[They begin to wrestle, both with a smile on their faces, but looking a little breathless and anxious. Also the thing becomes a little too protracted.
Leila. My dears! What will men not do for me!
[The struggle becomes a little more breathless, and even unfriendly, as Raglan looks for a moment as though he is going to get the best of it.
Leila. Slaughtering each other, of course!
[They continue. All at once, Brandon seizes the other’s wrist, has him at his mercy, and gives it a violent twist. Brandon is looking, suddenly entirely malicious.
Raglan (unexpectedly, and actually shouting). Ow!
[Brandon still grips wrist.
Rupert (who has been watching all carefully, now startled by the sheer noise). Mr. Raglan, we cannot on every occasion be Strong, but it is always possible to be Silent. What is he doing to you?
Raglan (released by Brandon). I thought he’d bust my arm. I say, Brandon, you don’t know your own strength, you know. (Rubbing it.) You gave it an absolutely foul tug.
Brandon. Kenneth. I’m profoundly sorry. Really.
Raglan. No. That’s all right. (Moving to Leila again.) That’s what you used to do to me at school. . . . (To Leila) So I’m not your Strong Man after all.
Leila. Never mind. You come back to the Mother Heart. I think he’s a beast.
Brandon. No, Leila. Only a desperate criminal, that’s all. You must forgive me.
Leila. All right. I’ll forgive you. There was room in her heart even for the lowest of God’s Creatures—a Criminal and an Outcast. . . .
Rupert. How fearfully interested in crime we all seem to-night. Why poor Brandon can’t be allowed to commit his own murders in quiet I don’t know.
[ 59 ]
