10

At the Inn

[At the Inn.  Archer and Ellen are sitting at a table outside]

ELLEN

        Why didn't you come down to the beach to get me the day I was at Granny's?

ARCHER

        Because you didn't turn around.  You didn't know I was there.  I swore I wouldn't call you unless you looked around.

ELLEN

        But I didn't look on purpose.

ARCHER

        You knew?

ELLEN

        I recognized the carriage when you drove in.  So I went to the beach.

ARCHER

        To get as far away from me as you could.

ELLEN

        As I could.  Yes.

ARCHER

        Well you see, then.  It's no use.  It's better to face each other.

ELLEN

        I only want to be honest with you.

ARCHER

        Honest?  Isn't that why you always admired Julius Beaufort?  He was more honest than the rest of us, wasn't he?  We've got no character, no color, no variety.  I wonder why you just don't go back to Europe.

ELLEN

        I believe it's because of you.

ARCHER

        Me?  I'm the man who married one woman because another one told him to.

ELLEN

        You promised not to say those things today.

ARCHER

        I can't keep that promise.

ELLEN

        And what about May?  What does May feel?  That's the thing we've always got to think of, by your own showing.

ARCHER

        My showing?

ELLEN

        Yes, yours.  Otherwise everything you taught me would be a sham.

ARCHER

        If you're using my marriage as some victory of ours, then there's no reason on earth why you shouldn't go back.  You gave me my first glimpse of a real life.  Then you asked me to go on with the false one.  No one can endure that.

ELLEN

        I'm enduring it.

ARCHER

        You too?  All this time, you too?

[She doesn't reply]

ARCHER

        What's the use?  We can't be like this.  When will you go back?

ELLEN

        I won't.  Not yet.  Not as long as we both can stand it.

ARCHER

        This is not a life for you.

ELLEN

        It is.  As long as it's part of yours.

ARCHER

        And the way I live...my life...how can it be part of yours?

ELLEN

        Don't...don't be unhappy.

ARCHER

        You won't go back?  You won't go back?

ELLEN

        I won't go back.

11

At the Theatre

NARRATOR

        It was the custom, in old New York, for brides to appear in their wedding dress during the first year or two of marriage.  But May, since returning from Europe, had not worn her bridal satin until this evening.

[Archer enters the box and leans over to May]

ARCHER

        My head's bursting.  Don't tell anyone, but please come home with me.

[May looks at him, then whispers to her mother.  Mrs. Welland whispers an excuse to her companion, Mrs. van der Luyden, as May rises and leaves with her husband]

[In the library at the Archer House]

MAY

        Shouldn't you rest?

ARCHER

        My head's not as bad as that.  And there's something important I have to tell you right away.  May...There's something I've got to tell you...about myself...Madame Olenska...

MAY

        (interrupting)

        Oh, why should we talk about Ellen tonight?

ARCHER

        Because I should have spoken before.

MAY

        Is it really worthwhile, dear?  I know I've been unfair to her at times.  Perhaps we all have.  You've understood her better than any of us, I suppose.  But does it matter, now that it's all over?

ARCHER

        Over?  How do you mean, over?

MAY

        Why, since she's going back to Europe so soon.  Granny approves and understands. She's disappointed, of course, but she's arranged to make Ellen financially independent of the Count.  I thought you would have heard today at your offices.

[He stares at her, not really seeing her.  There is uncomfortable silence]

ARCHER

        It's impossible.

MAY

        Impossible?  Certainly she could have stayed here, with Granny's extra money.  But I guess she's given us up after all.

ARCHER

        How do you know that?

MAY

        From Ellen.  I told you I saw her at Granny's yesterday.

ARCHER

        And she told you yesterday?

MAY

        No.  She sent me a note this afternoon.  Do you want to see it?

[May moves to the desk and pulls the note from a small pile of mail on the desk]

MAY

        I thought you knew.

[She hold out the note and he takes it]

ELLEN

        "May dear, I have at last made Granny understand that my visit to her could be no more than a visit, and she has been as kind and generous as ever.  She sees now that if I return to Europe I must live by myself.  I am hurrying back to Washington to        pack up, and I sail next week.  You must be very good to Granny when I'm gone...as        good as you've always been to me.  If any of my friends wish to urge me to change my mind, please tell them it would be utterly useless."

ARCHER

        Why did she write this?

MAY

        I suppose because we talked things over yesterday.

ARCHER

        What things?

MAY

        I told her I was afraid I hadn't been fair to her.  I hadn't always understood how

        hard it must have been here.  I knew you'd be the one friend she could always count on.  And I wanted her to know that you and I were the same.  In all our feelings.

        (more slowly)

        She understood why I wanted to tell her this, I think she understands everything.

[She takes one of his cold hands and presses it quickly to her cheek]

MAY

        My head aches, too.  Good night, dear.

12

At Tuiileries in Paris.

[At Tuiileries in Paris.  Ted and Archer, deep in conversation, walk through the great

gardens on their way to Madame Olenska's]

TED

        So considering how that all turned out...and considering all the time that's gone by...I don't see how you can resist.

ARCHER

        Well, I did have some resistance at first to your marriage, I've told you that...

TED

        No, I mean resist seeing the woman you almost threw everything over for.  Only you didn't.

ARCHER

        (cautious)

        I didn't.

TED

        No.  But mother said...

ARCHER

        Your mother?

TED

        Yes.  The day before she died.  She asked to see me alone, remember?  She said she knew we were safe with you, and always would be.  Because once, when she asked you to, you gave up the thing you wanted most.

ARCHER

        She never asked me.

[On the rue du Bac in Paris]

NARRATOR

        After a little while he did not regret Ted's indiscretion.  It seemed to take an        iron band from his heart to know that, after all, someone had guessed and pitied...        And that it should have been his wife moved him inexpressibly.

TED

        The porter says it's the fifth floor.  It must be the one with the awnings.

[They both look toward an upper balcony, just above the horse-chestnut trees in the

square]

TED

        It's nearly six.

[Archer sees an empty bench under a tree]

ARCHER

        I think I'll sit a moment.

TED

        Do you mean you won't come?

[Archer shrugs]

TED

        You really won't come at all?

ARCHER

        I don't know.

TED

        She won't understand.

ARCHER

        Go on, son.  Maybe I'll follow you.

TED

        But what will I tell her?

ARCHER

        (as he sits)

        Don't you always have something to say?

TED

        I'll tell her you're old-fashioned and you insist on walking up five flights instead of taking the elevator.

ARCHER

        (pause)

        Just say I'm old-fashioned.  That should be enough.

[Ted gives his father a look of affectionate exasperation, then crosses the square and

goes into the building.  Archer watches him go.  Then he looks up at the windows on the fifth floor.  A curtain moves, briefly, then falls back into place.  Archer has a

flashback to the Summer House in Newport.  A sailboat starts to sail between the shore and a lighthouse.  Ellen, in the summer house, watches it.  Her back is to him.  The sailboat glides between the shore and the lighthouse.  Ellen stands in the last brilliant burst of the setting sun.  She starts to move.  She turns around and smiles.  Back to Paris, a servant starts to roll up the awning.  Archer is still on the bench, watching the awning being secured.  The servant finishes and goes back inside.  Archer remains on the bench, alone in the twilight]

                                  THE END