Fanny and the Servant ProblemJerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
General
Fanny and the Servant Problem
Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
Comedy plays; English drama; Married people -- Drama
NEWTE. I did. I told you that he was a gentleman; that he—
FANNY. Why didn’t you tell me that he was Lord Bantock? You knew,
didn’t you?
NEWTE [_begins to see worries ahead_]. Can’t object to my putting a
cigar in my mouth if I don’t light it—can he?
FANNY. Oh, light it—anything you like that will help you to get along.
NEWTE [_bites the end off the cigar and puts it between his teeth_.
_This helps him_]. No, I didn’t know—not officially.
FANNY. What do you mean—“not officially”?
NEWTE. He never told me.
FANNY. He never told you _anything_—for the matter of that. I
understood you had found out everything for yourself.
NEWTE. Yes; and one of the things I found out was that he didn’t _want_
you to know. I could see his little game. Wanted to play the Lord
Burleigh fake. Well, what was the harm? Didn’t make any difference to
you!
FANNY. Didn’t make any difference to me! [_Jumps up_.] Do you know
what I’ve done? Married into a family that keeps twenty-three servants,
every blessed one of whom is a near relation of my own. [_He sits
paralysed_. _She goes on_.] That bald-headed old owl—[_with a wave
towards the door_]—that wanted to send you off with a glass of beer and a
flea in your ear—that’s my uncle. The woman that opened the lodge gate
for you is my Aunt Amelia. The carroty-headed young man that answered
the door to you is my cousin Simeon. He always used to insist on kissing
me. I’m expecting him to begin again. My “lady’s” maid is my cousin
Jane. That’s why I’m dressed like this! My own clothes have been packed
off to the local dressmaker to be made “decent.” Meanwhile, they’ve dug
up the family vault to find something for me to go on with. [_He has
been fumbling in all his pockets for matches_. _She snatches a box from
somewhere and flings it to him_.] For Heaven’s sake light it! Then,
perhaps, you’ll be able to do something else than stare. I have claret
and water—mixed—with my dinner. Uncle pours it out for me. They’ve
locked up my cigarettes. Aunt Susannah is coming in to-morrow morning to
hear me say my prayers. Doesn’t trust me by myself. Thinks I’ll skip
them. She’s the housekeeper here. I’ve got to know them by heart before
I go to bed to-night, and now I’ve mislaid them. [_She goes to the
desk—hunts for them_.]
NEWTE [_having lighted his eternal cigar_, _he can begin to think_]. But
why should _they_—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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