ACT I
perhaps got the name wrong or something. Won’t you tell us all about it? You needn’t be frightened.
Margaret : Oh, thank you. Thank you. I’m sorry if I upset you, I am, indeed. I didn’t mean to . . . but when you know a thing like that, it isn’t in flesh and blood to keep it from his wife. It isn’t fair. I’m a married woman myself, and I know. It isn’t true what I said about my husband’s friend. I made that up, because I didn’t know how to tell you . . . how to make you believe. But the rest is true, all true.
Jenny : But how do you know this?
Margaret : Well, that’s just it. You see, I used to know Mr. Baldry fifteen years ago.
Kitty : You?
Margaret : Yes—quite a friend of the family, he was. But we lost sight of each other. It’s fifteen years now since we met, and I hadn’t seen nor heard of him, nor thought to do again, till I got this a week ago. (She undoes her purse and takes out a telegram.) This telegram. He isn’t well . . . he’s lost his memory and thinks . . . he thinks he still knows me. You’ll see, if you read it. (She hands the telegram to Kitty, who reads it.) You see, it’s addressed to Margaret Allington—that’s my maiden name, and I’ve been married these ten years. But he doesn’t know . . . and it’s sent to my old home, where he used to know me . . . Monkey Island, down at Bray. Father
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