2
(looking back as she comes in)
Lady weston aka Frences
i do wish that Joel wouldn’t leave pails of water on the landing! What is it, Richard?
Lord Weston aka Richard
My dear, your husband’s life is in grave danger.
Lady weston aka Frences
The last time it was in danger you had been eating game pie. What is it this time?
(annihilating her flippancy with one broadside):
Lord Weston aka Richard
Assassination!
Lady weston aka Frences
Well, well! You always wanted to be a great man and now you have got your wish!
Lord Weston aka Richard
What do you mean?
Lady weston aka Frences
They don’t assassinate nobodies.
(showing her the paper🗒):
Lord Weston aka Richard
Read that, and see if you can laugh.
Lady weston aka Frences
I’m not laughing.
Lady weston aka Frences
What a dreadful scrawl
Lord Weston aka Richard
Yes, the venomous scribbling of an illiterate.
Lady weston aka Frences
‘Remember Caesar’. Is it a riddle?
Lord Weston aka Richard
It is a death warrant. Do you know what day this is?
Lady weston aka Frences
Thursday.
Lord Weston aka Richard
What day of the month?
Lady weston aka Frences
About the twelfth, I should guess
Lord Weston aka Richard
(with meaning): It is the
fifteenth. The fifteenth of March.
Lady weston aka Frences
Lawdamussy! Your good sister’s birthday🎉! And we haven’t sent her as much as a lily!
Lord Weston aka Richard
I have deplored before, Frances, the incurable lightness of your mind. On the fifteenth of March, Caesar was murdered in the Forum.
Lady weston aka Frences
Yes, of course, I remember. They couldn’t stand his airs any longer.
Lord Weston aka Richard
he was a great man.
Lady weston aka Frences
Yes, my dear, I am sure he was.
(Looking again at the scrap of paper)
Lady weston aka Frences
And is someone thinking
of murdering you?
Lord Weston aka Richard
Obviously.
Lady weston aka Frences
I wonder someone hasn’t done it long ago.
(Before the look of wonder can grow in his eye)
Lady weston aka Frences
A great many people must hate judges. And you are a strict judge, they say
Lord Weston aka Richard
It is the law that is strict. I am a judge, my good Frances, not a juggler. I have never twisted the law to please the mob, and, I shall not please them by dying on the day of their choice.
Lady weston aka Frences
No, of course not. You shall not go out of the house to-day. A nice light dinner and a good glass of –
Lord Weston aka Richard
I have sent Roger to barricade all the doors, and I think it would be wise to close the ground floor shutters and see that they are not opened for any –
Lady weston aka Frences
is it the French and the Dutch together you are expecting! And this is the morning. Mr.Gammon’s boy
Lord Weston aka Richard
My dear, is a little pepper🌶more to you than your husband’s life?
Lady weston aka Frences
It isn’t a little pepper, it’s a great deal of flour. And you would be the first to complain if the bread 🍞were short, or the gravy thin.
(Giving him back the paper)
Lady weston aka Frences
How do you know that the little paper was meant for you?
Lord Weston aka Richard
Because it was in my pocket. I found it there when I was looking for something to light my pipe. (With meaning) There were no spills.
Lady weston aka Frences
No spills. What, again?
Richard, you smoke 🚬far too much.
Lord Weston aka Richard
It was slipped into my pocket by a man who brushed against me yesterday. A dark, lean fellow with an evil face.
Lady weston aka Frences
I don’t think he was very evil.
Lord Weston aka Richard
What do you know about it?
Lord Weston aka Richard
Stop, Frances, stop!
It upsets me to
(Enter ROGER a little out of breath after his flying tour round the house.)
Lord Weston aka Richard
Ah, Roger. Have you seen to it all? Every door barred, every window shut, all workmen out –
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