Marjorie's Fall

	Some sort of period sitting room. Stephen is fiddling 
	with a clock on the mantelpiece. Hugh enters, agitated.


Hugh		Thomas! Bad news I'm afraid.

Stephen		Just a moment, John. I promised Marjorie I'd
		mend this clock for her. I wonder if you could give
		me a hand.

Hugh		Big hand?

Stephen		Little hand.

Hugh		Anyway Thomas, listen to me. I have some
		bad news.

Stephen		Bad news?

Hugh		It's Marjorie.

Stephen		Marjorie?

Hugh		She's had a fall.

Stephen		Marjorie's had a fall?

Hugh		I'm afraid so. She was out riding this morning
		on Thunderbolt, and she hadn't returned by the
		time Mrs Mempwaster arrived. It turns out she'd
		had a fall.

Stephen		Calm yourself John. Marjorie has had a fall?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		Off a horse?

Hugh		Well of course off a horse.

Stephen		I don't see that there's any "of course" about it,
		John. Girls nowadays are likely to fall off anything.
		Doesn't have to be a horse.

Hugh		No, alright. But in this case it was.

Stephen		She could have fallen off a chair, a table, a
		pianoforte, anything.

Hugh		Yes, except that, in this case, she was riding a
		horse when it happened.

Stephen		When she fell off?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		So, you reasoned to yourself, Marjorie has fallen
		from a horse?

Hugh		That's right. Thunderbolt.

Stephen		Thunderbolt, you say?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		Well, Thunderbolt's a horse, alright.

Hugh		Exactly.

Stephen		Any damage?

Hugh		Too soon to say. Cavendish is examining her now.

Stephen		That old fool. What does he know about horses?

Hugh		Cavendish is examining Marjorie.

Stephen		Marjorie? Is she ill?

Hugh		No. She fell off a horse.

Stephen		Fell off a horse? Then you'd better fetch
		Cavendish.

Hugh		I have, Thomas. He's in the drawing room.

Stephen		Horses are very big, John.

Hugh		I know they are, Thomas.

Stephen		You fall off one of them, and anything can happen.

Hugh		Quite.

Stephen		(Pause) Well not "anything".

Hugh		No. Not "anything".

Stephen		I mean this clock isn't going to become Prime
		Minister, just because someone has fallen off a
		horse. I didn't mean "anything" is that sense.

Hugh		Of course not, Thomas. Anyway Cavendish is
		examining her now.

Stephen		You said he was in the drawing room.

Hugh		He is. Examining Marjorie.

Stephen		And where is she?

Hugh		She's also in the drawing room.

Stephen		Hah. So they're both in the drawing room?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps he's not such a fool
		after all. How is she?

Hugh		Too soon to say. Sounds like a hell of a fall.

Stephen		From the horse?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		Thunderbolt?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		Now what the devil is Marjorie doing, falling off
		Thunderbolt?

Hugh		You know how Marjorie loves to ride, Thomas.

Stephen		She was riding Thomas?

Hugh		No no.

Stephen		I'm Thomas, John.

Hugh		I know.

Stephen		She wasn't riding me. Your story's a bit twisted
		there, old fellow. Doesn't add up. You said she
		was riding Thunderbolt.

Hugh		She was.

Stephen		She was?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		But she's not any longer?

Hugh		No. She fell off.

Stephen		Good God.

Hugh		I know.

Stephen		Where is she?

Hugh		In the drawing room.

Stephen		She was riding Thunderbolt in the drawing room?

Hugh		No. She fell off at Stratton Brook, where the path
		seperates. That young fellow Cottrell found her
		and carried her to the drawing room.

Stephen		Stables would have been better, don't you think?

Hugh		What?

Stephen		Drawing room's no place for Thunderbolt.

Hugh		Marjorie.

Stephen		What d'you mean?

Hugh		Marjorie's in the drawing room.

Stephen		With Thunderbolt?

Hugh		No. Thunderbolt's in the stables.

Stephen		Oh. Well that's alright, then.

Hugh		It's not alright, Thomas. She's had a bad fall.

Stephen		Is she hurt?

Hugh		Too soon to say. Cavendish is with her now.

Stephen		Cavendish? He's a doctor, isn't he?

Hugh		Yes.

Stephen		I wonder if he knows anything about clocks.

Stephen		I started on the piano and
		then moved up onto the
		mantelpiece.