SCENE VI
The Southwick Bridge seen obliquely from left to far back right. To the left, there is the mouth of a sewer, blocked by an iron grill. To the side, there is a stone stairway leading from the bridge to the shore. It can also be entered from the right. We see a perspective of London in the rear. It is night. From time to time, moonlight illuminates the scene.
AT RISE, a boat is seen with two men in it, approaching from the left, and landing against the pylon of the bridge at the right. Two men disembark and step forward with the utmost precaution. Suddenly, they find themselves lit by a ray of moonlight. Only then we recognize Sir William Huxell and Mr. Robinson, still wearing his police uniform.
ROBINSON: We’re in plenty of light.
(They abruptly hurry into the darkness at the right.)
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: Are you sure that this is the right place? Under the Southwick bridge?
ROBINSON: Where the gang is going to meet? Of course! That’s what Betty Blackthorn herself told Inspector Lestrade.
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: But Inspector Lestrade isn’t here?
ROBINSON: We’re ahead of him by two hours at least. Perhaps, we were wrong. We would have done better to come in force. But you were in such a hurry…
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: The violent emotion Sir James experienced was such that he became suddenly ill when he got home. What do Jack the Ripper and his gang mean to me? Nothing! What concerns me is that young girl! It’s she that I am in haste to see again.
ROBINSON: Do you think that…?
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: I think that I can still restore a young girl to her father, and that it’s through Kitty that I will succeed in accomplishing that miracle. You went in pursuit of her. What happened?
ROBINSON: I was tired already. She’s got quite a leg, that girl! I dozed off by Cleopatra’s needle. A charitable soul seeing a policeman dozing led me back to Scotland Yard, where you were still with Inspector Lestrade. You told me that it was absolutely necessary to find Kitty, so we’ve come here.
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: But what if she doesn’t come?
ROBINSON: It’s only one o’clock. She will come, don’t doubt that. Have confidence in my flair!
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY (cocking an ear): Hark!
ROBINSON: I heard a noise too! Brr! Now I regret we came!
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY (pulling him to the side): Come here and let’s observe!
ROBINSON: OK!
(They withdraw into the shadows.)
(Having crossed the bridge, Toby comes down the stone stairway, looking in every direction.)
TOBY (to himself): Nobody? I seem to be first. None of the others are here yet. Let’s wait.
(Moon light.)
ROBINSON (head appearing): Why, unless I’m mistaken, it’s my magnetizer.
TOBY (to himself): Ah, we got away handily from Sir James Plack’s place! I really thought we were going to be nabbed!
ROBINSON (aside): My, my! (to Sir William) Should we begin with him?
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: No. Wait.
TOBY (to himself): Still, it was worth the risk. We had time to examine the place and, tonight, that young Miss Ellen will be carried away like a feather.
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY (stunned): What do I hear?
TOBY: That’s not nasty work. Kidnappings are more my style.
ROBINSON (low to Sir William): Watch and don’t try to stop me. I have a score to settle with that little rascal.
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: But…
ROBINSON: Don’t be afraid. I’m quite strong. This won’t take long.
(Sir William’s head disappears.)
TOBY (takes a pipe from his pocket and lit it): There’s one fellow that I’d like to see again—that fat fool, Robinson. Ah, if I run across him again…
ROBINSON (who’s approached him quietly, tapping him on the shoulder): Yoo-hoo! Here I am! Good evening, my dear friend!
TOBY (takings a step back and putting himself on the defensive): You!
ROBINSON (pretending to shoot magnetic fluid at him): Don’t move! You’re in my power now!
TOBY: Really, fat man? You’ll see who is in whose power!
ROBINSON (shooting fluid at him again): I told you not to move. You are nervous. I am calm. Since mind has more influence on the human body than nerves, I easily dominate you.
TOBY: Huh? What are you talking about? (assuming a boxing stance) See these fists?
ROBINSON: Ah! You want to box? At that game, my little friend, you’ll be sorry.
(After two or three passes, Toby is hit hard. Robinson grabs him by the collar.)
ROBINSON: I told you not to move, didn’t I?
TOBY: Help! Help!
ROBINSON: Don’t shout! Don’t try to struggle, or I’ll fall on you and crush you.
TOBY (trembling): But what is it that you want?
ROBINSON: You’ll find out soon enough. (calling) Sir William!
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY (appearing): I’m here!
ROBINSON: Help me gag this young rascal.
TOBY (struggling): No! No!
ROBINSON: I’ve got him!
TOBY (choking): Ah!
(Sir William pulls a kerchief from his pocket and ties it around Toby’s mouth.)
ROBINSON: Now, tie him up
(Sir William ties Toby with a rope that Robinson wore around his belly.)
ROBINSON: Ah, don’t struggle, my lad!
TOBY (in a strangled voice): help!
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: It’s done!
ROBINSON: Fine! Ah, see how sweet he is now! You’d swear he was a York ham. Now, we’re going to place him in that boat…
SIR WILLIAM HUXLEY: But I want to stay here.
ROBINSON: Don’t worry. We’ll be right back. I’ll carry him. (carrying Toby) Go first and light the way, please. (to Toby) Well, my young swain, how about this for revenge? You see what happens! Let’s be on our way.
(The two men step into the boat, Robinson still carrying Toby, then vanish into the night. At this moment, a squad of militia cross the bridge from the left.
(After the soldiers have disappeared, the grill at the sewer’s entrance opens and Tom Brown emerges. He then shuts the grill and places the key on a rock. He looks attentively at the soldiers who disappear on the right.)
TOM BROWN: A round of militia the night of our party… But they’re going. Nothing to worry about…
(Two o’clock strikes.)
TOM BROWN: Two o’clock. My companions should be here soon. Why isn’t Toby already here? He must be drinking at the tavern. (after a pause) This is singular. Never have I experienced what I am experiencing today. This solitude almost frightens me! It seems to me that I’m all alone on this Earth. What’s the matter with me? (another pause) What’s wrong with me? Ah, I know! (sitting on a large stone, with a dull cry of rage) Ah! (head in his hands) She pushed me away! She hates me! And I love her more than ever! She fled. What’s become of her? Kitty! Kitty! (raising his head) Why can’t I drive this stupid passion out of my heart? It twines about me! It burns me. It suffocates me. (another pause) Kitty knows now who I am. After I took so much care to hide it from her! I understand that she hates me.
(A chuckling sound can be heard; it’s a signal.)
TOM BROWN: My associates! How welcome they are! With them, perhaps I’ll forget. To forget... Anything for that.
(Bartlett and a dozen of the gang, including women. appear.)
BARTLETT: Can we come in?
TOM BROWN: There’s nothing to fear.
(Some enter from different directions.)
RICKFORD (coming down the stairway from the bridge): Hey, fellas! Have a whiff of this! (pointing to a big York ham)
ALL: A ham!
BARTLETT (taking it and examining it): And real York pork! I know about such things.
(Other men and women enter from all sides.)
TOM BROWN: Where did you scout that out?
RICKFORD: At the door of a grocer.
TOPPS (coming in): What about this here bird ?
ALL: A roast chicken!
MERSON: And six pounds of roast beef that I pilfered at the home of one of our most excellent cook shops!
ALL: Hurrah!
DRUNKEN WOMAN: As for me, I cannot eat unless I’ve got something to drink.
ALL: Yes, yes, she’s right! Something to drink!
BARTLETT: Keep it down, will you!
TOM BROWN: Bah! The last patrol has already passed.
BARTLETT: Oh, in that case, we’re fine!
TOM BROWN: Merson, go to the store room, raise the slab and bring a dozen bottles of port and gin.
MERSON: Come help me, Mr. Topps.
TOPPS: With pleasure, Mr. Merson!
(Merson and Topps exit under the pylon of the bridge.)
TOM BROWN: Let’s drink! Let’s get drunk! (to himself) Perhaps that way, I’ll manage to forget her!
(All sit down . Rickford, in the midst of a group, slices up his ham and distributes shares. Bartlett does the same with his chicken and roast beef.)
BARTLETT: And you, Tom Brown, you brought nothing along?
TOM BROWN: No.
RICKFORD: Today’s Sunday and Tom Brown never works on Sunday.
TOM BROWN (to himself): How I suffer! What if Kitty left me for someone else? Yes! She must have! Someone else will replace her. But no—I love her. I’ll tell her…
(Topps returns with Merson, carrying bottles.)
TOPPS: Here’s the gin!
ALL: Hurrah!
BARTLETT: Uncork this for me, my lad.
TOPPS: I didn’t wait for you to ask, Mr. Bartlett. It’s done already!
MERSON: Pass your crystal, everyone!
(All take from their pockets a bowl, a broken cup, a goblet, and hold them to Merson and Topps who pour out the drinks.)
BARTLETT (presenting a cup to Tom Brown): For you, Mr. Tom Brown.
TOM BROWN: For me? To drink? Yes. (he empties the cup, laughing nervously) Ah, ah! Give me another. (they refill his glass; he drinks)
TOPPS: What a swig!
MERSON: Now there’s something to see!
TOM BROWN: Gang, I’m announcing to you that I’m now a widower.
ALL: Ah, bah!
TOM BROWN: Yes. Kitty’s left me. Henceforth she’s dead to me! I no longer want anyone to mention her name to me, you hear? I don’t want any more of her! She’s an ingrate! I helped her, cared for her, saved her, and yet I no longer count for her. Ah, women are cowards! Gimme something to drink! Some gin! It’s necessary to forget her. Quite necessary. Ah, Kitty! I hate you, I hate you! Pour more gin, will you! You can see plainly that I’m still thinking about her! (they pour him more gin and he empties the glass with a gulp)
BARTLETT: Bah! You’re not the type of man to take a vow of celibacy.
TOM BROWN: No, by Jove! And I will soon prove it to you. (after a pause, changing tone) Ah, actually, there are too many of us here. I’ve got a job to put together for tonight. I want to be alone with my trusted assistants. (murmurs) Ah, there’s also been too much murmuring lately. If that continues, I can work alone.
ALL: No, no!
TOM BROWN: Then shut up and go! Wait for us nearby. We have something to do tonight.
ALL: Goodbye, Tom Brown!
(They exit by different sides.)
TOM BROWN: Any bad news I should know?
BARTLETT: No! London is in revolt. Jack the Ripper terrifies the town.
TOM BROWN: That will give those disposed to denounce us something to think about.
RICKFORD: Who will be the next one to perish?
TOM BROWN: Betty Cross.
MERSON: When will that be?
TOM BROWN: Tomorrow night. But let’s get back to tonight’s business. I’ll get into the place. I’ll carry off the girl and I’ll take her…
TOPPS: Where?
TOM BROWN: To the house in Euston Square.
BARTLETT: And then?
TOM BROWN: And then—her father’s millions will ransom his daughter!
MERSON: How will you proceed?
TOM BROWN: I’ve explored the neighborhood. A surrounding wall protects the garden. It can easily be scaled. Once in the garden, it’s no more than child’s play. The grill will be opened. I’ll answer for the young girl who will probably be nice enough to faint, and will be only easier to carry off. (To Bartlett) You will wait for me with a carriage nearby.
BARTLETT: Fine.
TOM BROWN: You know the address?
BARTLETT: By Jove, the home of Sir James Plack.
TOM BROWN: But why is it that Toby isn’t here?
(Kitty enters, going onto the bridge. She walks slowly, leaning over the parapet from time to time to look at the shore. Suddenly, she notices the group in the shadows.)
BARTLETT (replying to Tom Brown): Hopefully, he wasn’t nabbed.
KITTY (from the middle of the bridge, calling in a low tone): Tom Brown!
TOM BROWN (starting): Ah!
(The men are terrified and flatten on the ground.)
KITTY: Tom Brown!
TOM BROWN: Why, it’s her voice! Kitty! Kitty!
KITTY: Yes, it’s me! Wait for me!
(She hurries across the bridge.)
TOM BROWN: It’s she! Here! She’s coming!
BARTLETT (rising): I thought you no longer loved her?
MERSON (getting up): That you hated her?
TOM BROWN: Idiots! I adore her!
BARTLETT: Watch out, Tom Brown!
TOM BROWN: For what?
BARTLETT: I am wary of her! I really am!
TOM BROWN: You’re mad!
BARTLETT: Who knows?
(Kitty has come down the stairs from the bridge.)
KITTY: Tom Brown!
TOM BROWN (going to her): You! You, at last!
KITTY (stopping him with a gesture): Wait! (pointing to the bandits) Who are these men?
TOM BROWN: They’re my friends.
KITTY: Your friends. That means your gang, right?
TOM BROWN: Kitty!
KITTY: Yes! Bandits like you! That’s what I wanted. Listen! Here’s what I’m coming to do here...
TOM BROWN (aside, uneasily): What’s wrong with her?
KITTY: Listen to me, Tom Brown! I’m weary of life. I no longer want to live. Life is a burden to me. And I’m too much a coward to kill myself…
TOM BROWN: Those ideas of suicide are haunting you again, Kitty! I beg you not to talk that way anymore!
KITTY: This morning, I tried to kill myself. (horrified reaction by Tom Brown) Ah! You didn’t know? I’m going to tell you! I threw myself into the Thames. Ah, I had courage this morning, I was brave. I no longer am tonight.
TOM BROWN: You wanted to drown?
KITTY: Yes. But they saved me. I wanted to start again just now. Well, this time, courage failed me. This large dark stream of water frightened me. (shivering) No, no! I couldn’t!
TOM BROWN: Kitty, please…
KITTY: And still, I must die!
TOM BROWN: Why?
KITTY: Because I don’t want to be a murderer’s lover!
TOM BROWN: Wretch!
KITTY: Yes! I saw you! You know it very well! I’ve got to die because you’ve ruined me! Because I love you despite everything! Because you’ll drag me lower still. And I don’t want to plunge any deeper in the muck.
TOM BROWN: Kitty…
KITTY: You wanted me to speak. I’ve spoken.
TOM BROWN: You are without pity.
KITTY (aside): Pity! He dares to speak to me of pity! Him! The murderer!
(Murmurs from the men.)
TOM BROWN: Ah, shut up, the rest of you!
KITTY: Not having the courage to kill myself, I came here to get myself killed by you.
TOM BROWN: By me?
KITTY: Or by your men. It doesn’t make any difference to me.
TOM BROWN: You know that everyone here respects you, and…
KITTY: We’ll see about that! Didn’t you all take an oath?
TOM BROWN: An oath?
KITTY The one about mercilessly killing women who betrayed you?
TOM BROWN: How do you know?
KITTY: You told me! And then, two nights ago, didn’t I see you crouching over the body of the Irish Girl, ripping her with your knife, saying, “This is how Jack the Ripper takes vengeance!” Well, kill me then—because I denounced you!
TOM BROWN: What?
KITTY: I denounced all of you.
ALL (rushing at her): Let’s kill her!
TOM BROWN (placing himself in front of her): Stop! She’s lying! She’s saying that because she wants us to kill her. She’s lying. I swear to you, she’s lying!
KITTY: No! I’m not lying! Inspector Lestrade and his men will be here any moment.
ALL: Let’s kill her!
TOM BROWN: I tell you, I don’t want this!
BARTLETT: You haven’t the right to oppose it.
ALL: Yes, yes! Death to her!
TOM BROWN (pulling out a gun): The first one to step forward dies!
(They recoil.)
KITTY: Ah! Cowards! You’re afraid. Strike me, will you! Kill me! Haven’t you understood yet? I’ve betrayed you, I’ve denounced you! They’re coming and they’re going to arrest you! They’re going to hang you! Avenge yourselves, you cowards! Cowards, cowards, cowards!
TOM BROWN: Leave me alone with her. I tell you that she’s crazy, she’s lying! She loves me. You heard her tell me so! Do you send to death the one you love? Did I just kill her? I tell you—no, I order you to leave me alone with her.
BARTLETT: We’re here, ready to leave, but not before striking her down if it turns out she’s been telling the truth.
(The gang disappears.)
TOM BROWN: Kitty, admit that you lied.
KITTY: I told the truth.
TOM BROWN: You’ve denounced us?
KITTY: Yes.
TOM BROWN: Swear to me!
KITTY: I swear to you. Now, kill me and run away. They’re coming at three o’clock. You’ve got plenty of time.
TOM BROWN: I’ve been denounced by you? Swear that as well!
KITTY: By me—or by someone else! What does it matter! They’re going to come and arrest you. It’s death for you if you stay here. Now kill me before they get here, and then get away fast. It’s your only chance.
TOM BROWN: You see quite well that you’re lying. Give me up to the cops, you? If I had betrayed you, you wouldn’t have done it. You love me as I love you! I feel it through what I experience myself. If I saw you in the arms of another man, I’d kill you, but I wouldn’t give you up to the police.
KITTY: Tom Brown, I beg you to do it. Take pity on me. Free me from life! And as your dagger enters my heart, my lips will give you one last kiss.
TOM BROWN: Kitty, we can still live happily together.
KITTY: Happily! You dare to think it!
TOM BROWN: I am going to be rich, very rich.
KITTY: Through a new crime, right?
TOM BROWN: No! There’s been enough blood shed. No more killing! With this fortune that I will soon control, we can leave England, hide in some corner of the world where we will live only for each other, unknown to all.
KITTY: Unknown to all? Except to ourselves. That’s too much!
TOM BROWN: Kitty, I beseech you. On my knees! See! I am dragging myself to your feet. Come! We’ll flee together! I’ll abandon my men. Just one word! Say one word!
KITTY: No! Flee alone! I want to die! I want them to kill me, since you won’t do it. Beware! Time is running out. They’re going to come; they’re looking for you.
TOM BROWN: Up to the final moment I can escape and take you with me.
KITTY: Never!
TOM BROWN: I want your forgiveness! Listen to me, and if after what I’m going to tell you, you don’t stretch your hand to me and tell me you forgive me, well, so be it! I’ll kill you and myself afterwards.
KITTY: Speak. But you’re wasting your time.
(At this moment, Betty Blackthorn can be seen rising from the ground beneath the bridge.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN (low): Ah, there he is!
TOM BROWN: I never knew either my father or my mother. I’m a stolen child too!
BETTY BLACKTHORN (low): He’s not alone.
TOM BROWN: At two, some mountebanks stole me from my mother whose name I didn’t learn until I was fifteen.
KITTY: I repeat: you’re wasting your time and you won’t soften my heart with your stories.
BETTY BLACKTHORN (low): Kitty’s with him. I’ve got ’em both together. The two hates of my life .
TOM BROWN: These men taught me to live like them; to steal, because, in this world, they told me, some men have too much and others too little. They demonstrated that society was ill-balanced. That God, creating man, had given him the Earth and that those who had bought it up were the worst thieves, and those without were dupes. One day, they informed me that I was not the son of the wretched woman that, until that moment, I had been calling my mother.
BETTY BLACKTHORN (low): And the others haven’t got here.
TOM BROWN: They said to me: Your real mother still lives. Wasn’t that amusing! For me, who had never felt anything move me, that word “mother” went straight to my heart. I wanted to see her. I rushed to the village they’d mentioned to me, but she had vanished long ago.
BETTY BLACKTHORN (low): Ah, I hear them. They’re coming at last.
TOM BROWN: I set about tearing it apart. I wanted to force them to reveal her. I ran through town and city. And everywhere, the name I uttered was unknown.
KITTY: That name... What was it?
TOM BROWN: Victoria Trevor!
BETTY BLACKTHORN (after uttering a terrible scream) Ah. Victoria Trevor! You said, Victoria Trevor!
TOM BROWN: Betty Blackthorn?
BETTY BLACKTHORN: And that’s me! I’m Victoria Trevor! I’m the one who gave him up. Ah, God! God Almighty!
TOM BROWN: What are you doing here?
BETTY BLACKTHORN: I… I came to find you, so they could hang you. Because I’m with the police! Because I’m the one who gave you up!
TOM BROWN: You! Ah, miserable woman.
(He rushes toward her.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN (screaming): Don’t kill me, you wretch! I am your mother! (falling to her knees)
TOM BROWN (recoiling): You? My mother!
BETTY BLACKTHORN (struggling to her feet): Yes, I am Victoria Trevor. Flee! Don’t allow me to have remorse for having led you to the rope! Run away, will you! They’re coming! They’re a hundred paces off. I can hear them!
TOM BROWN (repeating to himself): My mother! My mother!
BETTY BLACKTHORN: Save yourself, will you, wretch!
TOM BROWN (raising his head): No! I won’t. Not if Kitty won’t come with me
BETTY BLACKTHORN: Kitty! I beg you! Save him! Don’t let it be to me that he owes his death. That would be too horrible!
TOM BROWN: Kitty?
KITTY: Then, so be it! Go! I’ll join you soon.
TOM BROWN: You swear to me?
KITTY: I swear to you.
TOM BROWN (to his men in hiding): Help me, the rest of you.
(They run to him.)
TOM BROWN: We are surrounded! Go through here! (opening the gate to the sewer) Get in there will you! You can hear them coming.
(They all leave.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN: Tom Brown! Gimme one kiss! Just one!
TOM BROWN (kissing Betty): Goodbye, mother. Till soon, Kitty!
(He disappears into the mouth of the sewer and locks the gate behind him.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN: My God! Please save him!
(Inspector Lestrade enters from the right with his men, bearing torches. Nick Carter enters from the left.)
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: Over this way! Ah! Betty! Where are they?
BETTY BLACKTHORN (as if distracted): Who?
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: Those you are giving up to us! Jack the Ripper and his gang.
BETTY BLACKTHORN: I don’t know.
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: What do you mean, you don’t know?
BETTY BLACKTHORN: I haven’t seen them.
(Mr. Robinson arrives from the bridge, followed by Sir William Huxley; they come down the steps.)
ROBINSON: She’s lying, Inspector. I saw them from the distance. They were talking with him.
KITTY: My God!
ROBINSON: They got away through there. (pointing to the sewer gate)
INSPECTOR LESTRADE (rushing to it): It’s locked! Ah, the bandits, they’re escaping! (to his men) Fire! Fire on them!
(The police begin firing through the sewer grill. At the same moment, Betty rushes forward to shield her son and receives the discharge of the revolvers.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN: Ah! (She falls by the gate.)
INSPECTOR LESTRADE: Wretched woman!
(Inspector Lestrade pulls her from the gate. She rolls to the middle of the stage.)
BETTY BLACKTHORN: At least, I die for him! (she dies)
(Kitty faints in the arms of Sir William.)
C U R T A I N