74
MURIEL SPARK
LEONORA: You exaggerate. Charlie doesn't treat you like a chattel.
You've had a very pleasant life.
CATHERINE: I shouldn't have married Charlie. In some ways it was
unfair to Charlie. I should have married a stockbroker.
I
should
have married a bank manager, or a butcher or a baker.
I
had to
have my sex, and my child, but
I
should have married someone who
wouldn't eat up my brain, my mind. I should have married an
electrician, a plumber. I should have married a hulking great
LORRY DRIVER.
Enter
DAPHNE
followed
by
CHARLIE BROWN,
hulking great lorry
driver.
DAPHNE: Hallo, Mother. I got a lift on .a lorry. I've asked the driver
in for a cup of tea.
CATHERINE: Oh!
DAPHNE: Let me introduce ... what's your name?
CHARLIE B.: Just call me Charlie, we're all called Charlie.
DAPHNE: Mother, Leonora, this is Charlie. Where's Mrs. S.? We
want a cup of tea, don't we, Charlie?
CHARLIE
B.:
Lot a books you got.
CATHERINE: Perhaps Charlie would be more comfortable in the
kitchen with Mrs. S. She has tea brewing all day long.
DAPHNE: Certainly not. Sit down, Charlie. I'm very grateful to
Charlie, he's saved me a train journey, not to mention the fare,
and given me a most amusing morning. Charlie, do tell that story
about the professor's wife you gave a lift to who made a pass at
you. I'll go and get you some of Mrs. S.'s tea.
Does
anyone
else
want some?
(Exit.)
LEONORA: Not on top of that foul coffee.
CATHERINE: We shall try to improve our standards in future.
CHARLIE
B.:
You got a guest house here?
CATHERINE: More or less.
CHARLIE B.: Lot of books you got. I got a book at home, might inter-
est you.
LEONORA: Goodness, the time! I have to be off.
CATHERINE: Leonora, you're not leaving?
LEONORA: I'm only going to the British Museum.
CATHERINE: What are you doing at the British Museum?
LEONORA: Research.
