George Bernard Shaw a penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication

the fender). Where is your mother, Christy?
CHRISTY
. At Uncle Titus’s.
ANDERSON
. Have you fetched the doctor?
CHRISTY
. No: she didn’t tell me to.
ANDEBSON
. Go on there at once: I’ll overtake you on his
doorstep. (Christy turns to go.) Wait a moment. Your brother
must be anxious to know the particulars.
RICHARD
. Psha! not I: he doesn’t know; and I don’t care.
(Violently.) Be off, you oaf. (Christy runs out. Richard adds, a
little shamefacedly) We shall know soon enough.
ANDERSON
. Well, perhaps you will let me bring you the
news myself. Judith: will you give Mr. Dudgeon his tea, and
keep him here until I return?
JUDITH 
(white and trembling). Must I—
ANDERSON 
(taking her hands and interrupting her to cover
her agitation). My dear: I can depend on you?
JUDITH 
(with a piteous effort to be worthy of his trust). Yes.
ANDERSON 
(pressing her hand against his cheek). You will
not mind two old people like us, Mr. Dudgeon. (Going.) I

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32
The Devil’s Disciple
shall not say good evening: you will be here when I come
back. (He goes out.)
They watch him pass the window, and then look at each other
dumbly, quite disconcerted. Richard, noting the quiver of her
lips, is the first to pull himself together.
RICHARD
. Mrs. Anderson: I am perfectly aware of the
nature of your sentiments towards me. I shall not intrude on
you. Good evening. (Again he starts for the fireplace to get his
coat.)
JUDITH 
(getting between him and the coat). No, no. Don’t
go: please don’t go.
RICHARD 
(roughly). Why? You don’t want me here.
JUDITH
. Yes, I—(wringing her hands in despair) Oh, if I
tell you the truth, you will use it to torment me.
RICHARD 
(indignantly). Torment! What right have you to
say that? Do you expect me to stay after that?
JUDITH
. I want you to stay; but (suddenly raging at him
like an angry child) it is not because I like you.
RICHARD
. Indeed!
JUDITH
. Yes: I had rather you did go than mistake me about
that. I hate and dread you; and my husband knows it. If you
are not here when he comes back, he will believe that I dis-
obeyed him and drove you away.
RICHARD 
(ironically). Whereas, of course, you have really
been so kind and hospitable and charming to me that I only
want to go away out of mere contrariness, eh?
Judith, unable to bear it, sinks on the chair and bursts into
tears.
RICHARD
. Stop, stop, stop, I tell you. Don’t do that. (Put-
ting his hand to his breast as if to a wound.) He wrung my
heart by being a man. Need you tear it by being a woman?
Has he not raised you above my insults, like himself? (She
stops crying, and recovers herself somewhat, looking at him with
a scared curiosity.) There: that’s right. (Sympathetically.) You’re
better now, aren’t you? (He puts his hand encouragingly on her
shoulder. She instantly rises haughtily, and stares at him defi-
antly. He at once drops into his usual sardonic tone.) Ah, that’s
better. You are yourself again: so is Richard. Well, shall we
go to tea like a quiet respectable couple, and wait for your
husband’s return?
JUDITH 
(rather ashamed of herself). If you please. I—I am
sorry to have been so foolish. (She stoops to take up the plate of

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33
GB Shaw