LORD LOAM looks to his
eldest daughter for the fitting response.)
LADY MARY (equal to the occasion). It makes only this difference--
that you may go at once, Crichton, to some other part of the island.
(The faithful servant has been true to his superiors ever since he
was created, and never more true than at this moment; but his
fidelity is founded on trust in nature, and to be untrue to it would
be to be untrue to them. He lets the wood he has been gathering slip
to the ground, and bows his sorrowful head. He turns to obey. Then
affection for these great ones wells up in him.)
CRICHTON. My lady, let me work for you.
LADY MARY. Go.
CRICHTON. You need me so sorely; I can't desert you; I won't.
LADY MARY (in alarm, lest the others may yield). Then, father, there
is but one alternative, we must leave him.
(LORD LOAM is looking yearningly at CRICHTON.)
TREHERNE. It seems a pity.
CATHERINE (forlornly). You will work for us?
TREHERNE. Most willingly. But I must warn you all that, so far,
Crichton has done nine-tenths of the scoring.
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