dozen
celebrities, as many adventurers, and some quite delightful
imbeciles.

### Dr. Kemper

You're very clever to be able to tell them apart.

### Ailsa

Well, the celebrities are always seasick, and look dis-
tinguished, though tried. You should have seen poor Mrs.
Patrick Campbell, last week, and the wretched Richard
Strauss! — Oh, but the imbeciles! — those, for instance,
who keep looking back anxiously over their shoulders for
fear of another eruption from Vesuvius. —Fellow-countymen,
only too often.

### Dr. Kemper

How do you tell the adventurers ?

### Ailsa

Oh, the adventurers always fall into conversation with Helen;
dozens of them. They know who she is in a moment; we're really
quite celebrities ourselves. You'd be surprised at how
famous this villa is, both because of poor Helen, and
because of its history.

### Dr. Kemper

Really, Villa Rha bani ?

12

and that he overheard us asking the waiter whether it was safe
for two women to go alone to the church; and that he hurried
around another way and got there before us. --That's my
theory.

Dr. Kemper

Why don't you ask him ?

Ailsa

One doesn't ask him personal questions, Doctor. He's too
gorgeous. Besides, he doesn't answer them.

Dr. Kemper

Well, if he expects to be received into houses like this, he's
got to be asked questions and he's got to answer them. You
women don't know how to be firm with that kind of person.

Ailsa

Perhaps not. Somehow one doesn't urge things; he keeps the
surface relations so smooth. We call him the Man who Never
Makes a Mistake. He never comes too early; he never stays too
late; he never says a disconcerting thing. He never thanks
one too effusively for a favor; he never flatters. If a dis-
agreement arises in artistic matters he never concedes con-
descendingly to a woman. When he must go, he says goodbye
quickly. Oh, he has an intuitional tact that is amazing, and
if it were that I thought things might come to some sort of
unhappiness for Helen I should want him around all the time.
But you'll see him; Me'll call on us today. In fact,
I think Helen's asked him.

Dr. Kemper

 Splendid!

12

Ailsa

And today I have every intention of sending him away for good.
I've been watching him. He's on the verge of his Lend-me-
eight-thousand-lire. It's come into his eyes, evern Helen
confesses to seeing it there, -- only she says it will be
twelve thousand. And she's drawn it out ready for him, I
expect.

Dr. Kemper

He's not to be sent, away, I tell you.

Ailsa

Listen, listen! Don't be romantic about him, Doctor. He's
centuries old in guile. It's not his pursuit of ten thousand
lire that makes him dangerous, or the rather dreadful sort
of disillusion that must follow his love-making. It's a something
you can't express. It's his absence of the moral sense. He's
deadly. -- You can see him today, and I'll send him away
tomorrow. I've delayed too long as it is. No, no, --
we can't have Helen go through with another wracking experience.
Her marriage was terrible enough; -- and now on the eve of
these operations. Doctor, I know best because I know Helen
best.

Dr. Kemper

But we may not be on the eve of operations at all. Such a
thing may not be necessary until next fall. Suppose now,
Miss Morrow, she doesn't live through next fall --

Ailsa

How can you say that! How can you say that?

Dr. Kemper

You and I have been able to fill our lives with some absorbing
interest

interest. I go to-science, and you go to your books. Helen
Darrall goes to a very romantic conception of love and life.
But you are always in the way with your reserve and
caution. She is beautiful; she is young, and rich; but
she has only one gift: she can please. She is ready to put
a perfect genius into a love affair. Now whether she lives
or dies it's our business to let her have as much happiness
as she is able to comfort herself with.

Ailsa

Well then, find the man.' All that may be true, but Dario's
not the man. He's not.

(Enter Alviero. Ailsa exchanges a few words
with him in a low voice; then he goes out.)

Here he is now. Helen will be right down to see him, so
I will invent an excuse so that we can leave them alone together.
Later I'll arrange to let you have a talk with him.
Try and find out something about him, if you can. Helen and
I would be glad to know....

(Enter Alviero and Dario. Dario is a good-
looking young man, very well though unobtrusively
dressed. He is à alert and watchful; listens
discreetly; speaks English with only a trace of
an accent; has perfectly natural manners. )

Alviero

Signor Stiavelli.

Ailsa

Tell Mrs.Darrall that Signor Stiavelli is here.

Alviero

Si, Signorina.

(Exit. Dario advances and kisses Ailsa's hand.)

Dario

Signorina!

Ailsa

How do you do, Dario? Dario, this is Dr. Kemper, an old
friend of Helen's and mine.

Dario

(shaking hands, frankly.)

Delighted...

Dr. Kemper

Signor Stiavelli.

Ailsa

I have been telling Dr. Kemper the history of the
house, and what a landmark it has become at Capri.

Dario

Villa Rhabani is in gracious hands for the first time. I
remember very well being kept in good behavior as a child
under threat of being shut in here; now I am kept in good behavior from fear of being shut out.

Dr. Kemper

Oh, you spent your childhood on the island. Perhaps you are
a native of Capri, Signor Stiavelli ?

Dario

(easily)

Oh, I assume the virtue, though I have it not. I am a Roman

if anything. If anything. We Italians have a way of choosing
our citizenship by saying : My grave is at Capri. People
with my interests, you know, find better opportunities here,
even than in Rome.

Dr.Kemper

(almost triumphantly)

Exactly what are your interests, Signor Stiavelli ?

Dario

Oh, I forgot that in America you use the word "interests"
in the sense of business or occupation. No, I have no interests,
I should have said : my type of curiosity, my taste for seeing
people of all nations, what not --

Dr.Kemper

(with a baffled growl)

Oh, your type of curiosity!

Ailsa

No, Doctor, Helen and I are always repraocahing Dario for
a very idle young man.

Dario

But most of my friends don't think me idle.

Dr.Kemper

Oh. What friends are these ?

Dario

-- Is it unusual to have friends, in America ?

Ailsa

You see, Doctor, your persistence has very nearly hurt Dario's
feelings. Never mind, Dario, let's all have a marron glacé
while we're waiting for Helen. A glass of Marsala, either of you.

16

Dr. Kemper

(as they move toward the piano.)

We doctors get so in the habit of being thorough, Signor Stiavelli......

Dario

I know. Being probed by a doctor is always for one's own good.

(Thank you.) --You have a saying, they tell me : <u>The Doctor</u>
<u>is the protestant's confessor.</u> I am a Roman Catholic.

Dr. Kemper

I suppose you think it very vulgar of us Americans to interest
ourselves in one another's birthplace and occupation and friends?

Dario

Vulgar, indeed no. But strange....

Ailsa

(handing him the Baroness' card)

Do you know who that is ?

Dario

"The Baroness von Dörn." -- I've never met her, but she catalogued the collections of a friend of mine. It's a Bohemian title, isn't it ? They say she's very learned and charming.

Ailsa

You're a great help, Dario. She's this minute in the next room studying Helen's pictures. Do you want to meet her ?

Helen's Voice

(in shrill excitement from the balcony)

Dario: Come here and look, quick.

Dario

Coming, Signora. -- Excuse me ?

17

(he hurries out smiling, along the balcony)

Ailsa

You don't like him, do you, Doctor ? Your face was a picture.
I never saw an antipathy develope more rapidly between two men.

Dr. Kemper

You only have to look at him. He's preppsterous: And damn
his *type of curiosity*. I wasn't asking the man about his
finances or love affairs. I wasn't even asking his age.

Ailsa

Well, you'll agree with me now --

Dr. Kemper

Oh, there's no danger in the boy, of the kind you
mean. I don't see it at all. He's clever, but one of these
adventurers, never. He'll get to the point of borrowing a little
money and being a little sentimental; but menace ? nonsense!
He's what he says he is : a Roman wandering about, fond of
people who are charming and well-off. But you'd better
send him away this afternoon, as you intended. It's not necess-
ary to leave me alone with him later, either. Why, he's pre-
posterous! -- Get rid of this kissing of hands, too. Dis-
gusting habit. -- What are they looking at, out there ?

Ailsa

Oh, they have a thousand little jokes in common I don't enter
into at all. Just in three or four meetings they've fairly
invented a new language for themselves.

Dr. Kemper

Tomorrow, God willing, let it be a dead one. I'm not given to

18

taking back what I say, Miss Morrow, but I agree with you, of
course, the sort of influence we could wish for Helen isn't
in this type at all.

(He coughs)

You understand me.

(Enter Helen Darrall, from the balcony, followed by Dario. Helen is a beautiful young widow of twenty-seven, enchantingly dressed and wearing pearls.)

Helen

Good afternoon, dear Doctor. -- You know, Ailsa, I've just
found out the most extraordinary thing. Dario knows a lot more
about the house. Horrible things, too. At first I wasn't
going to let you know, because you don't like such things;
but Dario and I fairly revel in them. --You know what a past
Villa Rhabeni has, don't you, Doctor ?

Dr. Kemper

Miss Morrow has just been telling me about it.

Helen

And just now Dario confessed that he'd been in the house before —
years ago.

Ailsa

Why, Dario!

Helen

Wasn't he selfish not to tell us before ?

Dario

I was afraid to. It rather reflects, you know. -- It was ten
or fifteen years ago. I was too young to know what I saw. I
was staying at Sorrento with my brother Guelfo. He had been in

the Italian Diplomatic Corps at Constantinople and had met
Geyerhoffer there.

Dr. Kemper

(impressed)

Really! The Italian Diplomatic Corps!

Dario

Geyerhoffer's mother was Turk, you know, and her name
Rhabani. Geyerhoffer invited Guelfo here one day and Guelfo
brought me along. I don't remember anything, except that I
was much amused by the sight of a lady dressed as a ballet-
girl whom we came upon suddenly in the garden.

Ailsa

Phui!

Helen

And were you here in the days of the Art School and the
ptomaine-poisoning ?

Dario

I never; but Guelfo. It was too awful, he said.

Dr. Kemper

(heavily)

At last, though, I feel sure Villa Rhabani will have an
uneventful occupancy.

Helen

(moody; disappointedly)

Oh, do you think so ? You actually saw this ballet-girl in a
garden in the middle of Capri - in my garden.

Ailsa

Helen! I'm shocked at you.

Helen

How my husband would have appreciated that. --Has that
Bohemian baroness-woman come yet ?

Ailsa

Yes, she's in the next room measuring the pictures.

Helen

Oh, I don't want to meet her. What her name again, and
what does she look like ?

Ailsa S

She's the Baroness von Dörn and she isn't prepossessing.
She carries a whole handbag full of microscopes and compasses
and other tools. She's refused tea, but she'll have to go out
through this room when she's ready. Dario knows who she is, and
says she's charming when you know her better.

Helen

Well, I don't want to know her better today. Tea, tea, Alviero.

(She pulls the bell-rope:)

Ailsa

If you'll excuse us, Helen, I promised the Doctor I'd show him
our own little Roman ruins on the cliff. Besides we've been
eating thesem marrons and spoiling ourselves for tea....

Helen

What! Really?

(Enter Alviero)

Tea, Alviero. You're sure you won't stay, Doctor or Ailsa ?

Dr. Kemper

You'd better come and join us on the cliff, when you've
finished. Goodbye.

21

Everybody

(self-consciously)

Godbye, goodbye.

(Exeunt the Doctor, Ailsa and Alviero)

Helen

What'll I do, Dario ? I can't bear that doctor, yet he's to
be my house-guest for weeks. Was he very crude ? Did he start
asking you your age or anything ?

Dario

He made me feel like a woman who has accidentally left her
wedding-ring at home. He tried so hard to classify me : what
did I do ? where was I born ? who were my friends ?

(with real indignation)

I hate that.

Helen

Of course!

Dario

I was heavy-handed with him, too.

Helen

You weren't!

Dario

Yes, I was. So later, just to please him a little, I invented
a brother, Guelfo, int the Italian Diplomatic Corps. Did you
see him embrace Guelfo immediately ?

Helen

Why!

Dario

However I won't abuse your friends to you, even though you
like it. I think he's probably a fine doctor.

22

Helen

(eagerly)

Do you ? You'd have confidence in him professionally ?

Dario

Indeed, yes. I never need one, but if I did, and could afford
it, I'd go to him.

Helen

So you only made up the name of Guelfo Stiavelli ? It's as
handsome a name as yours, Dario.

Dario

But all the rest I told you about the Villa Rhabani is true.
I never lie unless I've been provoked to it; the person to
whom I lie is quite as guilty of my lies as I am. And as
I get to know friends better I confess my deceptions to them
gradually, until finally I stand before them entirely true.

Helen

Dario, please! Why do you tell me that?

Dario

Because the time has come for me to make some confessions to
you.

Helen

Yes, yes!

Dario

Well, to begin with, my name is Dario, but not Stiavelli. I
think you've understood all the time, Mrs. Darrall, that I'm
an unconnected sort of young man; that is, I have no particu-
lar family and no means. I wander about making a living
this way and that, in order to cultivate my tastes, and so

25

on. An assumed name saves you the embarrassment of relatives
and that sort of thing.

Helen

(breathless)

Of course. I know.

Dario

The morning of the day I met you at St. James of Spain
I had been acting as a guide at that very church for a pair
of elderly Americans who gave me a hundred lire. I deserved
them. I should have saved it, but I'd been starved for a
long while, so I climbed up to Bertolini's for lunch. You were
there, and I overheard you asking the way to St. James of
Spain. I arrived there before you.

Helen

But, Dario, you make me so ashamed. You told us all about the
church in a wonderful way and we didn't give you a thing. We
didn't dare; you were too peckless. You must have heard us a
arguing about it behind a pillar. Looking at me blushing.
No, I'm not blushing, I'm crying.

Dario

It doesn't matter, Mrs. Darrall, please. I fell in love with
you both, and if you hadn't given me your cards I should
have turned up here just the same.

Helen

You'd better go and play Chopin to me until I finish my little
cry. - I'm always so stupid that way. I never realize that life
isn't so easy for other people as it is for me. I know.
I know, I shan't be saved until I give all my money away.

24

--Play to me, Dario, until I'm myself again. You mustn't see
me this way.

Dario

I have some more confessions to make.

Helen

Oh! --excuse my being so silly. There! Now I'm all right.

Dario

I'm not exactly Italian at all. My father was an English naval
officer and my mother was a Sicilian singer. They were maver
married, but I spent many summers as a boy at my father's country
home in the South of England. --Don't look at me that way; this
is the very truth, I swear to you!

Helen

I really believe you, Dario. Go on!

Dario

I've been educated through the Italian schools and University;
they're very thorough and very strict. I'm only twenty-seven, but
I've had to figure in all sorts of things you can't imagine. )
--Perhaps I oughtn't to be here....

Helen

But, my dear Dario; -

Dario

No, no; let me say this: I've had to do all my life with hateful
people. Looking back from this beautiful place they all seem to be
perfect fools and clowns and frauds and so on. I tell you this now
so that no one can surprise you about me; for people will begin to
warning you against. All this life --I haven't enjoyed it, and it's
for you to judge whether it's had such a deep impression on me
that I've no right to come and see Miss Morrow and you.

15

Helen

(softly:)

Yes, Dario, it's for me to judge. Please now. We are friends enough to have that understood.

Dario

There's only one more confession, and that is that I want you to lend me some money for just a short time in the easiest way that occurs to you.

Helen

Of course. I'm glad to be able to. There are ten thousand lire ready at any time at my bank in Naples, the _Sconto di Sconto_; make use of any amount you like. Have you still my card ? --Take that to Signor Berti and He'll know. It's just what I've been wanting to do for you. I've felt all along that you've done so much for us, -- the church, and helping us with our Italian, and with Italians, and other ways you yourself can't realize. In a sense I feel as though I'd been owing you this amount.

Dario

I think you'll find we Italians are the only race that can borrow money without endangering a friendship. Of all races we're the one that thinks least about money and can accomplish the most without it.

(Enter Alviere with tea. Helen makes conversation, until he goes)

Helen

You know, Dario, Italy is full of Americans who are here running away from some duty at home. I have produced an angry silence at several Roman dinnerparties with just that remark. Ailsa and I are both fugitives from duty. Clear, with lemon, isn't it ? --

26

You just said you were twenty-seven. I'm twenty-seven, too. --
I don't only run away from duties at home; I even run away from
my duties over here. I try to defend myself. I remember my aunt's
saying that there are only three excuses for selfishness: sickness,
genius, and a well-earned vacation. I tell myself that I'm not
well --I'm not very--and I deserve a vacation. --Am I mistaken in
thinking that aloud to you in this way, Dario ?

Dario

What mistake could there be ?

Helen

I have an awful feeling when I think you might be bored to tears, only you're the politest person in the world and can't show it.

Dario

Aren't you ashamed to misunderstand me so!

Helen

You see, you're such a wonderful listener. I look up every now
and then and there's your blessed glance resting on my, and I allow
myself to be drawn on.

Dario

Please!

Helen

Now I've thought of something else. -- The other day when you and
I were at the Piazza eating pastries, you remember, I pointed out
Sargent, our painter, to you. ?

Dario

Yes, I remember.

Helen

Ailsa tells me he noticed us and turning to a friend asked what
my name was. When they told him, he said : I should have known

it was Helen beside that Paris".

(Dario laughs suddenly:)

Does it disconcert you to be complimented on your appearance ?

Dario

The Italians are very frank. I get used to it. And you ?

Helen

I am unhappy without it. You think the less of me ? I don't know how I'll live without when I'm not beautiful. When I'm calling, or on the street, or on the steamer, I find people gazing at me. That makes me happy; there's no trouble in the world that can take that pleasure away from me. Dario, I'm not a woman of books or sports or conversation, not even of the arts; my only happiness lies in others being fond of me. I've never confessed it out that way to anyone before, and now I'm blushing and crying again. Dario, I'm sure you're laughing at me.

Dario

Of course I'm not laughing at you. You're wonderful.

Håaan

Let me say these things just once before I... while we're here this way. I don't think plain people ever understand the psychology of beautiful people, no, nor even nearly beautiful people either. Those who are completely beautiful belong to an inner circle, and seeing one another, though we are strangers, we send wordless messages across a crowded room or a crowded street. How can others understand us whose whole expression lies in our faces and our movement, who cannot give our thoughts to ambition or art or family, but live only in this perfect perfection we have ?

---But I see you are shocked at my modish vanity and won't acknowledge ever having had an idea remotely like all this.

28

Dario

You can't expect all of us to think as beautifully and frankly
as you do.

Helen

But when I met you in St. James of Spain, didn't you feel that...
that I recognized you... and that you recognized me ?

Dario

(drawn irresistably to her chair)

I loved you at that very moment. You were standing in the middle
of the church looking upward, and as I came towards you, you looked
at me ---I loved you then, as I love you now!

Helen

Dario, and as I love you now.

(He is kneeling by her chair. Her arms encircle his neck)

I said : there's another of the same sort of stranger in the world
that I am. The people nearest him to him don't know anything
about him, just as Ailsa knows nothing of me. Whoever you are,
Dario, from now on you're mine. I'll take you away from all these
things in your life you hate so... Will you come and live with
me here now, Dario ?

Dario

I love you.

Helen

You will! Now I am weeping and not blushing. --- There
now, let me go. At last, really, I --- I, Helen Spencer, ---
shall be happy. Only think!

(She is standing in the middle of the room, readjusting
her hair. Behind her the Baroness von Dorrn enters abruptly
from the left.)

The Baroness

Oh, I beg your pardon. I knocked several times. I am just on my
way back to the hotel.

Helen

(tonelijk, as to a servant)

That's all right.

The Baroness

This is Mrs. Darrell, I believe. I am the Baroness von Dorr --

Helen

You'll have to excuse me now. I won't be able to see you today.

(She goes out rapidly along the balcony.)

Dario

(quietly, but with force)

You've just about ruined everything.

The Baroness

I tell you I knocked.

Dario

You've just about spoiled everything. She's a very nervous
woman. I think she must be ill, and that doctor's here to look
after her. I don't understand her. Now go, Judith, hurry. You
must be more careful.

(The Baroness slips out.)

(Dario lights a cigarette, and walks slowly out onto
the balcony, as the curtain falls.)

3D

# VILLA RHABANI

## ACT TWO

(The same room, a week later.)

(It is eight o'clock in the evening. The Baroness von Dorrn, very beautifully gowned in dull gold, with a wreath of golden laurel-leaves in her hair, stands listening in the center of the room. Presently Alviero enters preceding Dario, and stands inquiringly by the door. Dario in dinner-coat looks slightly more mature.)

The Baroness
Oh, Signor Stiavelli, I believe ? I am the Baroness von Dorrn.

Dario

(kissing her hand)

Delighted!

The Baroness

We've just missed seeing one another several times. I believe.
I've been living in the Villa these last few days cataloguing -

(to Alviero)

Oh, Alviero, you needn't trouble Mrs. Darrall by announcing
Signor Stiavelli; I shall try to amuse him. --cataloguing
Mrs. Darrall's pictures, and --

(Alviero bows and exit; The Baroness drops her
nose wearily.)

31

--- and so on. I don't mind deceiving ladies and gentlemen,
but to invent lies before a servant makes me ill.

### Dario

This isn't at all safe, Judita.

### The Baroness

I think it is. You came early on purpose to see Mrs. Darrall before dinner. But she won't have time to see you before dinner. She loaned me her maid Hilda, and I kept Hilda right up to a moment ago; so Mrs. Darrall can't possibly come down under a quarter of an hour.

*(Her manner is antagonistic though with an assumed lightness; her subsequent passionate outbreak is seen gathering. Dario's manner is cool.)*

### Dario

Oh, I see.

### The Baroness

You're always saying I'm not clever. Don't you think that's clever.

### Dario

No, not very. Besides, what's gained by it ?

### The Baroness

Why, I shall be beautifully dressed, and she will have had to dress in a hurry. And I shall have had this charming little talk with you, instead of xxx her.

### Dario

What's it been like, living here ?

### The Baroness

Delightful. When I think of how much money this woman has I

shudder. I sit up in the house here glaring at these pictures,
and see you two walking about down in the garden, talking
about love. I'm quite sure that's what you talk about,
Dario, for your manner when talking about love is quite un-
mistakable. I loathe it. I get so furious that I'm perfectly
capable of cutting her pictures into ribbons.

### Dario

When do you leave ?

### The Baroness

Something's been troubling me, dear Dario. Is it only afternoon's
and evenings you hover around here, talking about love ? You
won't answer ? Do you go back to the hotel when you bid us
good-night ? I have only my suspicions to go on, of course..

### Dario

When do you leave ?

### The Baroness

Oh, we're all going tomorrow. Three people are leaving this
villa just to make room for you. I'm going to Naples in
their own motorboat, about two. The hotel says they can take
me back in the same rooms. And there I'll sit, waiting for
you to close up this affair. How long will I have to wait,
Dario, -- months ?

### Dario

No, a few weeks, -- six or seven, perhaps.

### The Baroness

But in two weeks you can steal away for a day or two, and come
and see me ? - Tell her you have to go up to Rome. She'll
believe anything.

33

### Dario

What are you going to do in Naples ?

### The Baroness

Now Dario, don't change the subject. Promise me you'll come over to Naples and see me within two and a half weeks. It won't be enough to write; I'll come over to Capri and get you. She's just a - a - business venture, you said so yourself, and I am the permanent...the real claim...after all these years together, and all. Now, do you hear ?

### Dario

Yes, I hear. I asked you what you were going to do in Naples.

### The Baroness

I was thinking of asking Lady Forrest to come and live with me and do some more translating.

### Dario

I'd rather you didn't. You can't afford to be seen with Lady Forrest, Judity; she's lost place. -- You'll never realize what a good thing you have in being 'all right'.

### The Baroness

Whom shall I get to live with me, then ? --(Besides, I don't especially care to be 'all right', since this is going to be the last of our escapades).

### Dario

Mrs. Prentice.

### The Baroness

I knew you'd say that. That means I'll have to follow her around Pompeii very day. Very well; only on condition, though, that you come over and see me often.

(Silence from Dario; she continues sweetly:)

34

Tell me, Dario, are we going to make a very great deal out of
this - hm - situation, here ?

Dario

It think I'll go and look at the pictures in the next room.

The Baroness

(vehemently)

Dario, don't act cross this way!

Dario

It I'm cross because you're pretending to be jealous of
Mrs. Darrall.

The Baroness

I am jealous of her Dario ! -- Dario, you don't think her more
beautiful than I am ? You're really in love with that
colorless senseless American woman.

Dario

Judith, don't be a child!

The Baroness

Why don't you tell me right out loud, here and now, that
you hate me ? It oughtn't to require much courage, after all :
I'm nobody. I'm not clever. I'm not rich. And you no
longer think me beautiful. And what's more : I'm jealous.

Dario

(with intimate precision)

We've been doing this kind of thing for years, Judith, and
you always took it perfectly naturally. And now suddenly
you break down and become more a hindrance than a help.
This kind of thing becomes quite impossible if you're going
to make jealous scenes. You'd better go back and live in
Vienna until I'm all through. You promised when we began

35

that the personal --

### The Baroness

Well, now I've got to break my promise. I can't stand her
that way and I can't stand the way you feel about her. You've
got to expect me to be jealous of her, Dario.

You saved me to begin with, and you've been wonderful to me
ever since, how can I help but love you more and more; and
be jealous of her. I'm like a child, I know; but there's
nothing very awful about that. Besides, I know something.
I know.

### Dario

What do you know ?

### The Baroness

I know that you've been in this house all these nights.

You've slipped back after you've pretended to go back to the
hotel.

### Dario

Yes, I have. But you knew that kind of thing was in the
arrangement. It has been before.

### The Baroness

Yes, but the fact that you didn't tell me yourself. You did not try to deceive me with the rest of them. I have a right to be jealous of that.

### Dario

Well, I shall have to tell you something that will make
you more jealous still.

### The Baroness

What ?

### Dario

36

### Dario

Bo you realize that this woman has millions ? And that there
may be a way to get them all ?

### The Baroness

How ?

### Dario

I may marry her.

### The Baroness

Oh, no. Not that. Dario! They're not worth it. You want
to separate yourself from me forever.

(She sinks overcome into a chair.)

### Dario

I don't lie to you, Judith. I tell you there is no cause
for your being jealous of Mrs. Darrall. This is just another.
Now remember, there will be great rewards, and I shall
bring these millions back to you; we'll buy the Stromberg
villa at Nice and live to ourselves for a year or two.

### The Baroness

Can I be sure ? Dario, prove it to me.

### Dario

(leaning over he kisses the right side of her
forehead within an intimately significant
manner; she sits trembling with joy and surprise)

### The Baroness

Forgive my being bad, Dario. I do my best.

### Dario

You do very beautifully.

### The Baroness

I owe you everything.

37

### Dario

No, no, Judith.

### The Baroness

I know I'm not so beautiful as she is. But I - I'm more suited to you. She could never understand your wishes, your feeling about things as I do. You must see that, Dario - that she is not of your kind as I am? I can't say what I mean - let me try in French.

### Dario

But I understand you. You're right. - They'll be down in a moment. I shall probably not see you tomorrow; but I promise to come over to Naples and see you, in a week and a half.

### The Baroness

Yes, yes.

### Dario

I hear them coming.

### The Baroness

I don't look as though I'd been crying, do I ?

(Enter Ailsa.)

### Ailsa

Good evening, Dario. You must excuse Helen and me for not being here when you came. I know the Baroness hasn't let you miss us.

### The Baroness

I introduced myself, Miss Morrow, - was that all right ? We had never met. I happened to be roaming about here looking at my pictures, as I call them.

38

### Ailsa

Baroness, will you do Helen a favor ? Will you touch up
the flowers on the table; you have such perfect taste and
Alviero does it so badly.

### The Baroness

Oh, but certainly. Excuse me, Signor Stiusselli. (Exit)
(Ailsa goes to the balcony and signals into the garden.)

### Ailsa

Doctor, Dario is free now. Please don't go, Dario; Dr.
Kemper wishes to speak with you.

### Dario

Yes ?

(The doctor enters from the balcony. Ailsa and he exchange a glance of understanding and she slips quietly out from the room.)

### Dr. Kemper

I have wanted for some time to get a word alone with you.

### Ruckly Dario

Really.

### Dr. Kemper

Will you sit down. There is still a quarter of an hour before
dinner. May I offer you a cigarette ?

### Dario

*(refusing)*

### Dr. Kemper

I can begin best by saying that I am not in this
house strictly as a guest, and I have not come to
Capri solely for pleasure.

Dario

No ? Not, I hope, for your health ?

Dr. Kemper

I am in the best of health, Signor Stiavelli. It is Mrs.

Darrall's health that concerns me. Her condition is ex-
cedingly critical. She may have broached the matter to you ?

Dario

No, indeed. But I suspected she was unwell.

Dr. Kemper

Then you must be a very experienced diagnostician.

Dario

Unfortunately I have been thrown a good deal among people with delicate health....

Dr. Kemper

Well, if you are so clever, perhaps you can tell me what is the matter with Mrs. Darrall ?

Dario

I'm not blever at all.

(His tone implies that, just the same, he thinks he knows. He changes the subject suddenly, with a shade of contempt :)

I don't wish to quarrel, Doctor. Perhaps I have offended you in some way....?

Dr. Kemper

(drawing from a pocket some envelopes)

Signor Stiavelli, I know who you are. I've had your record looked up. The reports have begun to come in. Do you see this ? and this?

40

Dario

(indifferently)

It was too bad to have given some one else so much trouble.
The better way would have been to have come to me.

Dr. Kemper

Exactly! Had you not taken every precaution against such an
opportunity. You have had the servants tell me you were not in
the hotel. — I will not argue with you in this:

Dario

You are quite right, Dr. Kemper. I have avoided being left alone
with you, but for the simple reason that we have nothing in
common. If I had thought that what you wanted was an outline
of my career I should have given it to you.

Dr. Kemper

That is exactly what I want : who are you ?

Dario

(with an ironic smile, quietly)

I am a Roman gentleman. My mother was a Sicilian singer, a great
artist, and my father was a British naval officer. I was
born twenty-seven year ago on the island of Malta. I was brought
up for the most part on the island of Ischia. I did my military
duty; then I tried journalism and failed. The death of a
friend left me with a small income that I add to, from time to
time, by service as an expert guide through Rome and the
Campagna, and skilled instruction in Italian and Italian art.

Dr. Kemper

(triumphantly)

This friend you refer to, who left you the money, was Hubert
Criagie.

44

Dario

(undisturbed)

You knew Hubert Craigie ?

Dr. Kemper

I was a member of the board that examined him after the murder
of his friend.

Dario

So good of you to have found him : not responsible!

Dr. Kemper

I am told, Signor Stiavelli, that you were a master of ceremonies
for that dissipated young man.

Dario

I had the pleasure of being a guest on his yacht several times,
both in the bay here, and on the Riviera.

Dr. Kemper

His mother told me he spent not less than two million dollars
on his Italian trip. He was fleeced right and left by a pack
of Italian adventurers and at his death your name headed the list
of beneficiaries.

Dario

Certainly ingratitude was not among his faults.

Dr. Kemper

The will was successfully contested and you received but a
半
half
a
bit
of what was intended for you.

Dario

I was principally grateful for his thoughtfulness.

Dr. Kemper

Stop these phrases! Your insincerity is disgusting. You are
trying to make a fool of me and you are not succeeding.

Dario

You wanted the interview, and now you don't like it.

Dr.Kemper

There is something else you must be told. Shall we sit down
again.

Dario

(lighting a cigarette)

Please do. I'll stand and smoke, if I may.

Dr.Kemper

As Mrs.Darrall's physician, it is my business to prepare her
for a series of operations she may be required to face in the
near future. Several days ago she informed Miss Morrow that
she intended receiving you into the house as a permanent guest,
and presumably as a lover.

Dario

You are felicitating me ?

Dr.Kemper

Miss Morrow and I are leaving the Villa tomorrow. Not that we
are shocked, Signor Stiavelli, but because we would certainly be
an inharmonious element in any such arrangement.

(Dario acknowledges this point gravely)

You may conduct your love affair as you choose, but remember
that her failure to follow the regime I have recommended to her
may very likely endanger her chances for recovery. --Do you
hear me ?

Dario

I hear you perfectly.

43

### Dr. Kemper

I have come to ask you for the first and last time to withdraw. Mrs. Darrall is undoubtedly infatuated with you, but it would be better for her to bear the disappointment of your retiring now than the gradual disillusion that must follow any intimacy with a man of your career. It is my business to see that Mrs. Darrall is not subjected to any depressing emotional experience. Does my appeal have any effect on you, Signor Stiavelli?

### Dario

(allittle dryly)

I have certainly listened with the greatest respect. You shift a great deal of your own responsibility on to me, don't you? -- Well, we are all experts in different ways, and I stake my whole reputation -- which is not small -- on the conviction that I can make Mrs. Darrall happy. When you call for her you'll find her stronger than anything could have led you to suspect. More full of -- what do you call it? -- recuperative power. See -- I am confident.

### Dr. Kemper

You are, are you? A dissipated fortune-hunter is prepared to sustain a finely-bred sensitive woman through trials ---

### Dario

Professional jealousy, Doctor ?

(starting to go)

That's all, isn't it ?

### Dr. Kemper

There is one thing more.

### Dario

You say it to yourself, Doctor. I won't keep you.....

44

Dr. Kemper

One moment, one moment, sir!

(He pauses heavily, while Dario stands at the door watching him with a touch of pity:)

Neither Miss Morrow nor myselfxxx is rich -- I want that distinctly understood -- but we offer you ¤ forty-thousand dollars to leave the house for good tonight.

Dario

(after a pause)

Now, really; American money! ¤ known ¤ Incredible!

Dr. Kemper

(white with anger)

What have you not done for money ? What degradations -- ?

You think you can afford to turn this down, don't you? That's your idea: you can stay and get more.

Dario

(quietly)

Please don't break a blood-vessel here, Docdr. You won't believe it, but you ought to be told : that I love Mrs. Darrall without any other consideration and intend to make her happy as long as she wills. You can get as many reports on my career as you please. You can't change the situation as it is now.

You see you're fighting against something you don't know anything about. That's why you get so excited and play so contemptibly.

(Enter Helen abruptly from the right, dressed with a quite inappropriate brilliance and slightly too bejewelled. Until the close of the scene she keeps addressing everyone with nervous effusiveness, but ignores Dario.)

## Helen

I'm sorry I'm late. Where's Ailsa? and the Baroness? I hear them in here. Do excuse me, will you?

(Enter Ailsa and the Baroness)

Ailsa, why didn't you lead them in without me?

## Ailsa

Alviero's ready, Helen.

## Helen

Then let's go right in. I'm sorry, Baroness, we're lacking one man, but the fact is I don't know any other man at Capri. Ailsa, will you lead in alone? And, Doctor, will you take the Baroness. I shall follow obediently.

## The Baroness

(to the Doctor, as they follow Ailsa out)

Are you also fond of swimming, Dr. Kemper?......

(Dario stands waiting for Helen to take his arm. She stands a moment and then with her eyes fixed tenderly and whimsically on his face she sketches three dainty and precise dance-steps with one pointed satin slipper. Then she stumbles to his arm, laughing and crying. Murmuring: "My treasure! My treasure!" she urges him on into the dining-room.)

THE CURTAIN IS LOWERED TO INDICATE THE LAPSE OF TWO HOURS

(When the curtain rises again, the room is in semi-
darkness, and the party is taking coffee on the balcony. Their
laughter is heard. Presently Helen enters and rings the bell.
Dr. Kemper and Ailsa follow her anxiously through the door.)

Dr. Kemper

Mrs. Darrall, I really don't think you should; at least not at
this odd hour.

Helen

But I never felt better in my life. Do let me this once, Doctor.
There's such a moon.

Dr. Kemper

What do you think, Miss Morrow?

Helen

Of course, if it's categorical Medical decision that I shouldn't
go, I should obey at once. Is it that I *mustn't* go, or that I
*shouldn't* go....?

Dr. Kemper

Oh, it's merely advise.

Helen

But you're coming with us, both of you. Of course, you are.

(Enter Alviero.)

Alviero, we're going boating. Ask Hilda for my black cloak.
And see if you can't find one for the Baroness.

(Exit Alviero, left)

Ailsa

I'm sorry. I can't go with you. On my last night with you,
Helen, I don't feel like boating in the moonlight. Did you
forget that I was going away in the morning ?

Helen

Not going away. Only to the hotel. I shall see you often.

Ailsa

Will it be the same ? -- Won't you stay for my sake, just ten
minutes and have a talk with me before I go to bed ?

Helen

Why, of course.

(Dario appears at the back)

Dario, I shall come along later, You take the Baroness and Dr.
Kemper for half and hour --

Dr. Kemper

I shall stay with you here.

Ailsa

Yes, I want Dr. Kemper with us.

Helen

Just as you like.

(Alviero appears at the door with wraps.)

Here is the Baroness' cloak. Take her for a ride. Call
for me later.

(Dario takes the coat and goes. Exit Alviero.)

(The Doctor develops a very heavy and throaty
manner, and Ailsa sits down with grave solemnity.)

Dr. Kemper

Realizing that it is our last evening in the house, we feel it
is our duty to call your attention..... There are certain things
we feel you ought to know.

46

Helen

(with mounting antagonism)

About what ?

Dr.Kemper

About Signor Stiavelli.

Helen

I see.

Dr.Kemper

We shall not be long.

Helen

That will be very good of you.

(She sits down in her finest chair, profile to
the audience, rests her cheek on one hand, and prepares
to fight.)

Will you please push up that little footstool, dear Doctor.

Grazia! Before you begin I want to remind you that I am not well.

If you have something very upsetting and distressing, please be
sure that it is for my happiness and not a matter of private
pique.

Ailsa

I'm sorry to hear you take that tone, Helen. We love you and
have something to tell you of the first importance.

(Helen sighs. The Doctor clears his throat)

Helen

(being deliberately cold-blooded, absently:)

I shall really have to buy a new footstool.

Dr.Kemper

In the last few days, Mrs. Darrall, I have come to know the

In generation, the deadliest methods, used based on general
assumption, can be有效 treatment by a sort of laying on of hands.
The Director of the Medical School in Naples intimately. The
Commendatore is an experienced and cultivated man, and I took
advantage of this opportunity to tell him about Signor Stiavelli's reception
at Rhabani Villa. The Commendatore does not know Signor Stiavelli
personally, but he recognized the type and explained it this
way:

## Helen

(sighing noisily)

My soul!

## Dr. Kemper

The bay of Naples since the Phoenicians, thousands of years before
our era, has been the pleasure ground of Southern Europe. During
the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, today,
thousands of tourists have come here to find the various forms
of pleasure in surroundings only too appropriate. There is a
saying that Even good men are bad in Naples.

(Helen makes a gesture of agonized exasperation.)

Now consider the effect of such an immigration on the native.
It develops here through relentless natural selection, a beau-
tiful seductive predatory type. But natural selection, cleverest
of all, developing this type that is attractive and cunning,
makes it also apparently innocent and sincere. The tradition
of adventure, the deadliest methods, are passed on from genera-
tion to generation by a sort of laying on of hands. Signor
Stiavelli's mother, you remember, was a Sicilian singer living
at Capri who had succeeded in charming an English naval officer.

58

Helen

(throws back her head with an air of exhausted patience,
violently:)

I beg you to stop, Doctor. This is very tiresome. This is too
revolting. Ailsa, how can you allow him to insult me this way ?

Ailsa

(kneeling before her and taking her hands)

We're not insulting you, Helen. We want you to open your eyes.

Helen

(fiercely)

You can do anything in the world, but you cannot separate
Dario and me.

Ailsa

We don't want to separate you, dear. Let us keep Dario here.
I love him, too; I don't know a friend from whom we can receive
so much. But, beloved, don't have him here; don't, don't
live with him. -- He will turn about and hurt you in the
end. Dr. Kemper has found out all about him. It's only fair
to yourself to know the worst that can be said about him.

Helen

I know everything that you will ever know.

Ailsa

He as good as betrayed the Italian Government --

Helen

But he will not betray me. He cheated Hubert Craigie, but he
will not cheat me.

Ailsa

You're sending me away. You're hurting me so. Helen, I beg
you: don't have him here!

51

Helen

(not hoping to be understood)

You'll never understand how happy we are. You're both of you
older, that's why. I love Dario in two ways; I love him because
he is young and beautiful, like myself; and I love him as I
would love a wise friend who stands between me and the world,
the Dario who never makes a mistake, who adjusts himself by
miracle to all my moods, who understands, I believe, my very ill-
ness. Who never makes a mistake. If I die I must first have
loved so completely as to have forgotten myself; and then I
want to die simply, and Dario will know about that, too.

Ailsa

You mustn't talk so! Helen, you're not going to die!

Helen

I can see in the Doctor's face that I am going to die.

Ailsa

Helen, you are killing me!

Helen

(unmoved)

Only the Doctor here, is speechless.

Dr. Kemper

No I have nothing to say. I am too honest to actually forbid
this arrangement as a professional order, but I want to say that
if, beginning tonight, you live quietly, giving every attention
to your sleep and diet, guarding yourself against shocks and
anxieties, I will be able to stake my reputation on a successful
operation for you. But if tomorrow you receive Signor
Stiavabli and require our departure, I shall still conscientiously

give you the best of my ability, but the chances will be
infinitely smaller.

Helen

(arising, with assumed alightness)

Why then, tis better to have I loved and died, than never to
have loved at all.

Ailsa

(appalled)

Helen!

Helen

(quickly)

I am very tired. I must have a few words with Dario, before
he goes back to the hotel; and then I am going to bed. If,
I don't see you in the morning, Ailsa, remember that I am
coming over to the village to see you often. As your patient
Doctor, I am ready to do anything you really insist upon
any time. I will continue to expect your visits whenever
every other morning. Good night.

(She stands very straight at the door, and Ailsa
and the doctor are practically forced to go. Ailsa
goes out weeping.)