Doomsday

1
Across the common gleamed
 the stately facade of Fream
House, whose master owned
most of the cottages in the 
        village.

2
"Fream, your taste is as
 exquisite as a woman's.
 As a collector, you seem
 to have acquired every
 beautiful thing - except
         a wife."

3
"I've been thinking of
 marriage - for some
        time!"

4
"There's a young woman
 here who'd make a charming
 mistress for Fream House,
 once I have adorned her
 with silks and jewels."

5
"You're too old to marry
 a young woman, Fream
 - thirty years too old!"

6
"Well - I - I hardly hope
  to be a lover ...."

7
"No ill-feeling I trust?"

8
"Mary, you despise washing
 - - yet you insist that I
    wear white shirts!"

9
"In England, Dad, a retired
  officer is expected to
   keep up appearances."

10
"Why - Captain Furze!
 However did you tear
 yourself away from
   Doomsday Farm?"

11
"My man is ill - - but I
 was glad of a chance
 to bring these potatoes
        myself."

12
"How well you're looking!"

13
"Trying to make a run-
 down farm worth while
 is good for any man."

14
"I'm glad you're not one
 of those useless women
 who are afraid to soil
      their hands."

15
"So you're one of those
 men who think it's a
 God-given privilege for
    women to work!"

16
"I believe hard work is
 good for women as
  well as for men."

17
"By the way - I - I hear
 your father isn't well.
 I've brought him some 
    new-laid eggs."

18
"Always glad to see you,
 Captain! We old soldiers
 should see more of each
         other."

19
"Miss Viner, why didn't
 you accept my invitation
   to tea yesterday?"

20
"Like most women, my
 excuse is - nothing to
        wear."

21
"Some day I'm going to
 make it impossible for
 one woman to say she
 has 'nothing to wear'."

22
"What a happy woman
    she will be!"

23
"I am very glad you
     think so."

24
"My dear - you are much
 too beautiful to be a
        drudge!"

25
"Miss Viner, I want youth
 about me. My house needs
 a charming mistress - -
      it needs you!"

26
"I need you - you need
 me! Marriage would
 solve both our problems!"

27
"Flirt with the farmer if
 you must - but marry
     the banker!"

28
"I won't hurry your
 decision, my dear!"

29
Not far from Fream House
 was the historic Doomsday 
Farm, a run-down property
which Captain Furze had bought
       after the war.

30
"When I came here, these
 fields were covered with
 scrub oak, but next spring
 I'll have crops in all of
          them."

31
"You should be proud of
 what you've done. It's
    beautiful here!"

32
"I love it!"

33
"Do you really?"

34
"Look here - this piece of
 carving has been here
 since Queen Elizabeth's
          day!"

35
"You don't know how
 wonderful it seems to
 have a woman in the
       house!"

36
"It won't look so grubby,
 when you've cleaned these
 old walls and windows!"

37
"You're probably more
 interested in the kitchen
 - - that's where you'll
 spend most of your time."

38
"Grand old oven! It's been
  there a hundred years."

39
"We'll get a new sink.
 I know what it means
 to work with bad tools."

40
"Look around and see
 what else you'll need,
 darling, while I give some
   orders to my man."

41
"Arnold....it would cost a
 little fortune, to make
 this a home for a
 woman. You can't afford
         it."

42
"I know where I can get
 that little fortune -"

43
"I've loved those
 great trees, Mary,
 and protected them -"

44
"- but I'll begin chopping them
 down today! I'm going to sell
 them, to make this a house
 you'll be proud to live in - -
     and take care of."

45
"There's a fine woman,
 Mary - my man's wife.
 She's lived all her life
      on this farm."

46
"Father will be worried
 - I must hurry back
       to him."

47
"Lovers may be content with
 haystacks, my dear, but
 marriage is a house to be
 lived in - it needs cushions!"

48
"Out of these windows
 I see you, every day!"

49
"You promised to stay
 for tea - besides, I want
 to show you my house."

50
"You deserve beautiful
 things. You should
 always have them -"

51
"- always!"

52
Within a month, Doomsday
 Forest - which Arnold
treasured above all his
possessions - had fallen that
a woman might be more
     comfortable.

53
"The place is agoin' to
 be a palace - fit fer
       a queen!"

54
"I been forgettin' - Miss
 Viner asked me to give
       you this."

55
"I've engaged an excellent
 housekeeper, Viner - -
 she'll care for you every
 bit as well as Mary did!"

56
"No need of taking this.
 We'll be in London's
 finest shops in two
        hours."

57
"I don't feel right - about
 leaving you, Father. I'll
 miss you every moment!"

58
"You deserve things like
 that, Mary - and I could
 never have given them
        to you."

59
Paris - the Italian Lakes -
 Egypt - romantic spots that
held no romance....At length a
return to Fream House ended
  the loveless honeymoon.

60
"You seem to enjoy your
 work....Do you, really?"

61
"It is helping my man to
 buy a little farm. That
 makes it easy, ma'am."

62
"A good chap, my dear -
 but you know he had
 nothing to give you."

63
"At least he would have
    given me love."

64
"Haven't I given you
 everything a woman
 could possibly want?
     Haven't I?"

65
"I have had everything
 but a husband, Val.
 You know that as
    well as I."

66
"Hush, my dear - we have
 more important matters to
 discuss just now. The
 modiste has arrived with
 the gown you are to wear
      this evening!"

67
"Tonight you must appear
 at your best - you are to
 meet my closest friends!"

68
"Please excuse me,
 Madame Celeste - -
 we'll finish later."

69
"Val, it's our first night home,
 and I do want to spend the
 evening with father - he's
 been so ill. Can't you postpone
       our reception?"

70
"Postpone it? When all
 these months I've been
 planning just what
 you'll wear - just how
    you'll look -"

71
"Don't you ever think
   of how I feel?"

72
"Five thousand pounds,
 my dear - - you'll feel
 like an empress in these!"

73
"Empress? You mean a
 mannequin to gratify
    your vanity!"

74
"Things! Things! All
 you've given me is
 things! You can take
 them back - - all of
       them!"

75
"You can tell your friends
 I'm ill - dead - anything!
 I'm tired of being a
      spectacle!"

76
"Young woman, you
 made a bargain, and
 you'll go through with
         it!"

77
"You will appear tonight
 - and you'll look your
          best!"

78
"Val, I expect that by this
 time you've made her
 the most gorgeous
 creature in the world!"

79
"I am Mrs. Fream."

80
"You know you have
 a charming smile - 
      use it!"

81
"There's no time to
   announce me!"

82
"Mrs. Fream! I must
 speak to you at once!"

83
"Your father is very
 much worse. He is
  asking for you."

84
"I'll go with you -"

85
"Take your car - - my
 wagon might soil your
        gown!"

86
"Father is much worse -
   I must see him!"

87
"Your father has an
 excellent nurse - I'll
 take you over later -"

88
"But I must go now!
 Surely our guests will
    understand!"

89
"You can't help your father,
 and you can't offend our
 guests. Until they have
 gone, you'll remain here!"

90
"I'm glad you came
    over, Val."

91
"You can take these
  back with you."

92
"Come, come, my dear!
 You've been brooding
 in this house for
 a week - I've come to
   take you home!"

93
"This is my home, Val.
 I've never had any other
 - - yours was only a
    show-window."

94
"You haven't forgotten
 that you are still my
        wife?"

95
"You've forgotten, Val,
 that I never was your
         wife."

96
"Our marriage was a
 ghastly mistake - as
 marriage without love
     always is."

97
"Don't be absurd! You
 accepted luxury - you
 lived in it - and you
 can't go back to 
     drudgery."

98
"Work would not be
 drudgery now - - it
 would be a Heaven-
   sent relief!"

99
"How fragile - and soft!"

100
"You cringe at one broken
 nail. What if both your
 hands were red and swollen
       from work?"

101
"They soon will be."

102
"Then you'll beg me to
   take you back!"

103
"I'm going to France
 tomorrow - to apply
  for my divorce."

104
"You've enough potatoes
   here for a month!"

105
"It was the only way I
    could see you."

106
"I received my divorce 
 papers yesterday, 
      Arnold."

107
"Can't we ever be
  friends again?"

108
"I can't forget so easily."

109
"I've learned to use my
 hands again - for you!"

110
"They're not the sort of
     hands I want!"

111
"You mean you could still
 love me - knowing that
   I don't love you?"

112
"You ran away from me
 once. Do you think I'd
   trust you again?"

113
"I'll never marry you! Doomsday
 Farm needs a mistress who is
 strong in mind as well as body
 - I've no use for a coward!"

114
Furze came to the Viner
 cottage no more.......It
remained for her to challenge
       his silence.

115
"I have come to work
  for you, Arnold."

116
"Why, you can't stay
 here! The whole village
      will talk."

117
"I don't care what they say
 - - I only want to prove
 I'm not a coward. I'm going
 to remain as your house-
  keeper for six months."

118
"You'd never stand up
  to the drudgery!"

119
"It isn't drudgery - - if a
 woman serves someone
    she respects."

120
"Is the meat cooked as
    you like it?"

121
"I've placed some chairs
 in the living-room - made
      a fire there -"

122
"These must be cleaned."

123
"Tired?"

124
"If you're tired after six
 months, what would you 
  be after six years?"

125
"No work is too hard for
 me, Arnold - unless you
 say I have failed you."

126
"And what if I say it?"

127
"I'll go. If I have failed....
  nothing else matters."

128
"Mary, your courage is
 greater than mine. For
 six months you've
 endured my cruelty and
     indifference!"

129
"Forgive me, Mary! I
 can't let you go - I
     love you!"


The
   End