George Bernard Shaw a penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication

pang of anxiety, though he goes on steadily and cheerfully put-
ting fresh tea into the pot). Perhaps so, pet. But you may as
well dream a cup of tea when you’re about it.
JUDITH
. Oh, stop, stop. You don’t know— (Distracted she
buries her face in her knotted hands.)
ANDERSON 
(breaking down and coming to her). My dear,
what is it? I can’t bear it any longer: you must tell me. It was
all my fault: I was mad to trust him.
JUDITH
. No: don’t say that. You mustn’t say that. He—oh
no, no: I can’t. Tony: don’t speak to me. Take my hands—
both my hands. (He takes them, wondering.) Make me think
of you, not of him. There’s danger, frightful danger; but it is
your danger; and I can’t keep thinking of it: I can’t, I can’t:
my mind goes back to his danger. He must be saved—no:
you must be saved: you, you, you. (She springs up as if to do
something or go somewhere, exclaiming) Oh, Heaven help me!
ANDERSON 
(keeping his seat and holding her hands with
resolute composure). Calmly, calmly, my pet. You’re quite dis-
tracted.
JUDITH
. I may well be. I don’t know what to do. I don’t
know what to do. (Tearing her hands away.) I must save him.
(Anderson rises in alarm as she runs wildly to the door. It is
opened in her face by Essie, who hurries in, full of anxiety. The
surprise is so disagreeable to Judith that it brings her to her senses.
Her tone is sharp and angry as she demands) What do you
want?
ESSIE
. I was to come to you.

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38
The Devil’s Disciple
ANDERSON
. Who told you to?
ESSIE 
(staring at him, as if his presence astonished her). Are
you here?
JUDITH
. Of course. Don’t be foolish, child.
ANDERSON
. Gently, dearest: you’ll frighten her. (Going
between them.) Come here, Essie. (She comes to him.) Who
sent you?
ESSIE
. Dick. He sent me word by a soldier. I was to come
here at once and do whatever Mrs. Anderson told me.
ANDERSON 
(enlightened). A soldier! Ah, I see it all now!
They have arrested Richard. (Judith makes a gesture of de-
spair.)
ESSIE
. No. I asked the soldier. Dick’s safe. But the soldier
said you had been taken—
ANDERSON
. I! (Bewildered, he turns to Judith for an expla-
nation.)
JUDITH 
(coaxingly) All right, dear: I understand. (To Essie.)
Thank you, Essie, for coming; but I don’t need you now.
You may go home.
ESSIE 
(suspicious) Are you sure Dick has not been touched?
Perhaps he told the soldier to say it was the minister. (Anx-
iously.) Mrs. Anderson: do you think it can have been that?
ANDERSON
. Tell her the truth if it is so, Judith. She will
learn it from the first neighbor she meets in the street. (Judith
turns away and covers her eyes with her hands.)
ESSIE 
(wailing). But what will they do to him? Oh, what
will they do to him? Will they hang him? (Judith shudders
convulsively, and throws herself into the chair in which Richard
sat at the tea table.)
ANDERSON 
(patting Essie’s shoulder and trying to comfort
her). I hope not. I hope not. Perhaps if you’re very quiet and
patient, we may be able to help him in some way.
ESSIE
. Yes—help him—yes, yes, yes. I’ll be good.
ANDERSON
. I must go to him at once, Judith.
JUDITH 
(springing up). Oh no. You must go away—far away,
to some place of safety.
ANDERSON
. Pooh!
JUDITH 
(passionately). Do you want to kill me? Do you

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39
GB Shaw
think I can bear to live for days and days with every knock at
the door—every footstep—giving me a spasm of terror? to
lie awake for nights and nights in an agony of dread, listen-
ing for them to come and arrest you?
ANDERSON
. Do you think it would be better to know
that I had run away from my post at the first sign of danger?
JUDITH 
(bitterly). Oh, you won’t go. I know it. You’ll stay;
and I shall go mad.
ANDERSON
. My dear, your duty—
JUDITH 
(fiercely). What do I care about my duty?
ANDERSON 
(shocked). Judith!
JUDITH
. I am doing my duty. I am clinging to my duty.
My duty is to get you away, to save you, to leave him to his
fate. (Essie utters a cry of distress and sinks on the chair at the